The Moody Blues

The Moody Blues formed in Birmingham, England, in 1964, initially as an R&B outfit riding the British Invasion wave with a hit cover of «Go Now». The band’s lineup soon stabilized around Justin Hayward, John Lodge, Ray Thomas, Mike Pinder and Graeme Edge, and with 1967’s Days of Future Passed they pivoted decisively toward a lush, orchestral form of rock built around the Mellotron, blending classical arrangement with psychedelic songwriting.

That album’s centerpiece, «Nights in White Satin», became one of the defining ballads of the era and remains the group’s signature song. Across the late sixties and seventies the Moody Blues released a run of conceptually ambitious albums — In Search of the Lost Chord, On the Threshold of a Dream, To Our Children’s Children’s Children — that helped define the vocabulary of progressive and symphonic rock, pairing spoken-word passages, mellotron textures and close vocal harmonies.

The band adapted successfully to the eighties with a more synthesizer-driven, radio-friendly sound, scoring hits like «Your Wildest Dreams» and «I Know You’re Out There Somewhere». Their influence on progressive and art rock, and their pioneering use of orchestral textures in a rock context, secured their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2018.