Go Now!...Beyond The Moody Blues

Back in the early 1970s, when I and others of my generation were just beginning to create the concept of "the soundtrack of our lives," several groups stood out: the Beatles, of course, and the Rolling Stones, Grand Funk Railroad and...The Moody Blues.

The Moody Blues were an English band originally from Birmingham, England. Founding members Michael Pinder and Ray Thomas initiated a rhythm and blues-based sound in 1964 along with Graeme Edge and others, and were later joined by John Lodge and Justin Hayward as they inspired and evolved a progressive rock style. Their second single, "Go Now" (released in 1964), really launched their career, being promoted on TV with one of the first purpose-made promotional films in the pop era, eventually hitting number one in the United Kingdom and in the United States where it reached the top ten. Among their innovations was a fusion with classical music, most notably in their seminal album Days of Future Passed (1967 ).

The group's lyrics were pretentious, their music mediocre, and their production so poor that they were often joking referred to as "The Muddy Blues," but many of us really connected with them. Why? I think today that the key factor was their ability to evoke melancholy--a generally gloomy outlook characterized by low levels of enthusiasm and eagerness for activity.

Surprisingly, many of my generation, while facing the beginning of their lives, faced it with despondency, fear and cynicism. I've gotten a brighter perspective since then. Let me share how one friend expresses the transition that he, like me, underwent over several years:

There is a devious sadness to the world in which we live – a sadness that comes to find us in the night, when we're all alone under the canopy of a million stars. Something within us knows that we ought to be better--that our love ought to burn brighter and shine more fiercely--that our passion and conviction for life ought to be strong, and lead us through that nagging temptation to settle for the ordinary and mundane. Something within us knows that life was always meant to be lived to the full. And this something, when it comes to find us, convicts us of all the cheap and
common things we often settle for. This feeling, in my mind, is the definition of melancholy.

I don't play the Moody Blues much any more. I think that I can do better now than melancholy--so can you!