Music Monday: “Driftwood” by the Moody Blues (1978)
Posted By RichC on August 25, 2025
A bit earlier in the summer the Moody Blues song from 1978 called “Driftwood” caught my attention. Perhaps I was in a “mellow” mood while listening to The Bridge on SiriusXM, but it was noted as a appropriate song from my past for Music Monday.
| Moody Blues – “Driftwood” | 1978 |
While listen again, it occurred to me that I didn’t really know much about the English progressive rock band and thought it might be worth reading a bit more about them.
The Moody Blues hold a unique place in rock history as one of the pioneers of progressive and symphonic rock. Formed in Birmingham, England, in 1964, they first found success with their rhythm-and-blues-flavored hit “Go Now”, fronted by original singer Denny Laine. But it wasn’t until a few years later, after guitarist Justin Hayward and bassist John Lodge joined, that the band transformed into something far more distinctive.
Their breakthrough came in 1967 with the release of Days of Future Passed. Blending rock instrumentation with the London Festival Orchestra, the album introduced a bold new sound and produced the timeless single “Nights in White Satin.” This fusion of orchestral arrangements, poetic lyrics, and the Mellotron—played by keyboardist Mike Pinder—helped lay the foundation for what would become known as progressive rock.
The Moody Blues went on to release a remarkable series of late-1960s and 1970s albums, including In Search of the Lost Chord, On the Threshold of a Dream, and A Question of Balance. Each carried a sense of exploration, both musically and philosophically, and cemented their reputation as innovators unafraid to blur genres and push boundaries.
Though the group took a break in the mid-1970s, they reemerged in the 1980s with renewed success, most notably with Long Distance Voyager (1981), which reached number one on the charts in both the UK and the US. Across the decades, their lineup shifted, but the classic core—Hayward, Lodge, Graeme Edge, Ray Thomas, and Mike Pinder—remains the lineup most fans remember as definitive.
By the time they retired from regular touring in 2018, the Moody Blues had sold over 70 million albums worldwide, influencing countless musicians who followed. That same year, they were fittingly inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, a long-overdue recognition of their role in reshaping modern rock.
More than half a century since their formation, the Moody Blues continue to resonate—not just as a band with a few big hits, but as visionaries who proved that rock could be as sweeping and ambitious as classical music, while still speaking to the human heart.
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