Are the Moody Blues Christian?

tuke

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'Been listenin' to their 1998 Anthology which I borrowed from my local library this week . . . many songs new to me are further confirmation that the Moodys never recorded a single song which quenched the Holy Spirit. This revealed inspiration is certainly by Design whether the Moodys are conscious of His Hand or not.
I am fifty two years old, have been a rock fan all my life, and know of no similar anointing on a secular non-gospel band.
 
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traciethered

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I freed myself from the oppressive grip that psychedelic music had on me when I became born again 29 years ago, but I have been intreagued with the consistently wholesome message of the Moody Blues, lately.
Eventhough they are associated with the psychedelic genre, upon closer scrutiny I don't detect a promotion of drug use in their lyrics. Indeed, the song Legend of A Mind proclaimed Timothy Leary was dead years before he actually died and was released when Leary was at the height of his infuence among the baby boomers.
Their song Question says "I'm looking for someone to change my life. I'm looking for a miracle in my life. And if you could see what it's done to me, lose the life I knew and safely lead me thru."
Many of their songs have Christian allusions, but nothing overt except the recent Christmas album December (2003). Most of their songs could just as easily be attributed to eastern Buddhism or Hinduism.
Jesus said whoever is not against Me is for Me. I can find nothing anti-Christian in their lyrics.


What do you think? Anyone know if Justin Hayward, Graeme Edge, Ray Thomas, Mike Pinder, Patrick Moraz or John Lodge are Christians? :scratch:

I've followed the Moodies for a very, very long time and I can assure you that John Lodge absolutely IS a Christian. He has ALWAYS been one. When the other band members were experimenting with intoxicants and alternative spirituality and all that back in the 1960s, he didn't bother. He had Jesus and that made him happy.

Here's an excerpt from an article I found on Christian rock stars:

JOHN LODGE:
Bass Force Behind The Moody Blues After being a Christian in rock music for 30 years, Lodge says nothing deters his faith.

He claims to be "just a singer in a rock 'n' roll band," yet John Lodge is an unusual figure in pop music. During his 30-plus years in rock music, he's never gotten involved in drugs and has always declined to indulge in the legendary excesses of the music-industry lifestyle. He puts it all down to the Christian faith he adopted in childhood.

"In the '60s we were all looking for something," says Lodge, who helped transform standard British R&B band The Moody Blues into world-class pioneers of symphonic rock, mixing electric guitars with orchestral sounds.

"If you did a gig you'd spend hours afterwards meeting people, talking about religion. I grew up through an evangelical church, and the more I talked to people, the more I realized all the things I'd learned at church were relevant--and what everyone was looking for. I was thinking, Just a moment, I think I've got that!

"That's really when I started to find an inner strength," Lodge told Charisma. "The '60s was a crazy time in rock 'n' roll, and you could have really gone to extremes in everything. But I found I had this inner strength that seemed to see me through a lot of things."

Born in 1945, Lodge attended Sunday school regularly as a child at Birches Green Evangelical Church in Birmingham, England. Lodge described the church as "quite fundamentalist," but there was freedom to ask questions.

"What it made me do was try to understand what the Bible was about--not organized religion--and what strengths you could gain from [the Bible]," he says.

The spiritual foundation proved its worth later in life when Lodge played bass for the Moody Blues. "Some things would come along--the excesses--and I'd question them and say this can't be right."

Lodge recalls one bizarre episode when he spoke with a Detroit pastor in a hotel room, while more than 100 people partied around them after a concert. "I remember us talking about Christianity amid this party, and I said to him, 'Isn't this strange?'"

It was a picture of his life: a nice, clean, Sunday school boy right in the middle of the dirty business of rock 'n' roll. Yet Lodge managed to make it work.

On one occasion, about 10 years ago, Lodge lost the strength in his arms.

"I ended up in the hospital," he says, "and they were bringing all these different people to try and find out what was wrong, but they couldn't find out."

Deeply troubled by this, his family contacted longtime friend and charismatic church leader Gerald Coates. "He got his whole church to pray for me," Lodge recalls. "That same day was the turning point. I started to feel better."

The incident had an impact on Kirsten--his wife of 32 years--and on his daughter, Emily, and his son, Kristian. "Everyone got strength from it," he says.

Through the years some Christians have challenged Lodge to pinpoint his "born again"experience. He sees his spiritual life as more of a journey than a reaction to a crisis point. He's not a regular churchgoer, but he attends events at Coates' church, Pioneer People, and visits churches while on tour.

While the Moody Blues were touring in the United States once, Lodge travelled more than 300 miles to hear Benny Hinn preach in Orlando, Florida.

So far, Lodge's Christianity hasn't fazed the rest of the band.

"They know where I'm at. It doesn't matter whatever we discuss, they know where I'm going to come from on it. But they also know I'm not going to come from an organized religious point."

Lodge still enjoys researching other philosophies--causing some people to question his reading habits. "Nothing's going to come along and determine who I am. I don't think that's going to happen, because I think if it was going to happen, it would've happened a long time ago."

So what is it like being a Christian in mainstream rock?

"To be honest, I just ride it," Lodge says. "Nothing deters me. I've got an inner strength that comes from it."


Justin, for his part, drifted away from Christianity but seems to have come back to it. Here's another excerpt from a different article where Justin talks about this:

In their prime the Moodies comprised five songwriters (two of them, John Lodge and Graeme Edge, remain with Hayward to this day) and all wrote rather spiritual lyrics. This was another reason they were ridiculed. “But at the time we got the reputation for that,” says Hayward, “I felt I was speaking for a lot of other people in the late ’60s. I wanted to write about our search for enlightenment, as simple as that. I’m still kind of doing it.”

And where has this search brought Justin Hayward in 2006? “I would have to say Christianity,” he answers. “I came from a family with a very strong faith, I moved away through all sorts of Eastern religions, through meditation, the Tibetan Book of the Dead, anything else. It was reading C.S Lewis, books like Mere Christianity, that helped me to define what I really felt and finally decide. So I came full circle.”

I am not sure about the other band members.
 
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Dave-W

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I have always liked this band. In 1974 the Lord led me to get rid of almost all of my secular music. The only major exception was the Moodies.

I never found their music to be psycedelic - although that is often how they are categorized. True psycadelia twisted my brain in weird ways; almost like taking a trip with out the drugs (which I never did either).

I am not surprized to find at least one of them being a believer.

BTW - anyone familiar with Hayward and Lodge's band BlueJays?


cover_549138102014_r.JPG


After Seventh Sojourn the band broke up for a good part of the 1970s. Some of the members like Edge put out solo works. JH & JL put this band together and they sound JUST like the Moodies. Kind of a rare find, but if you like classic Moodies, you should get a copy.

BTW - back in '71 and '72 we used to discuss just HOW FAR ahead of the stream was the Moodies' sound. We found out when they got back together and started having singles charted again in the 1980s. The sound was almost the same and it fit right in - so they were a decade ahead of their time.
 
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markb77

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These guys were a huge deal with a lot of my friends in high school, but I didn't really start listening to them until I was in college (late 70s). I started with This Is The Moody Blues a double album "best of" that is still one of the best anthology albums ever. The first time I saw them, it was the mid 80s, and Patrick Moraz was in the line-up. I have to admit, I wasn't expecting much as I figured they were way past their prime, but those guys ROCKED! One of the best shows I'd seen up to that point. For me, one of those bands who are not quite in the "top tier" of most listened to, but bubbling just underneath. Excellent, excellent band.
 
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Kasimira

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This is from an interview with John Hayward in 2006:

And where has this search brought Justin Hayward in 2006?

“I would have to say Christianity,” he answers. “I came from a family with a very strong faith, I moved away through all sorts of Eastern religions, through meditation, the Tibetan Book of the Dead, anything else. It was reading C.S Lewis, books like Mere Christianity, that helped me to define what I really felt and finally decide. So I came full circle.”
 
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Divide

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Huh. How 'bout that? I googled were the moody blues Christians, and up popped this old thread. It answered my question.

My favs from the Moodies are, Dear Diary, For my Lady, Meloncholy Man, Eyes of a Child and most of the other songs too actually, lol.

This Watching and Waiting song of theirs sure sounds Christian to me.
 
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tcdchameleon

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I would say that the Moody Blues might even have a Christian influence. A lot of what they sing about can be found in the Bible. Some examples: The album Keys of the Kingdom, -Matthew 16:9. From the song Question "My mind becomes confused Between the dead and the sleeping" -Matthew 9:23-26. "Rise, let us see you Dawning is the day" also from the album A Question of Balance, equates very much to -Joshua 6:15. From another Dawn song (Dawn is a Feeling), "This day will last A thousand years" -2 Peter 3:8 The song Eyes of a Child could be derived from Matthew 18:1-3. Anyway, it may be a reach on my part, but you may be right. I have never heard a negative lyric in their music. I have a love of the Moody Blues that I gained from my mother. Two of my children are named after them.

I also have a deep love of Christ.
 
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tcdchameleon

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Also I don't know how I forgot this. In the album cover of "The Present" the cover is visually similar to Maxfield Paris's painting "Daybreak" with a minor difference... There are two people in the picture one is standing, one is laying down. The one standing has his hand extended to the one laying down and is handing something to the person laying down. What he is handing to her is something shaped like an "X" X is the Greek letter Chi, which is short in Greek for Christ. This is where we get the term Xmas. So if you think of it in this regard, the person in the picture giving "The Present" is literally giving the gift of Christ.

Because of all of the above, I believe that The Moody Blues or at least Justin Hayward and John Lodge have been promoting Christianity in their music since the beginning. I think that they may even have read a few passages from the Bible and decided to write songs or even full albums around them.

The Present.jpg
 
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dale dorsett

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I think the Moody Blues were honestly seeking answers about God and world and civil issues. I hope they found Jesus. As to the group in their Question of Balance album (definitely balance is a huge issue for humanity that flits from one extreme to another) there was Minstrel's Song. One of the singers answered the question "Listen to the one who sings of love" - toward the end of the song twice that singer sang in the background "listen to you Jesus". At least one of the members was a Christian. The others? But they were searching, hope they found the answer - Jesus.
 
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notreligus

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I think the Moody Blues were honestly seeking answers about God and world and civil issues. I hope they found Jesus. As to the group in their Question of Balance album (definitely balance is a huge issue for humanity that flits from one extreme to another) there was Minstrel's Song. One of the singers answered the question "Listen to the one who sings of love" - toward the end of the song twice that singer sang in the background "listen to you Jesus". At least one of the members was a Christian. The others? But they were searching, hope they found the answer - Jesus.
As I stated, John Lodge is - present tense - a Christian. Mike Pinder, an original member, tried to mix oil and water, or he tried to mix the Christian faith with Eastern religious influences. Ultimately I believe it was his personal theology that prompted him to leave the band.
 
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dale dorsett

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I've followed the Moodies for a very, very long time and I can assure you that John Lodge absolutely IS a Christian. He has ALWAYS been one. When the other band members were experimenting with intoxicants and alternative spirituality and all that back in the 1960s, he didn't bother. He had Jesus and that made him happy.

Here's an excerpt from an article I found on Christian rock stars:

JOHN LODGE:
Bass Force Behind The Moody Blues After being a Christian in rock music for 30 years, Lodge says nothing deters his faith.

He claims to be "just a singer in a rock 'n' roll band," yet John Lodge is an unusual figure in pop music. During his 30-plus years in rock music, he's never gotten involved in drugs and has always declined to indulge in the legendary excesses of the music-industry lifestyle. He puts it all down to the Christian faith he adopted in childhood.

"In the '60s we were all looking for something," says Lodge, who helped transform standard British R&B band The Moody Blues into world-class pioneers of symphonic rock, mixing electric guitars with orchestral sounds.

"If you did a gig you'd spend hours afterwards meeting people, talking about religion. I grew up through an evangelical church, and the more I talked to people, the more I realized all the things I'd learned at church were relevant--and what everyone was looking for. I was thinking, Just a moment, I think I've got that!

"That's really when I started to find an inner strength," Lodge told Charisma. "The '60s was a crazy time in rock 'n' roll, and you could have really gone to extremes in everything. But I found I had this inner strength that seemed to see me through a lot of things."

Born in 1945, Lodge attended Sunday school regularly as a child at Birches Green Evangelical Church in Birmingham, England. Lodge described the church as "quite fundamentalist," but there was freedom to ask questions.

"What it made me do was try to understand what the Bible was about--not organized religion--and what strengths you could gain from [the Bible]," he says.

The spiritual foundation proved its worth later in life when Lodge played bass for the Moody Blues. "Some things would come along--the excesses--and I'd question them and say this can't be right."

Lodge recalls one bizarre episode when he spoke with a Detroit pastor in a hotel room, while more than 100 people partied around them after a concert. "I remember us talking about Christianity amid this party, and I said to him, 'Isn't this strange?'"

It was a picture of his life: a nice, clean, Sunday school boy right in the middle of the dirty business of rock 'n' roll. Yet Lodge managed to make it work.

On one occasion, about 10 years ago, Lodge lost the strength in his arms.

"I ended up in the hospital," he says, "and they were bringing all these different people to try and find out what was wrong, but they couldn't find out."

Deeply troubled by this, his family contacted longtime friend and charismatic church leader Gerald Coates. "He got his whole church to pray for me," Lodge recalls. "That same day was the turning point. I started to feel better."

The incident had an impact on Kirsten--his wife of 32 years--and on his daughter, Emily, and his son, Kristian. "Everyone got strength from it," he says.

Through the years some Christians have challenged Lodge to pinpoint his "born again"experience. He sees his spiritual life as more of a journey than a reaction to a crisis point. He's not a regular churchgoer, but he attends events at Coates' church, Pioneer People, and visits churches while on tour.

While the Moody Blues were touring in the United States once, Lodge travelled more than 300 miles to hear Benny Hinn preach in Orlando, Florida.

So far, Lodge's Christianity hasn't fazed the rest of the band.

"They know where I'm at. It doesn't matter whatever we discuss, they know where I'm going to come from on it. But they also know I'm not going to come from an organized religious point."

Lodge still enjoys researching other philosophies--causing some people to question his reading habits. "Nothing's going to come along and determine who I am. I don't think that's going to happen, because I think if it was going to happen, it would've happened a long time ago."

So what is it like being a Christian in mainstream rock?

"To be honest, I just ride it," Lodge says. "Nothing deters me. I've got an inner strength that comes from it."


Justin, for his part, drifted away from Christianity but seems to have come back to it. Here's another excerpt from a different article where Justin talks about this:

In their prime the Moodies comprised five songwriters (two of them, John Lodge and Graeme Edge, remain with Hayward to this day) and all wrote rather spiritual lyrics. This was another reason they were ridiculed. “But at the time we got the reputation for that,” says Hayward, “I felt I was speaking for a lot of other people in the late ’60s. I wanted to write about our search for enlightenment, as simple as that. I’m still kind of doing it.”

And where has this search brought Justin Hayward in 2006? “I would have to say Christianity,” he answers. “I came from a family with a very strong faith, I moved away through all sorts of Eastern religions, through meditation, the Tibetan Book of the Dead, anything else. It was reading C.S Lewis, books like Mere Christianity, that helped me to define what I really felt and finally decide. So I came full circle.”

I am not sure about the other band members.

THANKS, GLAD TO KNOW i WAS RIGHT ABOUT A CHRISTIAN BEING IN THE RANKS. HOPE THE OTHER MEMBERS FIND THAT GOD IS THEIR BEST FRIEND ALSO. JESUS IS LORD!
 
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Akita Suggagaki

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By now there are volumes of songs and lyrics, especially from Justin. Have you heard "Raise on love". Love is a central them in many of them. Of course, they are not explicitly a Christian Band. but that makes them all the more powerful, reaching across genres. There message is subtle.

One of my favorited from one of my favorite albums:

Candle of Life

Something you can't hide says you're lonely
Hidden deep inside of you only
It's there for you to see, take a look and be
Burn slowly, the candle of life

Something there outside says we're only
In the hands of time, falling slowly
It's there for us to know with love that we can go
Burn slowly, the candle of life

So love everybody and make them your friends
So love everybody and make them your friends

Something you can't hide says you're lonely
Hidden deep inside of you only
It's there for you to see, take a look and be
Burn slowly, the candle of life

Something there outside says we're only
In the hands of time, falling slowly
It's there for us to know with love that we can go
Burn slowly, the candle of life

Wow! Here is an old video.
 
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