The Moody Blues React To Being Part of the 2018 Rock Hall Induction Class
The Moody Blues are giving full credit to the group’s fans for its selection to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s class of 2018.
A notable exclusion from the Rock Hall for many years, the Moodys were the subject of an ardent fan campaign to get the group on the ballot — which it was for the very first time this year. The group, was in fact, second only to Bon Jovi in the fan vote conducted by the Rock Hall that created an additional ballot added to the more than 1,000 professional votes.
Singer-guitarist Justin Hayward tells us that
“I do think all of the things go to the Moody Blues fans, really, for giving us a wonderful, wonderful life in music, and our induction has validated the music that they really love and I’m very pleased for us all. Really I am. I think it’s absolutely wonderful.”
Bassist John Lodge adds that,
“The fans have just been incredible and supported us nonstop, you know, and I think they’ve supported us for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I have this feeling with the Moody Blues fans that they’re not just fans. We’re all a part of the Moody Blues music, and…I think the fans felt slighted that the Moody Blues are not in the Hall of Fame because they are fans of the Moody Blues. If you’ve got an artist you really, really like, you really want that artist to be up there with everyone else you know.”
For Hayward, meanwhile, the induction forces him to change his tune a bit about the Rock Hall, which he previously dismissed as being an American institution with no real impact on Europe, where he resides. Now, however, Hayward graciously says,
“On Friday I couldn’t really care less, but on Saturday the whole world looked different, and my reaction was, ‘Wow!’…It’s at times like this I wish I was American. I could really appreciate the scale of it, really, I suppose…and now, after all these years, I’m incredibly grateful for them for including us in that, and it’s an absolute privilege to be celebrated in the same building, on the same street, in the same town, even as Buddy Holly and the Everly Brothers.”
The Rock Hall induction ceremony, which also includes The Cars, Dire Straits, Nina Simone and Sister Rosetta Tharpe as an early influence, takes place April 14 in Cleveland and will be filmed by HBO for subsequent broadcast.
Gary Graff is an award-winning music journalist who not only covers music but has written books on Bob Seger, Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen.
