Moody Blues drummer, co-founder Graeme Edge dead at 80

CBS17 ^ | 11/11/2021 | J. Scott Wilson, Sydney Kalich

[God luvs America]

Graeme Edge, drummer and co-founding member of the Moody Blues has died, his family confirmed to NewsNation. He was 80.

The English musician was a member of the Rock-N-Roll Hall of Fame for his 50 years of work with the rock band, providing their imaginative rhythms and memorable spoken word.

Edge retired from touring in 2018 and was the only founding member continuously in the band since the mid-1960s. 2018 was also the year the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In an interview on the red carpet at the induction ceremony, Edge said that the Moody Blues had “the most loyal and the best fans on earth. I’d probably be pushing up daisies without them.”

And now, three years after the retired from the tours and the arenas full of fans, he has left us.

Asked about his major influences for getting into rock and roll, Edge credited his grandfather, a singer who toured “almost in the stagecoach days” with encouraging him to give the music world a try. He said his grandfather always wanted to see him play at London’s Palladium Theatre, and four months before he died he did just that.

The orchestral backdrop which was the core of the band’s sound cast a wide net of influence in the ’70s and ’80s, fueling the bands Yes, Genesis during the Peter Gabriel years and Electric Light Orchestra. Listen to Yes’ “Owner of a Lonely Heart” and you could be forgiven for mistaking it for a Moody Blues tune.

There are ongoing debates between Pink Floyd and Moody Blues fans as to who influenced whom, but it’s likely they were simply drinking from the same creative spring.

[JonPreston]

I sure wouldn’t want to hear your record collection.

The Lords of Polka, volumns I, II, III, IV, V and X

[circlecity]

"The Blue Jays is an incredible album. Almost like Seventh Sojourn Pt II"

Loved in back in the 70's. Local FM station played it a lot. FM was great in those days. Golden age of music.

[Allegra]

The Blue Jays is an incredible album. Almost like Seventh Sojourn Pt II

I’ve got “Nights, Winters, Years” playing through my sound bar right now. I had to pull that album up after thinking of it. Seventh Sojourn Pt. II is anther favorite which I’ll play next. My BFF and I about wore that one out in high school.

[steve8714]

Hah! Old Moodys, before Justin.

[steve8714]

Haunted...or English Sunset. “More tea, Vicar?”

[Larry Lucido]

I tried to figure out what A Salty Dog was about. Some speculate that it was Jesus leading sailors from a shipwreck, with the final lyrics written in a style that mimics the sign off of apostle Paul.

I do understand the “no accounting for taste,” though. Aside from Salty Dog and Conquistador and Whiter Shade, I listened to many of their songs more than once before they grew on me.

[steve8714]

Justin’s vocal of “Forever Autumn” on the War of the Worlds album is a world beater.

[Riflema]

Sad

Try this masterpiece https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CctHctx4b4

[old-ager]

Graeme, from their last album Strange Times around 1999.
I capitalized the word Word and I like to think he meant it that way.
He took personal friend requests on FB.
Enjoyed his silly dance at a number of concerts.

Nothing Changes

The dark cloak of winter’s war
Left a future still unsure
Sitting in a class
Of the future’s past
We saw a list of dates
And we knew we would last
To see them all

1984 was a year to fear
Hope was dead, a police state here
Halley’s comet was to fly by
And we would see a shining in the nighht sky
Now 2001 is soon to come
And just as soon will have come and gone
Nothing changes

Standing at the crossroads
Of what is, will be, and was
The obvious eludes us
Not because the zeroes line up
We should change our way of thought
More if we do not, the way ahead
Is dangerously fraught
And if we did the things we all know to be right
Left would be the childish fears
Of danger in the night

We, each of us are fine
For we have all heard the Word
But grouped together
Babel’s triumph stampedes
The thoughtless herd
Nothing changes

Nothing changes
And nothing stays the same
And life is still
A simple game

[Chode]

hope he finds the Lost Chord... RIP

[old-ager]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cBz-sCK2iQ

[kanawa]

Listening to Long Distance Voyager.

So many years have gone by.

[fieldmarshaldj]

RIP.

[spel_grammer_an_punct_polise]

The Moody Blues was the first rock and roll band to be the producers for their albums. It became a trend and the Moody Blues started that trend.

[Publius]

Edge also wrote a few tunes for the band. I always thought of this as his masterpiece. The subject matter fits perfectly for today.

The Moody Blues: "22,000 Days"

[God luvs America]

The Moody Blues played Radio City Music Hall in October of 2002, a year after 9-11. Graeme changed the following lyrics at the concert from:

Now 2001 is soon to come
And just as soon will have come and gone
Nothing changes

to something like

Now 2001 has come and gone
(mentioned something about the attacks here which i can’t remember)
Everything has changed, everything has changed.

[higgmeister]

At the end of 1972, on the way to flunking out of college, the guy across the hall in the dorm was a Marine who had recently separated out and therefore had money and resources.   Thinking back, I believe he had more than likely been in Viet Nam.   He had a reel-to-reel tape recorder and very often in the evening played Days of Future Passed.

The albums I remember were:

Days of Future Passed
In Search of the Lost Chord
Every Good Boy Deserves Favor

Then:
On the Threshold of a Dream
Seventh Sojourn

[LeonardFMason]

“Horrible band. Horrible music. Harmful to the nation and world.”

Let me guess. You think Bon Jovi and Bruce Springsteen are great.

PISS OFF.

[ifinnegan]

“Oh my goodness. Why were the Moody Blues “harmful to the world”?”

Part of the garbage culture promoting drug use.

Replacing faith with pseudo-spirituality.

They were decent journeymen who did not lead anything but went along with it lucratively.

[Mr_Moonlight]

... who influenced whom, but it’s likely they were simply drinking from the same creative spring.

Owsley.