Why the 80s were the best time Justin Hayward of The Moody Blues
Justin Hayward joined The Moody Blues in August 1966, a hugely-exciting decade in which so much happened musically.
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00:00Good afternoon, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor at Sussex Newspapers. Always absolutely
00:07lovely to speak to Justin Heywood. And you are on your way to Bexhill on the latest tour,
00:14Bexhill in October. Now, you were just saying something really fascinating to me. We were
00:19talking about the 60s being such an incredible time of creativity and brilliance and breaking
00:24boundaries. But you were saying that you see the 80s as maybe an even more important
00:30decade, a decade that was really alive.
00:34It was for me to be able to have a second chance. It often depends, Phil, about the
00:42enthusiasm of a record company who you're giving the music to. In the 60s, we had Hugh
00:49Mendel at Decca, who was, Decca was run by very elegant elderly gentlemen, but they
00:57believed in the moody blues and they believed in the kind of stereo image that the moodies
01:02could give them with the lineup and the music. And so when things moved on and Decca was
01:11bought out by Deutsche Grammophon, but the last album we did for them was an album called
01:17Long Distance Voyager. And it really hit in the US because it had really things that
01:24were very, it just captured kind of FM radio and just sounded good on the radio.
01:31And it just started a whole decade of music for us in our career.
01:36Really, I met Tony Visconti.
01:39He produced a couple of albums for us that were really, you know, first class sounding
01:45albums, top 10.
01:47And I kind of missed the 60s.
01:50I know I was there, but I kind of missed it.
01:54And emotionally, sort of chemically, mystically somehow.
01:58And but to be, to have success when I was like 39, 40 years old, you know, in the 80s,
02:06to really enjoy it.
02:07We were still really looking good and we were all fit and healthy and lovely.
02:14And to have that chance again was very precious to a band like us, like the Moody's, was
02:21very precious. And the songs from that time, of course, mean an incredible amount to me.
02:26So you're saying when you joined the Moody's in August 1966, one of the things that really
02:32made it work was you were joining a band full of strong personalities, weren't you?
02:37I was, I think, actually, the strong personalities that maybe left, but I was, I
02:43think we became, I didn't know John before we joined and I only met him like a couple
02:52of weeks after I had joined.
02:54But I think we became in the months after the band that everybody wanted to be in, the
03:01guys, the five of us.
03:04And that's a curious thing, isn't it?
03:06They're all very different, very different personalities, very different dynamics, quite
03:10a powerful dynamic as a group of men.
03:13But that's remarkable to have stood out at a time when there was just so much happening
03:18that was so brilliant.
03:20And yet the Moody Blues stood out, didn't they?
03:23To some people, they did.
03:24I think a lot of people, but I think we were we were everyone's opening act for a long
03:33time. I'm not complaining.
03:34It's a great place to be on the bill.
03:36And but, you know, our first tours of America, we were always we opened up for Canned
03:43Heat on my first tour of America in 68.
03:46We did the the final Cream tour, which wasn't many gigs, but we opened up for them as
03:52well and opened up for people like Jefferson Airplane and Love and and those kind of
03:58people. And it was always.
04:01We were always kind of moving somewhere, but it took a long time for really to resonate
04:08with the with the with the industry, with radio and that we we could hold the stage on
04:16our own, really.
04:18All building up to the success of the 80s, then.
04:21I think so. Yeah.
04:23Yeah, I think a lot of people came to the band, came to my songs in the 80s and there.
04:30They'll be there when we play, you know, in Bexhill on October the 16th.
04:37Justin, absolutely fantastic to speak to you, really lovely to talk to you and thank you
04:42for your time. Great pleasure.
04:44Cheers.