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Song Stories

“Nights in White Satin”

The Moody Blues | 1967

While most rock songs were still recorded in mono, Decca Records wanted the Moody Blues to record a rock version of Dvorak so it could demonstrate its stereo systems and prove that rock & roll could sound as good as classical music in stereo. This heavily orchestrated tune transformed the band from a decent R&B act to psychedelic prog rockers. "We'd recorded together before, and what came out was good but not magic," Moodies singer/flautist Ray Thomas told Rolling Stone, noting that they cried when they first heard it. "But this, we felt, was different."

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Song Stories

“Too Close”

Next | 1998

Next was formed in Minneapolis when the uncle of Terry "T-Low" and Raphael "Tweety" Brown, who was a gospel choir director, introduced the brothers to Robert Lavelle "R.L." Huggar. Sounds of Blackness singer Ann Nesby groomed the R&B group before handing them over to Naughty by Nature's KayGee, who wrote and produced "Too Close." The idea for the song was sparked "from a conversation we had with several girls at a nightclub," explained T-Low. "It's talking about the club scene, with guys getting out of hand and the female telling him to back up, asking, 'What are you doing?'" 

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