Today’s classic dream-related song of the day is “Your Wildest Dreams” by the Moody Blues. Released in April of 1986, this single went to #9 on the Billboard Hot 100, #2 on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, and #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart. The song’s music video also got a ton of airplay on MTV and other channels.
“Your Wildest Dreams” was written and sung by Moody Bluer Justin Haywood. He says it was written while reminiscing about his first love:
“For me, wanting to know about the first girl you ever fell in love with, really fell in love with and broke her heart, you always want to know, I wonder what happened. I wonder where they are. Hop in to that time machine.”
Musically, the track didn’t feature much of the band or the group’s typical orchestral sound. Instead, it was a lot of synths, as Haywood explains:
“Most of ‘Wildest Dreams’—90% of it—is [producer] Tony Visconti, my DX7, and a guitar synth. The piece at the beginning of ‘Wildest Dreams’ that sounds like a sort of Theremin … that’s a guitar synth. All of that is. So it was just another way of exploring musical avenues. Tony Visconti was very much into that and the first person who really turned the band on to programming in a serious way. And he was very, very good at it, so I enjoyed every moment of that.”
A large part of the song’s success was due to its music video, which played up the the nostalgia/longing theme. In addition to members of the band (and some actors hired to look like the band in their younger days), the video featured beguiling British actress Janet Spencer-Turner as Mr. Haywood’s older first love. It was the perfect piece of eye candy for aging Boomers and Gen Jonesers, certainly something a lot of us lost lovers could relate to.
And here’s your daily bonus video of the day, the 1986 music video for “Your Wildest Dreams.” Once upon a time…
