![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/The-Who-John-Entwistle-Keith-Moon-Pete-Townshend-Roger-Daltrey-Far-Out-Magazine-1140x855.jpg\")
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Credit: Far Out \/ Flickr<\/p>\n
Wed 2 September 2026 12:13, UK <\/p>\n
When we say people are born to go into a particular profession, it\u2019s rarely ever meant in a literal sense. However, when you watch a performer with the sheer restless energy of Keith Moon<\/a>, it\u2019s hard to imagine him being able to hold down any profession other than being the drummer in a band. <\/p>\n Watch a live performance of him with The Who and then imagine those hands doing any form of manual labour \u2013 it would be nothing other than carnage. The late \u2018Loon\u2019 was born to play. As Alice Cooper put it, \u201cNobody could compete with Keith Moon.\u201c <\/p>\n The shock rock pioneer continued, \u201cThink of it this way: about 40% of what you\u2019ve heard about me or Iggy or Ozzy is probably true. Everything you\u2019ve ever heard about Keith Moon is true and you\u2019ve only heard a tenth of it.\u201d While that might pertain to his antics, Cooper claimed the same applied to his drumming. He was in another world. <\/p>\n Of course, the role of a drummer for the most part is to hold a steady rhythm for the rest of the band to follow, but when a drummer is bursting with personality and an urge to steal the limelight from the rest of the band, then you\u2019ve got to allow them the occasional opportunity to show off everything they can do. Moon was given ample space to do just this during The Who\u2019s live performances<\/a>. He was even granted permission to quite literally place explosives in his kit. <\/p>\n He was the final piece of the jigsaw when assembling the gritty group, since Roger Daltrey, Pete Townshend, and John Entwistle had all known each other since early childhood, but given the overblown and theatrical style that the band developed for themselves<\/a>, he appeared to be the perfect fit for the mod pioneers. <\/p>\n They were a forward, thundering band, and as John Entwistle explained, that all came from Moon. \u201cHe didn\u2019t play from left to right or right to left,\u201c he explained, \u201che\u2019d play forwards. I\u2019ve never seen anyone play like that before or since.\u201d However, there were apparently times when his style was so out of control that Daltrey had to take drastic action in order to salvage a song from being scrapped.<\/p>\n In 1977, the band began work on their eighth studio album, Who Are You, and while much of the album saw the band move increasingly towards the progressive rock stylings that their concept albums from earlier in the decade had flirted with, this caused problems for the erratic Moon, who was seemingly only ever able to follow his own methods of drumming.<\/p>\n The song \u2018Music Must Change\u2019, which appears at the end of the first side of the record, had a slightly more complex rhythm that Moon wasn\u2019t used to being demanded of him, and in a 2015 appearance on the Howard Stern Show, Daltrey revealed that he had to bring in a session musician to step in for the incapable drummer. <\/p>\n \u201cKeith couldn\u2019t play the drums to it,\u201d Daltrey claimed. \u201cIt was in a three-four. Keith couldn\u2019t play normal drums. Keith could play great Moon drums, and that was it.\u201d But the song dictated something different. Moreover, Moon wasn\u2019t on his finest form with his condition worsening. To some degree, this was a paradigm for the band in the period. They seemed to be pulling in different directions. <\/p>\n While the waltz pattern isn\u2019t that hard to wrap your head around, even if you\u2019re not an accomplished drummer, Moon was unable to perform on the song, signposting his downfall<\/a>. As a consequence, there isn\u2019t much drumming on the final recording, save for some percussion, but the replacement drummer who was brought in to perform on the track remains uncredited on the album to this day.<\/p>\n However, while they chose to stick with Moon for the remainder of the album, it would end up being the final release that he appeared on for the band before he tragically passed away in 1978 at the age of 32, only three weeks after the release of the record. <\/p>\n Perhaps more so than a limitation of his skills, however, the tricky \u2018Music Must Change\u2019 could be more aptly remembered as a fork in the road for The Who. One that sadly left Moon behind. <\/p>\n![\"Keith](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Keith-Moon-The-Who-Drummer-Far-Out-Magazine-F-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/a>Credit: Far Out \/ Alamy<\/p>\n
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<\/a> The Far Out Classic Rock Newsletter<\/p>\n