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More so than most other rock ‘n’ roll casualties, Keith Moon of The Who is more legend than man. When the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and even fellow drumming wildman John Bonham are discussed, there’s at least a little lip service paid to the idea that these people were human and more than just a set of anecdotes with some amazing records attached. Not so much with ‘Moon the Loon’.
That said, considering that was basically how he carried himself, perhaps this is just the consequence of how he lived his life, which continued well past his death. The man was never Keith from Wembley; he was “Keith Moon who blows up toilets and causes mayhem wherever he goes” 24/7. It wasn’t even a case of the rock star persona taking over his life; this was just how he was well before he was tapped up by The Who.
There was no off switch with Moon—the man would just indulge himself with little regard for the outcome. He would also indulge others, to be clear, as the man was famously generous beyond a fault. However, when an idea came to mind, there was no stopping him from acting on it. Whether that was necking another pint of brandy, masterminding some hilarious prank or doing some of the darker, more depressing stuff which also blotted his ledger.
This personality also affected his music in The Who. His was an intensely chaotic, lightning-fast drumming style. One where there’s an argument to be made that he never actually kept time with anything and needed guitarist Pete Townshend and bassist John Entwistle to, rather fruitlessly, keep him in line. Of course, this made him one of the most exciting drummers of his generation, but it was also the one way this famously impulsive player would curb his indulgent personality.
What set Keith Moon apart from other drummers?
You see, there’s one cliche that all rock drummers of the 1970s seem to adhere to. At some point in their already marathon-length concerts, the other band members will set down their instruments and step offstage for a water, booze or blow break. The drummer will then launch into a drum solo that rivals the extended Lord of the Rings films in length and sheer Sturm und Drang.
A cursory search on YouTube will show you countless sticksmen taking their moment in the spotlight with aplomb. The aforementioned ‘Bonzo‘, Neil Peart, Carmine Appice, you name them, there they are. All except Keith Moon. The man who played entire tours with The Who and, of course, concerts like he was playing an extended drum solo accompanied by a rock band, only played a precious few extended drum solos in his life. Why was that?
Well, because the man hated them. It’s difficult to believe, but for proof, look no further than Tony Fletcher’s revelatory biography, Dear Boy: The Life of Keith Moon. In the book, Fletcher tells of a 1974 concert where The Who had added Moon’s instrumental curio, ‘Waspman’, to the setlist. Townshend and Entwistle stopped playing during the song and offered Moon the floor to solo.
After tentatively playing for a moment, he eventually lobbed his sticks at his bandmates and shouted, “Drum solos are boring!” A lot of Keith Moon’s life contains some pretty disagreeable, sometimes outright disturbing stuff stemming from his complete inability to curb his impulses. However, I think we can all agree, he was bang on the money there.
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