Keith Moon

Keith John Moon (August 23, 1946 – September 7, 1978) was the drummer of the rock group The Who.

Contemporary drummers and percussionists such as Neil Peart, Mitch Mitchell, and John Bonham could all point to him as a major influence. Moon himself was taught to play by one of the loudest drummers at the time, Carlo Little. His continuing influence is also evident in the style of modern drummers such as Jeremiah Green, and Moon's organic, rolling, anarchic, flowingly controlled yet also out-of-control style remains an influence on popular music today.

Role in the Who

Moon initially played in the style of American surf rock and R&B drummers, utilizing grooves and fills of those genres, but playing them much louder and with more authority. He was also heavily influenced by jazz drummer and fellow showman Gene Krupa.

Moon started off on various 4 or 5 piece drumsets, but made the move to a British Premier double bass kit in late 1965. This was inspired by a conversation he had with Ginger Baker, who told Moon that he had ordered an American Ludwig double bass set and was waiting for it to arrive. Moon decided to simply take two Premier drumsets and put them together, thus making him the first rock drummer to use a double bass drumset. This new equipment widened Moon's playing to an enormous degree. Specifically, he abandoned his hi-hat cymbals almost entirely and started basing his grooves more on a double bass ostinato consisting of eight note flams, and a wall of white noise created by riding a crash or ride cymbal. On top of this he would play fills and cymbal accents. This would become his trademark style, and can be heard at its best on the Who's 1970 Live at Leeds and 1971's Who's Next albums.

Moon was an early replacement for short-lived drummer Doug Sandom. Within the band, guitarist Pete Townshend was the timekeeper, utlizing a rhythmic, riffy way of guitar playing, while Moon and bass player John Entwistle soloed on top of this foundation. Moon usually played with the rhythm of the vocal line, rather than lock down a counter-rhythm with the bass guitar (as is usually expected of the drums). Townshend's compositions often took on a completely new life of their own after he presented them to Moon and Entwistle, who would transform them into something new and unexpected with their distinctive approaches to playing.

Early in the Who's career, the band developed the concept of "Auto Destruction", which had them destroying their equipment at the end of their more high profile shows. Moon showed a particular zeal for this activity, wildly kicking and smashing his drums. During an appearance on the Smothers Brothers television show, he overloaded a drum with explosive charges which were detonated during the finale of "My Generation", which according to legend resulted in permanent hearing damage (not to mention singed hair) for bandmate Pete Townshend and caused Bette Davis to faint. Moon himself was injured after a piece of cymbal lodged in his arm. Another time, he filled his drums entirely with water and used them as tanks for goldfish, actually playing them for the concert - when an audience member asked what they were for, he replied with a grin, "Even the best drummers get hungry." All of his antics soon earned him the nickname "Moon the Loon," a name he did not like.

Because he was not a good singer, Moon was banned from the studio when vocals were being recorded. This led to an ongoing game with Townshend, in which Moon would try to sneak into the room to join the singing. At the tail end of "Happy Jack" Townshend can be heard shouting "I saw ya!" as he notices Moon once again trying to join in surreptitiously. However Moon can be heard singing on several Who tracks, including "Bell Boy" on 1973's Quadrophenia and the high pitched-voice on "Barbara Ann."

A reputation for destruction

Moon quickly gained a reputation for being highly destructive. He was known to lay waste to hotel rooms, the homes of friends, and even his own home, often throwing furniture out of high windows and destroying the plumbing with firecrackers. These acts were often fueled by drugs and/or alcohol, but most of the time, Moon was simply living out his larger-than-life persona.

One of the most famous stories concerns him driving a Rolls-Royce into a swimming pool - it is currently disputed whether this event occurred, with his biographer, Tony Fletcher, denying it, and Roger Daltrey claiming to have witnessed the resulting $50,000 bill. ^* From his known behaviour, however, it is not hard to see how such a story could originate. Judging from the numerous biographies and documentaries on him, the story looks to be false. It appears to have been two stories merged together. While in Flint, Michigan, Keith threw a party after a Who show; subsequently, the manager was called with complaints from the other guests. When the manager came to Keith's door and saw all of the drinking and smoking, he demanded the party be stopped and that Keith should leave. As the manager spoke, Keith picked up a cake and shoved it in his face. Moon was then thrown out of the room by the manager. In a drunken stupor Keith used a fire extinguisher on some random cars and then jumped into the swimming pool which had no water in. He snapped one of his teeth completely off and later had it re-glued. The other portion of the car driving into a swimming pool story obviously comes from the story when Keith was at his home and had an argument with his wife, he claimed he was going to commit suicide after the argument heated up. He drove his Rolls-Royce into their home pond, and Keith came swimming out from under the water, apparently laughing.

Much of his behaviour, though often outrageous, was in a more humorous vein in the company of his great friend Vivian Stanshall, of the Bonzo Dog Band. When Vivian took over the John Peel radio show for a while, Moon appeared as Lemmy in Vivian's ongoing saga of Colonel Knutt, idiot adventurer-detective. Moon also produced Vivian's recorded version of Elvis Presley's "Suspicion".

In 1970, Moon was involved in an incident outside a pub in London in which his friend and bodyguard, Cornelius "Neil" Boland, was run over and killed. Although the coroner said that Boland's death was an accident, and Moon was subsequently given an absolute discharge after having been charged with driving offenses, those close to him said Moon was haunted by the accident for the rest of his life. However, Boland's daughter later tried to investigate and reported that Moon may not have been driving the car. Moon's penchant for the wild life would eventually be detrimental to both his drumming ability and his reliability as a band member. His playing deteriorated as the 1970s progressed, and he would often need to take two or three weeks to learn how to "play like Keith Moon" again, due to heavy drug and alcohol use. By 1978, he was only a shadow of what he once was.

Work outside The Who

Although his work with the Who dominated Moon's career, he participated in a few minor side projects. In 1966, he teamed up with Yardbirds guitarist Jeff Beck and future Led Zeppelin members Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones to record an instrumental, "Beck's Bolero", released as a single later that year. Moon is also said to have named Led Zeppelin. His remark to Jimmy Page was "you'll sink even faster, like a lead zeppelin." They chose their name after this comment.

In 1974 he released his only solo album, a collection of pop covers entitled Two Sides of the Moon. Perversely, although this record featured Moon's atrocious singing, much of the drumming was left to other artists including Ringo Starr and session musician Jim Keltner.

In 1971 he had a cameo role in Frank Zappa's farcical film 200 Motels. He acted in drag as a nun fearful of death from overdosing on pills. In 1973 he appeared in That'll Be the Day, playing a drummer at a holiday camp during the early days of British rock 'n' roll. The film also co-starred Moon's longtime friend Ringo Starr of the Beatles. He also appeared as "Uncle Ernie" in Ken Russell's 1975 film adaptation of Tommy, a 1969 Who album. In 1976, he covered the Beatles' "When I'm Sixty-Four" for the soundtrack of the documentary All This and World War II.

Death

Keith Moon's final night out was as a guest of Paul McCartney at the preview of the film The Buddy Holly Story on the 7th of September, 1978. After dining with Paul and Linda McCartney, Moon and his girlfriend, Annette Walter-Lax, left the party early and returned to a flat on loan from Harry Nilsson in Curzon Place, London. He died in his sleep at the age of 32, having overdosed on Chlormethiazole, medication taken as part of a program to wean him off alcohol. When the police investigated the cause of his death they determined that there were about 32 pills in his system. Some of the pills were undissolved. Moon's death was not the result of suicide, but was later ruled to be the result of "accidential misadventure," the common explanation being that Moon would take medication, pass out, and then re-awaken to take his medication again, forgetting that he had already. Coincidentally, Cass Elliot (singer with The Mamas & the Papas) had died while staying not only in the same flat a few years earlier, but also in the same bed. Following the loss of a second friend in the building, a distraught Nilsson could not face returning there and subsequently sold the flat to Pete Townshend. Moon's last words were": If you don't like it, you can just fuck off." after asking his girlfriend to make him steak and eggs for breakfast.

Events after his death

Both of the remaining Who members, along with the late John Entwistle, have stated firmly on separate occasions that The Who died with Keith Moon.

Whilst The Who, including Moon, recorded with a multitude of instruments, they always performed as a four-piece band. Following his death, Moon was replaced not only by Small Faces/Faces drummer Kenny Jones, but The Who also added keyboardist John "Rabbit" Bundrick to the live band. Similarly, when John Entwistle died, his place in the live band was filled by both Pino Palladino (bass) and Simon Townshend (guitar). The Who's drummer's position is currently occupied by Zak Starkey, son of Ringo Starr.

As a tribute, one of the bars in the London Astoria music venue is named the "Keith Moon bar".

A biography has been written about Moon by Tony Fletcher, entitled "Dear Boy: The Life of Keith Moon". "Dear Boy" became a catchphrase of Moon's when he started affecting a pompous English accent around 1969, particularly when ordering drinks.

In early 2006, Keith Moon's signature Pictures of Lily drum kit was reissued by Premier Percussion under the name Spirit of Lily. This kit integrated modern features and hardware in contrast with the vintage appearance.

Keith Moon in popular culture

On June 8, 2006, "The Onion" featured a Radio News piece titled, "Researchers At Keith Moon Institute Destroy Institute." http://www.theonion.com/content/node/49210.

As of September 29, 2005, Comedian/Actor Mike Myers has been signed on to play the lead role in an upcoming biopic of Moon. The film has been titled See Me Feel Me: Keith Moon Naked for Your Pleasure. Scheduled for a 2007 release, See Me Feel Me will be produced by Roger Daltrey, Nigel Sinclair, and Paul Gerber.

Internet cartoonist Jonti Picking's 2006 series of webtoon shorts (Anything Can Happen) On the Moon depicts the deceased Keith Moon (referred to as "Moon Keith Moon") living on the moon in the form of a metal urn of his ashes, labelled with the words "R.I.P. Keith".

In a strip of the comic Achewood from April 2006, character Ray Smuckles finds Keith Moon's head available to buy on the fictional online-auction service, eBay Platinum Reserve.^*

In the 1997 PlayStation game Enter the Gecko, the lead character Gex can be heard saying "This one's for Keith Moon!"

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