Any truth to this rumor about Mitch Mitchell joining The Who?*

Hey all,

Something I've wondered about for a long time. Is there any truth to the rumor I once heard that when Keith Moon died, the Who tried to get Mitch Mitchell to join before they settled on Kenney Jones?

I thought someone here would definitely know. Thanks!

 

Never heard that one myself.

 

He would have been a good choice... appropriately wild. I think that I may have heard that he was considered and I'm sure he would have jumped at the chance if the offer had been made.

 

I have read that Mitch unsuccessfully auditioned for Wings

also back at the time that Ginger Baker apparently was one who offered to help The Who out - but as Townshend knew Eric Clapton well I would guess Eric's experiences in both Cream and Blind Faith might have put The Who off accepting Ginger's kind offer... (??) - probably due to personality not Ginger's unquestioned ability of course !

 

In my opinion, Mitch could have worked and fitted in well with The Who but not Ginger!

 

Hard to imagine Ginger & Roger in the same band — they would have killed each other!

 

The best choice would have been Bev Bevan from The Move/ELO. If you listen to a lot of the Move stuff, Bev was really wild. Not so much w/ ELO but he had his moments.

 

I think Kenny Jones was the right man. The who were beginning to "tighten up" anyway, so I think Jones fit the bill. Any drummer after Kenny was more Jones than Moon

 

Mitch Mitchell didn't make the cut for Wings? That's odd.

 

Mitch is great but he can be a bit busy at times with his playing.
Maybe he overplayed in the eyes of Macca who wanted something simpler.

 

from what I've read sadly there was a personality clash between Daltrey and Jones - Kenney was 'looking daggers' at Rog during their shambolic performance of 'Won't Get Fooled Again' at 'Live Aid'

that was when Rog dived into the middle 8 bridge section at the wrong time...but nobody else did !

it degenerated into a meandering instrumental 'jam' with Pete walking around playing his guitar and half smiling, you could see him saying something like;
'I don't know what we're doing.....!' to the roadies...then they paused - and picking it up re-started the number properly again - true professionals !!

whatever no question Kenney was a great drummer and I think he gets a bit of a rough deal from some Who fans for 'not being Keith Moon' etc

Bev Bevan would very likely have 'punched Rog's lights out' had they clashed ! no way could I see Bev taking any nonsense ! lol

messrs Baker and Bruce famously came to blows (both in Graham Bond Org and later in Cream)...while poor Eric pretended he didn't know them...!

George Harrison said he went into Cream's dressing room (I think at the Royal Albert Hall) to find Eric...Ginger was sat merrily crushing up a bucket of ice in his teeth (!) - George said he thought to himself; 'you're welcome to this Eric.... !!'

 

I love the Move and ELO but don't rate Bev highly as a drummer compared to Moon. He sounds comparatively stiff and basic. I don't think he'd have joined anyway. ELO were huge in 1978.

 

But maybe they would've got a bit less staid if they'd had a wild drummer who could also tighten it up a bit as needed, rather than the more meat 'n' potatoes guy the went with.

 

Mitchel is an interesting possibility. As is Micky Waller, but he didn't like to tour. Maybe they could've used Waller in the studio and Jones on the road, hmm that sounds familiar....

 

An unpopular opinion perhaps, but I 'love' Face Dances -so am glad they went with KJ

 

Me too. My thought process is "it'd be stupid to get someone just like Moon, so let's go the opposite direction". That's always been my guess of what went down.

He was great live!

 

Maybe B.J. Wilson could've done.

 

Kenny's history with the Small Faces made him an appropriate choice.

 

Never heard this rumor, but Mitch would have been a great fit for The Who.

 

Zak Starky is awesome drummer for The Who, he has Moon's style down well!

 

No truth to this rumor, but it's pretty well known in Who circles that Mitch was among one of the drummers that auditioned for the Who after Doug Sandom got fired.

Pete Townshend recalls:
"We tried a few drummers including Mitch Mitchell who went on to play with Jimi Hendrix. But Keith Moon appeared one day at one of our regular dates at the Oldfield Hotel in Greenford and as soon as he began to play we knew we'd found the missing link."

 

I'm sure Fred Astaire wouldn't have been happy either!

 

I've been waiting for someome to come up with this!

 

Always the obvious option to me but he had the same personal issues Moon had...

 

I read that Joni Mitchell was asked to join, but she had already committed to joining CSN.