A really interesting thread. I've always been a big Who fan and have embraced both the talent and legend of Keith Moon as one of the best and most bombastic rock drummers. For me, the drumming (and songwriting) really peaked at Quadrophenia. There's no doubt that the drug abuse and other lifestyle issues, took there toll on Keith and eventually his life. I've always liked "The Who By Numbers" and to a somewhat lesser extent "Who Are You." Specific to Keith's playing on these albums, they certainly have less of that jaw dropping fill and kick drum but at the same time, the subject matter is less edgy/aggressive. I actually like the drums on these albums and feel that it fits the songs which are more reflective than the angry preachy music of previous albums (not that that's a bad thing for the Who). So for me, Keith's decline started after Quadrophenia but the song writing also changed as well. What fantastic drumming would have emerged as well as possibly inspired song writing had the circumstances been different? I think the Who was a very dynamic group that played off of each other's raw emotions. Much of the Who (certainly Pete) had their own issues which certainly didn't help Keith's climb out of his own situation. Would Pete have written different songs had Keith been in different physical shape? Who knows!!!
A healthy focused Moon would have certainly given Pete more options in his songwriting... Also, I'm not a fan of Moon's Quadrophenia drumming.. He was using the cymbals far to much imo, creating a wash over everything.. I'll take his Who's Next drumming anytime.. Just seems like his kit was miked differently on WN, might just be my ears...
This is taken from 'Dear Boy' by Tony Fletcher, which I'm sure most if not all of you have read. If not, pick up a copy, fantastic book "Britain's longest-standing punk band - in tandem with its producers - insisted on making a record for American rock radio. And that meant refining the drums to a simplicity Keith could simply not cope with." "The big 2/4 off beat was very important" says John Astley of the way commercial rock music was going in the late Seventies. "And Keith never ever had that, he never had the big offbeat snare drum. And I think it did his head in. 'Cos when I tried to do that with him on the song '905', he just did it perfectly but everyone went, 'Urrgh...I suppose Glyn will love it...It's not Keith Moon anymore'. But what else do you do with a song that goes 'chugga chugga'? As producers, I think Glyn and I should hold up our hands and say maybe we shouldn't have made him try and play unlike Keith Moon. But the pressure came from what we were listening to at the time. Maybe Glyn didn't even do that. I know I felt it." "What a debilitating experience it must have been. At the very point he most needed his confidence bolstered upon his return to the fold, here Keith was effectively bring told - some 12 years after breaking all known rules to become the most revolutionary, influential and acclaimed drummer on the planet - that his talents were passe', that if he wanted to continue his career, he would instead have to play the same tedious 'boom-cha' as any other emotionless automaton"
Besides "Music Must Change," what Who songs are in waltz time? The only one I can think of off the top of my head is the 6/8 middle section of "Naked Eye," which Moonie handled perfectly, but it calls for his usual power approach, not a finesse touch.
'Love Reign O'er Me' and 'They're All In Love', which he handled excellently to my ears, are the two that come to mind.
This is my favorite Keith Moon drumming on "Who Are You" along with the title track, where Keith does not lead the band as in the Tommy days, but he does keep up very nicely.
Bruford was down on Keith's playing from at least 1969 onword. It is hard to understand how an accomplished drummer like Bruford could not respect Keith's style and ability.
That's an interesting choice, and I agree. (Now that's a song no one ever talks about!) Keith always liked his little cymbal flourishes and bell work (cf. 'Tattoo'). I liked that gentler side to his playing. His fills in the later stages create a nice sense of drama on that one. Someone earlier commented on the cymbal swooshes that constitute a kind of leitmotif on Quadrophenia. I've always taken them as a conscious effort to replicate the sound of the waves crashing.
Keith was absolutely great on Quad and Who's Next, but I think he reached his peak on Tommy and Live at Leeds. But even on a 1972 song like Join Together, Keith's drumming is pretty constricted. In terms of post-1973, I blame some of the "decline" on the way Keith's drums were recorded, especially on Who Are You. Too low in the mix. And, of course, there was the travesty of the WAY remaster/remix in which the explosive drumming at the beginning of Trick of the Light is replaced by a very wimpy part. Why, I can't fathom.
I agree the drums are ineffectual in that song. But to be fair to Keith, though, Glyn Johns insisted that he get rid of most of his drums and ride cymbals. Since he rarely used a hi-hat, and never did anything funky, he was essentially drummed into a corner. Thus we got that awkward pattern he came up with that actually drags the song down---a very unusual thing in a Keith Moon performance. That is one song where I wish Keith had tried to stretch out a bit, push his abilities to come up with something to drive it, not hamper it. Agree on both points.
"Slipkid" is in 6/8 time. Concerning Bill Bruford, I had a book on Yes (copyright 1981) that claimed around 1969, Bruford was writing "I Hate Moon" on his toes. As for Moon's decline, I say it began as hit or miss around the fall/winter '73 Quad tour. The King Biscuit show (Philly?) that has "The Real Me" is a downright stunning performance, a pure physical workout. Then you have nights like the Cow Palace.
In 1967, Moon set in motion events which later become one of rock's most famous legends. According to the book Local DJ, a Rock & Roll History, Moon, drunk at his 21st birthday party (Moon had claimed to be a year older than he actually was; he was believed to be 20 at the time and was proclaiming this to be his 21st so that he could drink in every state; it actually was his 21st birthday) in Flint, Michigan, allegedly drove a Cadillac (according to Moon's own account, it was a Lincoln Continental) into the Holiday Inn pool, and blew the toilet in his room to pieces, leaping out of the bathroom at the last possible moment to avoid porcelain toilet shards.[21] While Moon had established a notorious history of blowing up toilets at other Holiday Inns, the car incident led to them being banned from Flint and The Holiday Inn for life. The Who had just opened for Herman's Hermits. Author "Peter C" Cavanaugh, who was there and witnessed the event firsthand, recalled the events for a documentary on the 60's rock scene. [22] According to the book, The Who In Their Own Words, Moon said the incident was at the Holiday Inn in Flint, Michigan. He said this was how he broke his front tooth. Other people who attended the event, including Who bandmate John Entwistle, cast doubt on the veracity of the car-in-the-swimming-pool story, but confirm some other parts of the fable. Another version of the night was recounted by Moon biographer Tony Fletcher in the book Moon: The Life and Death of a Rock Legend: "It was [after a cake fight] that the cry came to 'debag' the birthday boy... Various members of [Herman's Hermits and the Who] launched themselves on Keith, pinned him to the floor and successfully pulled his trousers down...As the teenage girls began gasping and giggling and the cops started grunting their disapproval, Keith, naked from the waist down, made a good-natured dash for it out of the room...and smashed one of his front teeth out. " (p.p. 210) It was after Moon went to the dentist and the party was disbanded that the 30-40 guests filed out, a few taking fire extinguishers to cars and dirtying the swimming pool. On 4 January 1970, Moon was involved in a car-pedestrian death outside the Red Lion pub in Hatfield, Hertfordshire. Trying to escape hostile skinheads from the pub who had begun to attack his Bentley, Moon ran over and killed his friend and bodyguard, Neil Boland. Although the coroner said Boland's death was an accident, and Moon was given an absolute discharge having been charged with driving offences, those close to him said Moon was haunted by the accident for the rest of his life. Boland's daughter investigated and suggested that Moon may not have been driving.[23] During an encore of a Led Zeppelin concert in June, 1977, Moon took the stage, grabbed the microphone, and began yelling barely-intelligible gibberish and profanities, before Robert Plant took the microphone from him and yelled, "Keith Moon!"[24][25] Moon's penchant for the wild life was detrimental to his drumming and his reliability as a band member. On the 1973 Quadrophenia tour, at the Cow Palace in Daly City, California, Moon took a large mixture of tranquilizers and brandy. He passed out during "Won't Get Fooled Again" and again in "Magic Bus." Townshend asked the audience, "Can anyone play the drums? - I mean somebody good." An audience member, Scot Halpin, filled in for the rest of the show. Guitarist Pete Townshend later said in an interview that Moon had consumed large tranquilizer pills, meant to be shot at animals, with the brandy.[26] During the band's recording sabbatical between 1975 and 1978, Moon put on a great deal of weight. Moon's close friend Ringo Starr was seriously concerned about his 'Rock Star' lifestyle and told Moon that if he kept going the way he was he would eventually kill himself. Moon simply replied 'Yeah, I know.'[27] Moon owned a lilac-coloured Rolls-Royce, painted with house paint. On Top Gear,[28] Daltrey commented that Moon liked to take upper-class icons and make them working class. The car is now owned by Middlebrook Garages (based in Nottinghamshire, England). In 2005 Jeremy Clarkson recreated for Top Gear the stunt where Moon allegedly drove his Cadillac into a swimming pool. Clarkson drove a Rolls Royce into the Chipping Norton Lido, a public outdoor heated swimming pool
I didn't hear much musical decline in Moon. He slowed down a bit in the later years but I think became a far more musical drummer. I admired his tremendous energy and chops as a young man but I thought it was often a bit too much. Energy is only one part of music, and not necessarily always the most important part. I'm amazed anyone could call his playing on WHO BY NUMBERS "plodding" - just not the case.
Moon's playing from the Houston Summit Nov 20, 1975 video is fabulous he's in relatively good shape and on top of things, also in fun spirits moon's playing from the Kilburn 77 gig is slow in places he has seriously gained a lot of weight and looks out of breath in places it's painful to watch except that Townsend is on fire and also hamming it up Eddie Vedder said "Keith plays lead drums, John lead bass and Townsend lead guitar all at once, utter madness" this is in the Amazing Journey Story of the Who
Either that or perhaps the inability to realize that style, creativity and feel are more important than technical proficiency when it comes to playing rock-n-roll.
To be fair, I've also read that Bruford did eventually warm up to Keith. Unlike the rest of the guys in Yes, (who were all big Who fans) Bruford has referred to himself as a "Jazz snob". On the other hand, when you have legends like Elvin Jones and Tony Williams singing your praises, you must be doing something quite extraordinary. World class drummers like Neil Peart and Mike Portnoy have both called Keith their first drum hero. "I had to have Keith - I wanted that power and excitement behind me. There was no one else." - Jeff Beck "The man is a drummer. Everything he plays, he contains it." - Elvin Jones on Keith Moon "I'll tell you what Keith Moon is - Keith Moon is what legends are made of" - Charlie Watts "He's beautiful. Totally free." - Tony Williams on Keith Moon
Me, the person that can't spell or even use the quote right? If you would belive it then heck yes but otherwise From Wikipedia.
