The Who: The Tragic Death of Keith Moon

The Who: Keith Moon, the tragic death of the drummer.

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Keith Moon played a crucial role in the Who’s early success. But as much as he’d receive acclaim for his distinctive drumming, he’d also gain notoriety for his self-destructive behavior. In fact, Moon would die in 1978 at the young age of 32 as a direct result of such behavior, right as the band were celebrating the release of their seminal eighth album, Who Are You. Today, we’ll explore the life and death of Keith Moon, the Who’s best-known drummer.
Keith Moon was born in 1946 in London, England, and raised in Wembley. Moon was thought to have a restless imagination as a child, and took a strong liking to British radio comedy, while music resonated with him just the same. Moon grew up in a post-World War 2 environment, and like many children at the time, was oblivious to the anxieties that remained prevalent. On an episode of the docuseries Living Famously, music journalist Tony Fletcher would surmise how Moon, as well as other children, processed the world around them, saying,
“The kids who grew up…don’t have their parents’ experiences of the war. They don’t understand their longing for this peaceful, quiet life, and to be quite honest, they’re bored; that’s the bottom line,” adding, “You throw Keith into this, and there really can’t be any question that he would’ve qualified these days as being hyperactive.”
By 1961, rock music expanded its reach worldwide. Moon was a teenager at this point, often performing poorly in school, and as a way to channel his hyperactivity, he started taking drum lessons at age 14. During one of The Who’s first visits to America, Moon would recall his initial experience with playing drums before the lessons took place,
“It’s too far back to remember, but I can talk about when I first got interested in wanting to play an instrument. [It] was the Beach Boys who really started me playing drums. I hadn’t really thought about playing an instrument until I heard music that I wanted to play [along to]. I’d have a kit and just play along with a record in my room, and then I’d join a group and do some stuff with them,” he’d say.
When asked if he’d played along to other records besides the Beach Boys, Moon would respond:
“Yeah, I liked Eddie Cochran and Dionne [Warwick]. There were mainly American groups in those days, because Britain wasn’t really playing a lot of stuff. There were a few English [acts] then, but they didn’t impress me; I can’t remember any. It was like that until the Beatles came along, and then I started to have a serious outlook on playing.”
Moon’s drum tutor would be Carlo Little, who was well-known as the drummer for the musician Screaming Lord Such, and who’d profoundly influence Moon’s playing, as he taught him the unrestrained, hard-hitting style he’d become famous for.
Little would comment on just how intense their lessons would get, even to the point of going overtime. “Instead of an hour, or an hour and a half, [they] would be three or four hours. Sometimes, we’d have the amplifiers going so loud that we started to see the ceiling crack, and bits of plaster falling off the walls,” he’d say.
After several years playing professionally, Moon became competent in his musicianship, and by 1964, he’d audition for The Who. Prior to his joining, he was drumming for another band, The Beachcombers. Meanwhile, The Who were an up-and-coming R&B cover band consisting of frontman Roger Daltry, guitarist Pete Townshend, bassist John Entwistle, and an indefinite replacement for previous drummer Doug Sandom, who was normally the peacekeeper in the band. Townshend discussed in a 1975 interview how Moon auditioned for the band, and was taken aback by his appearance, saying,
“Keith Moon rolled up one day, ginger all over – ginger shoes, ginger corduroy trousers, ginger jacket, and his hair died ginger, holding a glass of brown ale – this complete ginger vision.”
“[He’d come] up and say, ‘I can play better than him.’ [He was] this horrible impudent…got up on the drummer’s drum kit, and practically smashed it to pieces.”
“We thought, ‘This is the man for us,’” he’d say.
As mentioned in the 2014 book Rockin’ In Time, Moon was quoted with explaining the experience in further detail, saying,
“I got behind this other guy's drums and did one song, 'Roa