Keith Moon

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The only thing I would say to anyone about Keith Moon is to get Live At Leeds, Tommy and Who's Next and really study the playing. It is really fresh and original, if at times sloppy, but there is never a dull moment. The man played like a frustrated guitarist and he loved to play along with the vocals. Yes, he was a very sad figure, but remember that he changed the course of rock drumming.
 
All just an opinion .... but:

Keith Moon was rock and roll ... He did it all first.... and in the years when he was playing at his best... nothing anyone has done since has come close.

In rock - he was the first to bring the drums forward as more than just time keeping, in fact he brought them forward as more than just another instrument... at times he made them centre stage ... with or without antics...

When he was on it, he lost himself in his drumming... instinct overtook everything and his feelings/emotions spoke (or shouted) through the skins....

Sure he made faces, he did sometimes blow up his drum kit as a finale, or just smash it alongside Pete destroying the odd guitar or amp... He became famous for his off-stage antics, facts and rumours blended into myth and legend - and he became a celebrity. This stuff along with the energy, anger, newness and unapologetic arrogance of their music, succeeded in helping to get (and keep) The Who famous...

But these things divert attention from the fact that at his best, - he was the best there has ever been.

Watch the 'Live at the Isle of Wight DVD' ... listen to 'Who's Next' ... which are around the time I think he was drumming at his peak.

Accused of being "Sloppy?" ... Maybe.... but if so 'sloppy' in the same way that Hendrix didn't pluck every note bang on the beat, sloppy like Keith Richards is often an 8th or so behind with the dirty sounding Tele ... sloppy in the way Dylan's or Morrisey's poetry snd prose doesn't always meter exactly into the 4/4 of their songs... Any less of a genius because of it? .... NO ..... It's an integral part of the magic...

Moonie's explosive drumming was the powerhouse that drove The Who's music

(You can probably guess I'm a fan ... !) .... But once familiar with The Who's music, you hear how much their infuence flows through so many bands that have followed of almost any genre. I can't think of many - if any - rock drummers that have followed, who have none of Keith's influence in their playing. - After all - he did it first...

As a note, he also said he thought drum solo's pointless and boring.....

As for things like the 'goldfish' solo, - it was done in latter years when Keith's constant daily consumption of brandy, champagne and all kinds of illicit substances had reached such levels to leave him slow, slurry and unable to connect with his talent within. He may have been sitting on the drum stool, but he was so stoned that to all intents and purposes he wasn't really even there. Don't judge him on that performance, listen to and watch some of his earlier work.

The only drummer I have heard that can possibly equal Keith back in his heyday .... is Zak Starkey.

Any comments anyone?!!
 
keith definately wasn't sloppy. he kept a solid beat all the time, and for some of his songs it sounded like he was doing a perfectly timed fill for the whole song. he was fast and fun and creative on the drums, and fun is something few drummers demonstrate as well as he did.
 
Rudy McRudster said:
I was never a fan of Keith Moon. His style is always so sloppy and, a lot of the time, overplayed. And if there's one groove that makes my blood boil it's definately "You Better", or at least I think that's what it's called. It is just so annoying and never goes anywhere.

Now, I'm not saying he's terrible. He's been a big influence to many drummers, but I just don't like his style.


Sorry, kid. 'You Better' is not Keith.
 
Speedy said:
Heck No!!! lol....Bonham at one point did have a double bass setup, but he hated it with a passion.

....


Bonham, actually enjoyed playing double bass drums....the other guys in Zeppelin were the ones that hated it.
 
Keith Moon was an original.

His approach to the instrument was very muched based in psuedo jazz. He played the vocal phrase line and rhythm, as opposed to Bonham, who concentrated on shadowing the guitar as the hinge point for his rhythmic approach. Moon's favourite 'type' of music was 'surf'. The Beachboys, Jan+Dean etc.

Moon was a very sad and tragic character(no doubt this will be dealt with in the movie), he suffered from feelings of inadequecy, was lonely all the time, even with a crowd of people around, and constantly seeking approval as a means of dealing with the feelings he had. When it didn't work, he turned to substance abuse.

If you get a chance to see 'Who's Next' on the series Classic Albums, there's a wonderful segment where Daltrey pushes up the faders on Moon's kit during Baba O, and just by listening to the drums, you know where you are in the song....this is a perfect example of his approach to the instrument.

Sloppy?......maybe while under the effects of substances, however, as Entwistle says' Keith ALWAYS knew where the beat was'.
 
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If anyone has The Kids Are Alright DVD you can really enjoy a clip where The Who plays Barbara Ann by the Beachboys. Keith is made lead singer for that song, and I find it absolutely hysterical. I must have watched that clip a thousand times!
 
Oxygeneral said:
The man played like a frustrated guitarist and he loved to play along with the vocals.
I read once that Keith Moon's advice to any beginning drummer was to learn guitar, because of the fact that he pretty much always followed the guitar.
 
If you listen to his drumming, - he often played fairly straight during vocals, - but the fills he played between were (apart from often being out of this world) great "left-field" echoes of the rhythm of the words, not just filling, - but driving the song adding an extra dimension to the whole track.

wontgetfooledagain said:
I read once that Keith Moon's advice to any beginning drummer was to learn guitar, because of the fact that he pretty much always followed the guitar.

Everyone knows the old rock cliche of "duelling guitars" on stage, with the axemen swapping licks and trading and bouncing off each other's playing ... On stage when Pete was playing guitar solos, Keith often played the part of a mirror and/or musical antagonist to Pete's riffs and licks. He would watch Pete and play fills that weren't just a foil within the breaks in the lead guitar, but a drumming equivalent of a musical question/answer sequences which built the whole tension and expression of the solos higher and higher, following Pete's lead perfectly - whilst still somehow managing to compete for equal attention on the stage.

Keith’s drumming not only flowed through echoes of both vocals and guitar, it thumped out a rolling solid beat that remained the engine that drove the band.

His antics, flying drumsticks, “full-on - let it all go” energy and wild expressions were showmanship that demanded attention, whilst both complementing and competing with the windmills and swirling microphones of those in front of him on the stage. When the Who played live: They put on an amazing show.
 
Keith Moon (Drum Solo?)...

I've heard the solo off of his biography on Drummerworld, but is there anymore? This solo dosen't seem like Keith, for some odd reason...


Thanks,
Zack.
 
I haven't read through this entire thread so I don't know if I'm repeating anything, but...

There is a song called The Ox on the My Generation CD that's sort of a drum solo. The song sounds a lot like Wipeout, as Keith basically does a continuous drum roll through the entire song.

I have a DVD on his life (got it on eBay, questionable video quality) that shows him doing a brief drum solo on a clear Vistalite-like kit, but I've never seen it on a CD.

These are the only things I know of. You could post an inquiry on the OddsandSods discussion group - look on www.thewho.net to subscribe. There are lots of experts there who could tell you if there's anything else available.

If you listen to those other two solos, you'll see that the Drummerworld solo does indeed sound like him. He was wild, often seemed unstructured, and his timing often seemed off when he played by himself. That was Keith.

It's well known that Keith didn't like doing drum solos (he didn't do one when I saw them live in 1973), he just liked to play along with The Who's music. IMHO he was great at that and a perfect fit for them. He's my favorite drummer.
 
Upon Meeting Mr. Moon

I misspent much of my high school and college careers at Who concerts all up and down the East Coast, riveted to the antics of the flambouyant, bug-eyed dummer who clearly was more than just a little bit nuts. As mentioned in posts above, the DVD of the Isle of Wight Festival of 1970 captures Keith Moon's stage presence perfectly. This shows him as I remember him in the late 60s, full of energy, upstaging his chums, and clearly having more fun that anyone else at the concert. The fact that Moon was such a comedic showman makes it hard for many to take him seriously as a drummer. It's almost like everyone thinks of him as the Spike Jones of rock.

But, to call him sloppy is to do him a disservice. Granted, he quickly lost his edge in the mid-70s but look closely at how disciplined he is on the Isle of Wight DVD (1970). Sure, it looks like he's just flailing away at will, but he is very much in synch with his mates and clearly drives the music forward. Would he fit in with any band of that era? Probably not. It is hard to imagine him with the Beatles, Doors, Rolling Stones, Kinks, or even the Yardbirds. Each band had their own style and Moon was a perfect fit for the Who sound and stage show.

Speaking of which, one of my fondest memories is sitting in the back of the RKO Theater in NYC and talking with Keith Moon during intermission at the 1967 Murray the K Easter Show. The week-long show was the Who's first US appearance and they were largely unknown outside of a few geeks like myself who traveled from my home outside Wash, DC specifically to see The Who in the flesh. To make a long story short, I talked Keith into sitting down for a few minutes at the back of the nearly deserted theater and I am sure that I impressed him with the fact that I, too, played drums (although for a group with considerably less talent and far less of a future).

At the time, he was just a twenty-year old British kid on his first trip to the States hoping to make it big with this very loud band. He was quiet soft-spoken and maybe even then a little out of it. Then, when other fans began gathering around us, he excused himself and walked out the front door of theater and onto the streets of NY in company with some roadie. It occurred to me later that I probably could have tagged along and had quite an adventure to tell my kids had I survived it.
 
A point could be argued that a musician's job is to express his/her personality, ideas and emotions through their instruments. If we can hold this as an accepted truth, then Keith Moon definitely holds incredible validity as a musician.

His anti-technique was mystifying, to be sure, but his playing more times than not transcended any lack of schooled chops. Within the context of The Who, his contribution to the spirit of the music was crucial, as much an identifiable presence and Townshend's electrifying guitar, Entwhistle's frenetic bass and Daltrey's blue-eyed soulful vocals. While Moon the Loon is legendary by his off-stage antics, Keith the Musician is immortalized in the sublime drumming of the Who's classic repetoire, particularly Who's Next, Quadrophenia and Tommy.

Long Live Moonie!

TOMANO
 
Found a great site for anyone interested in all of Keith Moon's Premier (and Zickos))
kits - covering his entire career 1961-1978. Lots of history, pictures and setup diagrams.
Very detailed. The "Pictures of Lilly" kit is particularly memorable.
Anybody who loves vintage drums, Premier, or Moon himself should check it out.

http://www.thewho.net:16080/whotabs/equipment/drums
 
The drummer on Emminence Front is 5,000 times better than Keith Moon's best day. (ok, slight hyperbole, but still, you all get my point I hope.)

A little restraint goes a long way. Yes, even in Rock 'n Roll.
 
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Stu_Strib said:
The drummer on Emminence Front is 5,000 times better than Keith Moon's best day.

A little restraint goes a long way. Yes, even in Rock 'n Roll.

Wow. 5000 times is a lot! Have to check him out (yawn).
 
Loge said:
Wow. 5000 times is a lot! Have to check him out (yawn).

I don't even know who it is. All I know is it ISN'T Keith Moon, so that makes it pretty good.

Seriously though, Moon would have wrecked that tune. The guy comes of the backbeat, what, one time total? Who was it that said "it isn't the notes you play, it's the ones you don't" or something like that?

edit: Is it Kenny Jones?
 
Re: Moony: may be a repost . . .

The guy is a fruitcake.....but so entertaining! His style of playing is not the most technical but you can practically see the energy and passion bursting from him when hes playing.
 
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