Keith Moon – The Drummer or The Animal

It has been said that Pete Townshend of The Who was  the brains of the band, Roger Daltrey along with John Entwistle were the heart, and Keith Moon with his comical and madcap style was the soul of the band.

Out of the four band members, Keith was probably the most colourful, care-free member of the band, as he lived life and played his music to an extreme level that only few could rival.

Keith was well known for his excessive drinking, partying, and for his passion for explosives, whether it was blowing up his drum kit on stage or toilets in the hotels, Keith would always do it with a smile on his face and a twinkle in his eye.

Keith was born onAugust 23, 1946, in WellesdenEngland.  Ever since early childhood, Keith had a love for music and showmanship.  He would listen to the BBC comedy troupe The Goons, and the next week he would act out the comedy sketches as his daily repertoire in school.

His music teacher would summarize Keith’s character and his future antics by stating that “great ability, but most guard against tendency to show off”.

Prior to the age of 13, Keith played the bugle and then, the trumpet in the Sea Cadets.  At 13, Keith stopped playing the trumpet, and advanced to the bass drum.   Movies such as “Drum Crazy” about the late great drummer Gene Krupa, became a motivation for Keith as he later described the movie to be a changing factor in his musical career.

After receiving drum lessons from the Savages’ drummer Carlo Little, Keith joined the Escorts, where he was described as “madness bordering on genius”.  In December 1962, Keith joined the Beachcombers, until the fateful day when he joined The Who in April 1964.

As the popularity of The Who started to materialize as an exciting and thrilling band,  Pete broke his guitar at the low ceiling of a popular club The Railway.  Pete proceeded to smash the guitar making it appear as part of the act.  Next week the crowd was disappointed that Pete did not smash his guitar as previously, so Keith proceeded to smash his drumkit, and the rest became history.

Unfortunately, Keith’s musical talent is overshadowed by his aptitude for showmanship.  His stunts such as dressing up like Adolf Hitler in Steve McQueen’s house, throwing tv’s  from hotel balconies, blowing up hotel toilets with explosives, reportedly striping naked on tv shows and airports, swinging from chandeliers like the three Musketeers, leaving a hover craft on train tracks and delaying railway traffic, passing out at concerts, and consuming dangerous dozes of alcohol and barbiturates has earned him the nickname “Moon the Loon”.

Possibly one of his most well documented stunts was on the Smothers Brothers show when Keith unknowing to the rest of the band placed an explosive charge three times the usual amount into his drumkit, and upon explosion was the catalyst for Pete Townshend’s hearing loss.

For the trivia buffs, the character Animal, on the Muppet Show is based on Keith Moon and his affinity for intense and excessive showmanship, hence the title of this post.

At the age of 32. onSeptember 7, 1978, Keith passed away in his sleep due to an overdose of prescription drugs.

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