One of my very favorite drummers of all time is Keith Moon of The Who. He is the first drummer I remember ever focusing on with my complete attention while listening to a song. I remember being simply blown away by how varied his drumming was and how he could play so much yet still carry the rhythm of the song. The way Keith interacted with The Who’s music is simply perfect and The Who were a great band because of the way Keith played. Keith had a way of intertwining with the vocals, bass and guitar that would lift the other instruments up without overpowering them. It always amazed me how he could sound so scattered and out of time, yet be so perfectly in sync with the music.
Today I’m posting a couple of videos of the amazing Keith Moon. In the first clip, members of The Who discuss Keith’s role in the band. In the second, Carmine Appice introduces an extremely rare clip of Keith Moon playing a long drum solo. There are hardly any video recordings of Keith Moon playing a drum solo, so this is a real treat. Though I do believe that Carmine Appice is incorrect when he says Keith never used a hi-hat. Enjoy!
The Who on Keith Moon
Classic Rock Drum Solos – Keith Moon
Hi-hats… yeah, he used them, but sparingly. You can see Hi-hats on his kit in both vids.
Keith is not in the same league as drummers like Neil Peart, but as a kid, I would have rather played along to a Who song any day over Rush. Very fun, very easy to watch and get into. I’m sure he’s a big reason why thousands of drummers picked up the sticks to begin with.
Good comment Knarf0, the thing with Keith is he got to go nuts on the drums and it worked. Neil is extremely disciplined, every hit has a place. Keith on the other hand would jam all kinds of different beats and fills into one song but it ended up giving The Who a frenetic energy that gave The Who it’s signature sound.
So many drummers are interchangeable out there, but The Who without Keith just wasn’t the same.