Keith Moon - Drummer Extrordinaire - Part 1

"extraordinaire" defined:
"Outstanding or remarkable in a particular capacity."


Keith John Moon was born August 23, 1946 in Wembley, Middlesex, England.
He grew up in Alperton, a suburb of Wembley, and took up the drums in the early 1960s.
His favorite musicians were jazz artists, particularly Gene Krupa.
He also admired Elvis Presley's original drummer, D.J. Fontana, The Shadows original drummer, Tony Meehan, and The Pretty Thing's Viv Prince.
He idolized The Beach Boys

Moon joined his first serious band, The Escorts, replacing his best friend, Gerry Evans.
In December, 1062, he joined The Beachcombers, a semi-professional London cover band playing hits by groups such as The Shadows.
The Beachcombers all had day jobs
Moon, who worked in the sales department at British Gypsum, wanted to turn professional

In April, 1964, at age 17, he auditioned for The Who as a replacement for drummer Doug Sandom.
Moon's arrival in The Who changed the dynamics of the group.
Sandom had generally been the "peacemaker," as Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend often feuded between themselves, but because of Moon's temperament the group now had four members frequently in conflict.
"We used to fight regularly," remembered Moon in later years.
"John" [Entwistle] and I used to have fights - it wasn't very serious."
Moon also clashed with Daltrey and Townshend.
"We really have absolutely nothing in common apart from music," he said in a later interview.

Although not an especially gifted vocalist, Moon was enthusiastic about singing and wanted to sing lead with the rest of the group.
He provided humorous commentary during song announcements, although sound engineer Bob Pridden preferred to mute his vocal microphone on the mixing desk whenever possible.
Moon's knack for making his bandmates laugh around the microphone led them to banish him from the studio when vocals were being recorded; this led to a game in which Moon would sneak in to join the singing.
[At the end of "Happy Jack," Townshend can be heard saying "I saw ya" as he tried to sneak into the studio]

The drummer's interest in surf music and his desire to sing lead spawned lead vocals on several early tracks, including "Bucket T" and "Barbara Ann" [Ready Steady- Who LP] and high backing vocals on other songs, such as "Pictures of Lily"
Moon's performance on "Bell Boy" [Quadrophenia, 1973] saw him abandon "serious" vocal performances to sing in character, which gave him [in biographer Tony Fletcher's words],
"full license to live up to his reputation as a lecherous drunk," it was "exactly the kind of performance The Who needed from him to bring them back down to earth."

[End of Part 1]