🌊 SURF 'N TURF 🏝️
-THE BORACAY ISLAND LIFE-
Born on this date, August 23, 1946, English drummer extraordinaire Keith Moon of The Who. Moon was voted the second-greatest drummer in history by a Rolling Stone readers' poll. With The Who he scored the 1965 UK No.2 single 'My Generation' plus over 20 other Top 40 hits, 1967 US No.9 single 'I Can See For Miles' and groundbreaking rock opera albums 'Tommy' & 'Quadrophenia'.
Moon was noted for his unique style and his eccentric, often self-destructive behaviour. His drumming, which emphasized tom-toms, cymbal crashes, and drum fills, continues to be praised by critics and musicians. In an era when drummers were generally tasteful time-keepers, Moon revolutionized the role of drummer and the approach drummers took to their role within a group. Moon has been credited as one of the earliest rock drummers to regularly employ double bass drums in his setup. Quite simply he changed rock drumming forever.
He was hyperactive as a boy, with a restless imagination and a particular fondness for The Goon Show and music. Moon attended Alperton Secondary Modern School after failing his eleven plus exam. His art teacher said in a report: "Retarded artistically. Idiotic in other respects". His music teacher wrote that Moon "has great ability, but must guard against a tendency to show off."
After playing with a local surf music band the Beachcombers, he joined the Who in 1964 before they recorded their first single. Moon remained with the band during their rise to fame, and was quickly recognized for his drumming style.
Moon enjoyed touring and socializing, and became bored and restless when the Who were inactive. His 21st birthday party in Flint, Michigan, has been cited as a notorious example of decadent behaviour by rock groups after he drove a car into a hotel swimming pool. Townshend described Moon as a "completely different person to anyone I've ever met."
According to Townshend, Moon began destroying hotel rooms when the Who stayed at the Berlin Hilton on tour in late 1966. In addition to hotel rooms, Moon destroyed friends' homes and even his own, throwing furniture from upper-storey windows and lighting fires. Andrew Neill and Matthew Kent estimated that his destruction of hotel toilets and plumbing cost as much as £300,000 ($500,000). These acts, often fueled by drugs and alcohol, were Moon's way of demonstrating his eccentricity; he enjoyed shocking the public with them. Longtime friend and personal assistant Butler observed, "He was trying to make people laugh and be Mr Funny, he wanted people to love him and enjoy him, but he would go so far. Like a train ride you couldn't stop."
He became addicted to alcohol, particularly brandy and champagne, and acquired a reputation for decadence and dark humour, earning the nickname "Moon the Loon." After moving to Los Angeles with personal assistant Peter "Dougal" Butler during the mid-1970s, Moon recorded his only solo album, the poorly received Two Sides of the Moon. While touring with the Who, on several occasions he passed out on stage and was hospitalized. By their final tour with him in 1976, and particularly during production of The Kids Are Alright and Who Are You, the drummer's deterioration was evident. Moon moved back to London in 1978, dying on September 7th of that year from an overdose of Heminevrin, a drug intended to treat or prevent symptoms of alcohol withdrawal.
On this same date, August 23, 1967, one day after performing in Winnipeg, while enjoying a wild birthday party, Keith Moon, drummer with The Who, drove a rented Lincoln car into a Holiday Inn swimming pool. As the party had become out of control, including stomping the birthday cake into an expensive hotel carpet, the police were called to put an end to the festivities. Moon, ever keen to avoid the boys in blue, snuck outside and got into a Lincoln Continental Limousine and attempted to make a getaway. Unfortunately, in his inebriated state, he released the handbrake, and began rolling towards the pool. Moon simply sat back and waited, as the car crashed through the fence around the pool and into the water. Moon the Loon, indeed.
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