im glad you did cletuss, the idea of these things is supposed to be entertaining and informative,nothing wrong with a little banter!

Fellows, i got to see the loon twice, and don't forget, the who is upper echelon of bands and with entwistle, daughtry, and townsend, moonie was their guy, for a reason!!!!. like townsend said, he tied me and the ox together like no one could, moonie did fulfil the song "hope i die before i get old", poor dougal had his hands totally full with trying to keep moonie on track, but moonie was moonie, a genius doesn't follow a path they blaze one, so to my good pal cletuss, here we are discussing one of rocks pioneer drummers and thats what really matters, moonie could not be copied, and damn i sure do miss him,, D' Drummer

Have any of you discussed the "why" Moon switched to such extremes in the early 70's? Prior to that, he was outrageous. But something triggered his change and he became self-destructive...as opposed to just zany.

If you read up on his life, you find that he was involved in a very tragic accident.

He was exiting a bar and some toughs got serious about pounding him and his chauffeur and his body guard. One of them (I can't recall if it was his body guard or his chauffeur) got out of the car to calm the scene down and Moon panicked. He jumped behind the wheel to flee the scene and accidentally backed over his friend and killed him. That plagued him for the rest of his life.

He felt that his cowardice cost the life of his friend and he couldn't deal with it. He began a downward spiral into a very self-destructive life.

So, while it's true that he missed a concert or two and his playing suffered, we really should remember the reason for his demise. It wasn't that he was less of a drummer at all. He felt that he was less of a man. He never made peace with that.

The footage of Moon passing out onstage was the famous Cow Palace incident and it was a one-time occurance. Moon's offstage antics never again caused problems with gigs for the Who. He took his job with the Who 100% seriously, after all drumming and being onstage was his life.

Please don't ever compare a musical genius such as Keith Moon to a lame singer (Axl Rose) ever again. There is no comparison. Its apples and oranges.

If anyone wants to know what Moon was really all about I recommend a book by Tony Fletcher.....Moon: The life and death of a rock legend. There is no better read about the man.

Yes this is definitely Moon playing on these isolated tracks. Definitelt hs snare sound. As far as Moon being sloppy sounding.....thats him, on most tracks the who recorded. Also, he used to scream like that on the difficult parts (fills if you will). Take a listen to Cobwebs and Strange....Moon screams in the background on that. Take a listen to Jeff Beck's song Beck's Bolero......yes that's Keith on the drums on that. The major scream in tha background when the guitars and drums get heavy....yep Keith again. No doubt that this is Moon playing ths out-take.

I just don't understand how a guy like NP gets totally dissed on a drum site?

I recall a similair thread a little while back where I believe it was Mastrosnare but don't quote me (or him) on this, who said that hitting every note of Tom Sawyer was the measure of acquired chops back in his day!!

For the record, I love The Who and think their music was sweet. I just never thought of Keith Moon as an A list drummer and still have my doubts he belongs on that list. I believe the antics moreso than the technical expertise elevated him to the annals of drumming, and his sad, untimely departure only served to fuel this elevation further.

have a wonderful evening

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If you want to revise your A-list of drummers with Keith on it might I suggest a few of his finest works.....Live at Leeds, Who's Next, Quadrophenia, and lets not forget about Tommy. Re-listen to them and listen to what he's playing. There is a reason he's a legend (other than the antics)......

Kieth moon was a total genius, if you didn't see his live performances then video is the next best thing, keith moon's place in history as a innovator and absolutely an A Lister is with out any question,THE WHO is comprised of pete Townsend, roger daughtry, john entwistle, and kieth moon, these 4 individuals were and are pioneers in their perspective fields, they are and will always be Rock royalty,they are heads above the band rush,i've seen rush 4 times they are a great band, but the who are ROYALTY, the who show is an experience you don't forget.

Wow, this is really good stuff. If I may, let me chime in on Neil Peart also. When I was 16 or so, I heard a local band perform Tom Sawyer and thought "hmmm... I'll have to give this band Rush a listen." And I did. What I came away with was a total appreciation for the technical expertise that NP showed in his playing. Ditto for Geddy and to some degree Alex, but emotionally, I felt drawn to drummers like Bonham, Krupa and even Ringo.

We can argue all day about who had better chops, but in the end it's the personal connection one feels with another human that makes an impact on us, right? I can appreciate Buddy Rich's technique but I still find Krupa's unique feel to be the thing that makes me smile when I hear a song like Sing, Sing, Sing. I've seen videos of the drum battles between Krupa and Rich - And it looks to me like Buddy is holding back a bit. Maybe I'm just seeing what I want to see, but I get the feeling that even the great Buddy Rich was able to appreciate what Krupa did for drummers, and therefore, not step on his toes too much.

There's no doubt in my mind that Buddy's chops were "better" than Gene's, and Peart's are "better" than Moon's. Big deal. Chops aren't the only thing which makes a musician great, in my opinion.

Antics and wackiness aside, Moon made history as a member of The Who. I can appreciate his contribution to drumming, but I feel that plenty of other drummers of that era were just as good, if not better.

BTW... I love the drumming on Beck's Bolero, screams included. Have a listen to Jeff Beck's The Pump from his album There And Back - Simon Phillips is (IMHO),on this particular recording, the perfect balance of chops and feel.

That's cool. I never really saw anybody live except for the Oak Ridge Boys with my grandma when I was a kid. Concerts really aren't my thing. The reality of the situation is it is ridiculous for me or anyone really to really criticize a pro drummer who sold a lot of records. It is like guys who never played a down of football watching tv saying how much a player sucks. Laughing H

It is a matter of taste and personal preference and I think I will jam to some Big Money right now, then maybe follow that up with some Teenage Wasteland. How bout that for a compromise?

have a wonderful evening

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