This blog, The Who Keith Moon Years, was written as the companion blog to the Rock’n’Roll Unravelled Show on Access North West. It was first broadcast on 6 May 2019, to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Who’s Tommy. The Who’s Tommy was released in the UK on 23 May 1969.
For the PODCAST associated with this blog
THE WHO – KEITH MOON YEARS
ROAD TO THE WHO
Pete Townshend and John Entwistle were together in the Confederates, a trad jazz band c.1959. John Entwistle played the French horn and trumpet, and Pete Townshend played banjo. They stayed together in the Aristocrats and the Scorpions, before joining Roger Daltrey in the Detours.
Roger Daltrey was in the Detours before the others joined, by late 1963 the band was:
Roger Daltrey: guitar and vocals
John Entwistle: bass – joined in mid-1961
Pete Townshend: guitar – joined in 1962
Doug Sandom: drums – joined in mid-1962
22 December 1963: The Detours supported the Rolling Stones at Putney’s St Mary’s Hall in west London. Urban legend has it that Pete Townshend saw Keith Richard stretch his arm high above his head just as the curtains were about to open. Townshend thought, I like that, and his trademark swinging arm motion was born that night.
1 February 1964: Johnny Devlin and The Detours appeared on UK TV’s pop music show Thank Your Lucky Stars. This galvanised Roger Daltrey’s Detours into changing their name to the Who.
9 April 1964: The Who had their first audition for Fontana. Later that same day they auditioned again, for BBC Radio. They failed both auditions.
At Fontana they auditioned for A&R man Chris Parmenter. He identified Doug Sandom as the weak link in the band. After 2 years with the group he was out. A very similar story to Pete Best and the Beatles.
The Who’s name was a little fluid at this time. They auditioned for Fontana as The Who. By the time their Fontana single came out they were The High Numbers. When Pete Townshend applied to the BBC for an audition, he did so as The Detours. On the day, they auditioned as The Who.
Auditions began, to replace Doug Sandom. Hopefuls included: Brian Redman ex-Fourmost; future Jimi Hendrix Experience drummer Mitch Mitchell and, of course, Keith Moon…
KEITH MOON
23 August 1946: The youngest member of the Who, Keith Moon was born in Wembley, London.
25 June 1962: Keith Moon approached Carlo Little for drum lessons, at a Screaming Lord Sutch and the Savages gig at Wembley Town Hall. Carlo Little also played on a regular basis with with the Rolling Stones, before Charlie Watts became the regular occupant of the drum stool.
5 September 1962: Mark Twain and the Strangers, with Keith Moon, failed an audition for the BBC Light Programme. They lost out to the Dave Clark Five. Keith Moon went on to join the Beachcombers.
In the spring of 1963 Keith Moon auditioned for Shane Fenton and the Fentones. He lost out to future-Hollies drummer Bobby Elliott. Shane Fenton famously reinvented himself Alvin Stardust.
In late April 1964, Keith Moon auditioned for the Who at the Oldfield Hotel in Greenford, London. For the audition they played Bo Diddley’s Road Runner. Urban legend has it that he destroyed the bass-pedal during his brief time onstage. Roadrunner – written by E McDaniel, better known as Bo Diddley, had an R&B #20 with the song in 1960.
THE CLASSIC LINEUP WAS NOW IN PLACE
Guitarist Pete Townshend, singer Roger Daltrey, bassist John Entwistle and drummer Keith Moon.
5 May 1964: The Who’s second audition for Fontana.
Once again, they auditioned for Fontana A&R man Chris Parmenter but this time Keith Moon replaced Doug Sandom. The audition led to their first single, Zoot Suit c/w I’m the Face. By the time the single was released they were calling themselves The High Numbers.
In the summer of 1964 the Who met Peter Meaden, a prominent figure in the Mod movement. It was Meaden who created the group’s “Mod” image and changed their name to “The High Numbers”.
3 July 1964: The High Numbers released Zoot Suit c/w I’m the Face (UK), their only single on the Fontana record label. Both sides were written by Peter Meaden and it was promoted as the first authentic Mod record.
16 August 1964: The High Numbers supported the Beatles at Harold Fielding’s Sunday Night at the Blackpool Opera House. The middle of the show was a veritable Mod-fest, with the Kinks closing the first half and the High Numbers opening after interval.
24 November 1964: A landmark in the Who’s career, they played their first Tuesday night residency slot at London’s Marquee Club.
15 January 1965: The Who released their first UK single, I Can’t Explain on the Brunswick label. The jury’s out as to whether or not Jimmy Page performed on the record but the background vocals were definitely from the Ivy League.
29 October 1965: They released their classic My Generation single. Pete Townshend wrote the song and it was effectively their last single produced by Shel Talmy. It was engineered by Glyn Johns.
19 November 1965: Roger Daltrey stormed offstage mid-performance.
Earlier in the day the group performed live on Ready Steady Go!, before rushing across to the Wembley Empire Pool to appear at the Glad Rag Ball. There were around 3,000 people in the hall when the Who took to the stage. They used the hall’s own PA equipment. When they started their performance Daltrey disgusted with the quality of the sound and stormed off the stage. The Who’s road crew set up the band’s own equipment, whilst other three band members played on. Once the sound-system was in place Daltrey returned to the stage and continued with the concert.
6 December 1965: Keith Moon was replaced by Viv Prince for 10-days. Illness forced Keith Moon to take a break from live performances. This gig came shortly after Viv Prince was sacked from the Pretty Things. Moon back on the drum seat on 17 December.
FROM BRUNSWICK TO REACTION
In 1966 the Who parted company with Shel Talmy at Brunswick and Kit Lambert became their producer at Reaction
In early March 1966 they released their first single on their new Reaction label, Substitute c/w Instant Party.
(For the full story of Substitute, check out the previous Rock’n’Roll Unravelled Show – The Cream Story.
In short, Shel Talmy produced the band’s Brunswick singles and during that time they had already recorded a version of the Pete Townshend penned song Instant Party. Shel Talmy took a dim view of this re-recorded version of Instant Party on their new label and obtained an injunction which stopped sales and prevented the Who from recording. He also released Legal Matter c/w Instant Party on Brunswick.
In order to prevent sales of their new hit Substitute stalling, they rereleased it with a new B-side Substitute c/w Waltz for a Pig. This new B-side was credited to the Who Orchestra, which was actually the Graham Bond Organisation. Ginger Baker was with Graham Bond and wrote the song.
16 May 1966: Jeff Beck recorded Beck’s Bolero, he was still with the Yardbirds at the time.
(For the full story of Beck’s Bolero, check out the previous Rock’n’Roll Unravelled Show – How Led Zeppelin Came Together.
In short, the lineup included Keith Moon and Jimmy Page. Around this time Keith Moon and John Entwistle were unhappy at the Who. They talked to Jimmy Page about forming a band and suggested that it would be so heavy that it would “go down like a lead Zeppelin”. A term used by the Who for a gig going badly. The new band never came about but when Jimmy Page formed the new Yardbirds, he called it – “Led Zeppelin”.
20 May 1966: Keith Moon and John Entwistle quit the Who.
Keith Moon and John Entwistle arrived late for a gig at Newbury’s Ricky Tick Club, having stayed longer than planned at a Ready Steady Go! party. By the time they arrived at the gig, Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend had already started the set using the rhythm section from the support band. Feelings ran high with an onstage altercation during the equipment smashing My Generation finale. Keith Moon sustained a black eye and injured leg.
Moon and Entwistle quit the band that night. Entwistle returned shortly afterwards. Moon missed the gigs for the next week. During his absence his place taken by local drummer each night. When he returned it was with his new Premier double-bass drum kit.
8 April 1967: Infamous German tour with John’s Children opened.
Marc Bolan had recently joined John’s Children when they opened for the who on their infamous German tour. John’s Children were well known for their outrageous stage show. When the tour reached Friedrich-Ebert-Halle in Ludwigshafen 12 April, the concert descended into a full-blown riot. The Who kicked John’s Children off their tour.
29 May 1967: Keith Moon was replaced by Julian Covey after an incident at Oxford University’s May Ball, when he “threw the drums so hard he gave himself a hernia”. Julian Covey, Julian Covey and the Machine, and Brian Auger Trinity, deputised for Moon at Glasgow’s Locarno Ballroom. He was unavailable to cover again and Chris Townson, John’s Children’s drummer, filled in for the next four gigs.
To get their own back for German tour fiasco, the Who used a good measure of flash-powder in Townson’s bass drum to ensure that his last gig with them went off with a bang.
MONYEREY INTERNATIONAL POP FESTIVAL
18 June 1967: Monterey International Pop Festival – California
The Who and Jimi Hendrix appeared on the third day of the festival. Famously both refused to follow the other onstage. The toss of a coin put the Who on first. The American audience were astounded when the Who smashed up their equipment at the end of My Generation.
The festival provided the Jimi Hendrix Experience with their American debut. In a feedback laden version of Wild Thing Hendrix set fire to his guitar. He then smashed it into the stage until it snapped and threw the neck into the audience – now, there’s a piece of rock’n’roll memorabilia worth seeking out… The Monterey appearance led to their invitation to support the Monkees on their tour. The performances here broke, The Who, The Jimi Hendrix Experience and Janis Joplin in America.
28 June 1967: Recorded The Last Time and Under My Thumb.
Both Jagger & Richards compositions, the Who recorded the songs to show solidarity with Mick Jagger and Keith Richard who were both facing jail sentences for drug possession. Jagger had been found guilty and Richards was up in court the following day.
Only three of the Who appeared on the record. John Entwistle was away on his honeymoon and Pete Townshend did the honours on the bass guitar.
The Last Time provided the Rolling Stones with a UK hit in early-1965. The Who managed a UK #44 with their version.
THE SEEDS OF TOMMY
Tommy was released in the UK on 23 May 1969 but the story of Tommy goes back to…
14 August 1967: Aeroplane incident – inspired Glow Girl and Tommy.
During their American tour, the Who’s plane developed engine trouble on a flight from Rhode Island to Chattanooga, Tennessee. This resulted in a nerve-wracking journey for the band and an emergency landing for the plane.
The experience inspired Pete Townshend to write the plane-crash song Glow Girl. It was intended to be released as a single and also pegged as the opener for the album Who’s for Tennis, the planned follow-up to The Who Sell Out. The was never released as a single and the Who’s for Tennis album never materialised; replaced by Direct Hits in UK and Magic Bus: The Who on Tour in America.
Glow Girl contains the line “It’s a girl, Mrs Walker”. Tommy opens with the Overture followed by It’s a Boy also for Mrs Walker. Glow Girl was finally released on the Who’s 1974 album Odds and Sods.
17 September 1967: The Who’s legendary appearance on the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.
Their performance ended with an equipment smashing My Generation, with a huge explosion from the flash powder in Keith Moon’s bass drum.
Urban legend has it that Moon encouraged a stage hand to considerably increase the amount of flash powder stuffed into the bass drum. When it went off Pete Townshend was smashing his guitar on the floor right in front of the bass drum. He took the full force of the explosion on the side of his head.
4 November 1968: Keith Moon bantered with a magistrate.
Keith Moon was fined £2 for being drunk and disorderly. When handing out the sentence the magistrate admonished Moon by saying, “Now we don’t want you playing in the traffic anymore Mr. Moon”. To which Moon retorted, “Absolutely, they already have a drummer”.
At the beginning May 1969, Pete Townshend’s magnum opus, Tommy, had its premiere at London’s Ronnie Scott’s Club – three weeks before its UK release.
23 May 1969: The Who released Tommy in the UK.
Tommy is often cited as the first rock opera but it was preceded by the Pretty Things’ S.F. Sorrow, released in UK on 20 December 1968.
In the autumn of 1967 art director of International Times, Mike McInnerney introduced Pete Townshend to the works of Indian Avatar Meher Baba. Pete Townshend became a keen follower of Baba and Tommy was inspired by his teachings. On 10 July 1925 Meher Baba took a vow of silence, which he maintained until his death in 1969.
Mike McInnerney designed Tommy’s album sleeve.
11 December 1968: The Rolling Stones recorded their TV special, Rock and Roll Circus.
Sadly, this proved to be Brian Jones’s last live performance with the band.
The acts included:
John Lennon’s Dirty Mac, with Eric Clapton, Keith Richard on bass and Jimi Hendrix Experience drummer Mitch Mitchell. John Lennon made his first appearance outside the Beatles.
Jethro Tull with guitarist Tony Iommi from Earth. This was a very short stay at Jethro Tull for Iommi, he returned to Earth and they changed their name to Black Sabbath.
The Who performed A Quick One While He’s Away. Urban Myth has it that Mick Jagger didn’t sanction the release of the show at the time because he thought that the Stones had been upstaged by the Who.
The show finally received a DVD release in 1996.
4 January 1970: Keith Moon ran over his own driver – maybe…
This sad event is shrouded in mystery. Exactly what happened and who was driving remains the subject of various contradictory accounts.
Keith opened a disco at the Red Lion pub in Hatfield, Hertfordshire. As Keith and his party were leaving there was a contretemps with some local youths. Accounts vary dramatically as to what happened. Some say that yobs threw pennies and kicked his Bentley and that driver Neil Boland got out of the car to confront them. Neil Boland ended up under the car as it drove away. He was taken to hospital but pronounced dead on arrival. Keith claimed he was driving but eyewitness accounts dispute this.
LIVE AT LEEDS
14 February 1970: The Who recorded Live at Leeds concert at Leeds University.
The album was nearly called Live at Hull, recorded at Hull City Hall the following night, but the quality of the recording was poor.
Live at Leeds was released with memorabilia inserts, in a mock-bootleg sleeve similar to the cover of the Rolling Stones’ Live R Than You’ll Ever Be. The original vinyl album contained six songs. The performance of Tommy that night was finally released in 2001 on the 2xCD Deluxe Edition, with one of the CDs devoted to it.
Leeds Civic Trust awarded a blue plaque for the event.
7 June 1970: The Who kicked off their American tour at the New York Metropolitan Opera House.
Posters billed event as, “The Who in the final performance of their rock opera ‘Tommy’”.
The two shows received standing ovations at both performances. When fans demanded an encore, Pete Townshend told the audience that they were too tired after two, two-hour performances. This elicited a boo or two from the crowd, to which Townshend retorted, “After two fucking hours, boo to you, too!”.
12 November 1970: Keith Moon jammed with the Beach Boys.
At their UK gig in Bournemouth. Keith always wanted to be in a surf band and an early band of his was the Beachcombers.
LIFEHOUSE
Lifehouse had a very short life. Rehearsals started at the Young Vic in early January and on 13 January 1971 the Lifehouse project was announced to the press. Following a handful of performances and a New York recording session, it came to an end shortly after they recorded the final performance at the Young Vic on 26 April.
The complex follow-up to Tommy, Universal Studios was behind the project. It was intended as a movie with live footage and audience participation, filmed at London’s Young Vic theatre. The futuristic storyline was set in a post-apocalyptic, polluted and mind-controlled world. Where the hero attempts to provide freedom through rock’n’roll. The story built up to a freedom concert but it was thwarted by the state. Concertgoers and some of the mind-controlled people who had tuned in simply vanished into thin air.
The project never really gathered a head of steam and soon fell apart but not before some studio recordings with organist Al Kooper and guitarist Leslie West, made at Record Plant in New York. Some material was salvaged from the wreckage of Lifehouse and released on their Who’s Next album.
27 August 1971: The Who released Who’s Next in the UK
This was the first that the band had worked with producer Glyn Johns since My Generation. Tracks salvaged from Lifehouse included, Baba O’Riley , Behind Blue Eyes and Won’t Get Fooled Again.
13 January 1973: Pete Townshend arranged and performed at Eric Clapton’s comeback concert at the Rainbow Theatre.
QUADROPHENIA
26 October 1973: Released Quadrophenia in the UK
2 November 1973: Pressing problems meant that it hit the shops after the tour had started.
The album captured the clashes in the mid-1960s between scooter-riding Mods and leather-clad Rockers
28 October1973: The Who played Quadrophenia for the first time, at Trentham Garden, Stoke-on-Trent.
The premiere didn’t go well. They had problems with the backing tracks and the band was under-rehearsed. In an attempt to improve matters, three songs were removed from the set: The Dirty Jobs, Is It in My Head and I’ve Had Enough.
The Quadrophenia tour lumbered on but it was still not going smoothly.
5 November 1973: Pete Townshend stormed off the stage.
The Quadrophenia tour reached new low at Newcastle’s Odeon cinema. They were still experiencing problems with the backing tapes. Pete Townshend’s frustration turned to rage and he hauled the hapless soundman, Bob Pridden, onto the stage. In a fit of rage he smashed his guitar and sound equipment, before storming off the stage. The others followed. They returned shortly afterwards but abandoned Quadrophenia in favour of playing old favourites.
20 November 1973: Opening night of the North American tour, at San Francisco’s Cow Palace.
In America the Quadrophenia tour was known as the Fallout Shelter tour.
Keith Moon collapsed onstage – twice. After the second time Pete Townshend asked from the stage, “Can anybody play the drums?” 19-year-old fan Scott Halpin, from Muscatine, Iowa, answered the call and took to the stage for the remainder of the set.
Southern-rockers Lynyrd Skynyrd provided the supported that night.
November 1975: Last American tour with Keith Moon.
21 October 1976: Last official Keith Moon concert, Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto
The final night of the Who’s North American tour proved to be Keith Moon’s last concert appearance with the group. He did perform with the Who again – twice. Both times were for closed audiences during the filming of the movie The Kids Are Alright.
23 June 1977: Keith Moon joined John Bonham onstage
At a concert at LA’s Forum on Led Zeppelin’s ill-fated 1977 American tour, Keith Moon joined the band onstage and accompanied John Bonham during his his Moby Dick drum solo. Keith gave Bonham’s tympani drums an enthusiastic beating.
25 May 1978: Keith Moon’s final performance with the Who.
Nearly two years after his last concert performance with the Who, Keith Moonmade his swansong appearance with The Who. It was at the second of two gigs before a closed audiences during the filming of the movie The Kids Are Alright.
The Kids Are Alright was the Who’s last hit on Brunswick. Pete Townshend wrote it, produced by Shel Talmy, it gave the Who a UK #41 in the autumn of 1966.
18 August 1978: The Who released Who Are You in the UK.
This was to be the last album with Keith Moon. The record sleeve eerily shows Moon seated on a chair inscribed, “NOT TO BE TAKEN AWAY”.
7 September 1978: Keith Moon died.
On the evening of 6 September Keith Moon attended the film preview of The Buddy Holly Story with Paul McCartney. After dining with Paul and Linda, Keith Moon and his girlfriend Annette Walter-Lax, he, uncharacteristically, returned home early. The following day he died from an accidental overdose of tablets he was taking to combat alcoholism. The coroner returned an open verdict, “…no evidence of intention – open verdict”.
Harry Nilsson, one of Keith’s old drinking buddies, owned the London apartment he was staying in. In a bizarre coincidence, Mama Cass Elliott died in the same apartment four years earlier.
May 1979: 1st gig with Kenny Jones…
