Topic: Keith Moon Video

[Stewart Manley]

If you don't 'get' his playing that's fine. It doesn't mean Keith Moon was no good. It means you don't 'get' his drumming.

I didn't claim anything else, nor did I take the opportunity to indulge in any other negative remarks. I chose the words I did because they most accurately reflect how I feel ... I just don't get it. This is likely to be at least as much my failing as anything else.

[Mark Schlipper]

Much of what he played was not easy and was extremely original. His drumming was a very large part of what defined the hugely popular "Who sound."  

I'll third this after the Chrises.

I think its obvious by the studio recordings that he was perfectly capable of keeping time and playing relatively neatly.   He had his own way of doing it, but it was done.

If you want to consider live recordings, think about how many videos/recordings there are vs shows they did.   Pretty small percentage.   Maybe they were the best, maybe the worst.   Hard to say since none of us saw them all.   So our perspective is skewed.

If nothing else I think a great testament to Moons drumming is the fact that noone else (cough*Purdie*cough) has jumped up to claim it.    They just can't.        

[sptucker]

Because of this thread, I broke out all my Who albums last night.  Yes, I said "albums"!  I played a song or two from each of them (OK, I listened to ALL of Who's Next, about half of Live at Leeds), and remembered why my first drum kit was made in England by Premier... because Moon inspired me when I was starting out.

If you haven't given them a listen lately, go back and queue up The Seeker, Run Run Run, Disquises, I Can See For Miles, Sparks, Amazing Journey, Bargain, The Real Me, I'm One, the list goes on and on.   There is some undeniably good drumming going on here.

He doesn't have Peart's precision or Bonham's feel.  He's just Moon, and he played his heart out...

 

[felix]

He doesn't have Peart's precision or Bonham's feel.  He's just Moon, and he played his heart out...

 

You said it man.  Makes me all gushy inside.  

[Vintage Ludwig]

Id be willing to bet that the majority of the people posting on this thread werent even born yet and therefore completely missed out during Moons heyday.  Do you realize he captivated a bunch of drummers in his day.  As sloppy as his playing may seem to people, I dare the average drummer to even try to come slightly close to duplicating his playing-he played his own style no doubt.  So if you never had the opportunity to see the Who live with Moonie, or you are unable to even try to play his stuff-ya shouldnt bash him, or any other drumming great.  Try something relatively simple like "my generation"....Id be willing to bet the avg. drummer would have difficulty with just duplicating his work on the ride cymbal alone.  Part of his style (being sloppy) was most definately purposeful.  Thats what music fans were into at the time.  He blew people away.  Mixed with the rest of the band, it was a great recipe at the time.  And they sold bunch of records-which is what ya wanna do, right? Hmmm....lets see, who were the biggest names in british rock in say 1965?  Hermans Hermits.....Beatles?  While Ringo was a good drummer, he was boring to watch.  Charlie Watts is a great drummer too....but along came Keith,  and the people said "oh my goodness"  get a load of this bloke!  Thats part of what made Moonie great-at the time he blew people away-theyd never seen ANYTHING like him!

[Chris Whitten]

I think its obvious by the studio recordings that he was perfectly capable of keeping time and playing relatively neatly.   He had his own way of doing it, but it was done.

Some of those Who tracks like 'Who Are You' are very early examples of drumming in combination with keyboard sequencers.
Not only does Moon perform the task seamlessly, but he plays in his usual chaotic style and has the studio headphones gaffa'ed to his head. Ouch! that must have hurt.  

[Mister Acrolite]

Thats part of what made Moonie great-at the time he blew people away-theyd never seen ANYTHING like him!

Agreed - Moon was TOTALLY unique among drummers. It's hard to imagine how his crazy, over-the-top drumming managed to form the basis of many hit records, most of which still sound pretty darn great.

Pat Travers turned me on to what a great drummer he was - he had tons of Who video footage that just blew my mind. This guy was over-the-top LONG before the Tommy Lee's, Myron Grombachers, and Morgan Roses of the world came along. Sort of like Gene Krupa mixed with the Tasmanian Devil!

Of the many famous drummers of the era, I find Moon's style is one of the hardest to imitate. Try playing songs like Won't Get Fooled Again in a live band, and try to stay true to his drum parts, while keeping a solid groove going - I've never pulled it off to my satisfaction!

[Vintage Ludwig]

MAN.......SO TRUE!!!!! Remember the movie back to the future?  Theres a scene where whats his face takes the guitar and just starts shredding a nastee guitar solo.  As his solo comes to an end, he looks out into the crowd (like 1961 crowd) and the audience is dead silent w/ jaws dropped open.  He looks around and says wow-I guess you werent ready for that yet........THATS HOW IT WAS WHEN FOLKS FIRST SAW MOONIE PLAY-

[Chris Whitten]

Of the many famous drummers of the era, I find Moon's style is one of the hardest to imitate. Try playing songs like Won't Get Fooled Again in a live band, and try to stay true to his drum parts

Funny you should say that....
I was just reflecting on some recent live footage I saw of The Who with Zak Starkey on drums. Although he wasn't trying to copy Moon, I thought he encompassed the spirit of Moon's playing much better than most, certainly better than Simon Phillips IMHO.
Also, there is a Moon clone. His name is Chris Sharrock. He used to play with the Icicle Works (I think?), but has been holding down the Robbie Williams drum chair for quite a while.
I don't know if he would admit it, but I find him a very close, modern version of Moon, even down to the facial expressions. Check out 'Let Me Entertain You'.
I should say, Sharrock is a very gifted drummer in his own right.

[dougstiers]

I also found a video of Buddy rich and jerry lewis doing a drum off .

Only thing is . Its a 61 mb file and i only have room for 26 mb. Ill post as soon as i can find a host.

Oh i tried to compress it in RAR and it only compressed it  down to 51 mb

Where is it located online?

[BigBillInBoston]

Funny you should say that....
I was just reflecting on some recent live footage I saw of The Who with Zak Starkey on drums. Although he wasn't trying to copy Moon, I thought he encompassed the spirit of Moon's playing much better than most.

I agree. I saw the WHO on TV a year or so ago with Zack on drums. He played very well and seemed to be playing in a Keith Moon kind of style with out imitating him.

BigBill

[DoubleC]

It's funny how my, "I don't get his drumming" or "I could never hear where his 1 is at" can turn into Moon bashing.

It's only my opinion and I'm sure there are other drummers who we admire where someone else will disagree.  

C'mon guys don't turn this into, "you don't admire him, what's wrong with you" kind of thing.  

dc

[Bart Elliott]

Those poor fish! The vibrations must just drive them crazy. So much for the "Don't Tap On The Glass" philosophy.

The footage I just saw makes me think of what I usually hear when I walk into the drum room at Guitar Center ... or any music store for that matter.

[dizz]

Was Moon the drummer for the song, Eminence Front (sp?) ?

That song has some serious attitude and Im not talking about lyrics.  Im thinking it may not have been Moon since the synthesizer was probably a later The Who.  Dont know much about the group really.  I was born in the early 70's and didn't seem as popular as other groups.  In my childhood, HBO had a The Who concert, but I think it was reunion or something -not sure

"Won't Get Fooled Again"  has been getting alot of airplay lately on some television commercial.  That song has a @$%#'d powerful intro.  Those guys played with aggression.  That was probably what carried them all as far as they went.  That powerful live exhibition

The video was pretty poor.  But it was edited too.  I would have liked to known how he got the point where the video started.  Hopefully that was a clip out of context.  

Im not dumping on Moon.  I really dont know the first thing about him and The Who.  I guess, like someone said above^, hes not a technician.  And if he was polluted for that clip (I couldnt really tell, other than his playing), that could certainly explain it.

Either way, thanks for the clip.  Never seen it before but have heard of the goldfish thing.

[Vintage Ludwig]

No, he was long gone by that time.  I dont recall who it was-nice groove though....

[Christopher]

Was Moon the drummer for the song, Eminence Front (sp?)

Nope.

That was  http://www.the-faces.com/kenney/kjb/kjbio.htm]Kenney Jones . He joined the band in October of 1978 and stayed until '82.

I remember reading that Pete thought Kenney would be fine as Keith's replacement, but Roger had serious reservations. Pete didn't really give Keith the credit he deserved. Roger knew what big shoes Keith had left behind.

Not that Kenney isn't an excellent drummer in his own right. I love the stuff he played on. You Better You Bet, Don't Let Go the Coat, Another Tricky Day, Athena and Eminence Front for example. They are some of my favorite Who songs. Cool videos for those tunes as well.

Ahh, the early days of MTV. When the M actually stood for music. Now it stands for Moron.

But I digress…  

Before his tenure with The Who, Kenney was in the band The Small Faces in the 1960's,  
then with The Faces (with Rod Stewart & Ron Wood) in the 1970's

In retrospect, Kenney was smart not to try to be Keith. He probably would have failed and looked dumb in the attempt. He came in as himself and was honest in his playing. If hindsight is indeed 20/20, Kenney had some pretty good eyes to start with.

[Christopher]

In related news...  

Here's a recent picture (August 9th) from the Hollywood Bowl.



Zak certainly looks the part.

[Scheming Demon]

Although I was very young at the time I was alive when Keith Moon was in his hey day.  No drummer during that time played anything like him.  I think he invented the stereotype of drummers being considered maniacs and crazy.  Does Animal from The Muppets seem familiar.

I remember watching him (on tv) and thinking, he looks so uncoordinated he can't possibly be that good of drummer.  Then hearing what he was doing and going Holy Mackeral the guy smokes and he's putting on a show at the same time.

As we all know excessive alcohol and drums do not mix very well.  

Keith was also a huge inspiration for Neil Peart.  Without Keith before him, there would be no Peart now.

[Stewart Manley]

Without Keith before him, there would be no Peart now.

Frankly, I don't believe that for more than the length of time it takes to read the sentence. Without Moon, there would have been someone else to inspire Peart. When it's in you, it'll find a way out.

[Paul DAngelo]

It's funny how my, "I don't get his drumming" or "I could never hear where his 1 is at" can turn into Moon bashing.

It's only my opinion and I'm sure there are other drummers who we admire where someone else will disagree.  

C'mon guys don't turn this into, "you don't admire him, what's wrong with you" kind of thing.  

dc

I was the one that used the word "bash".  It was not because of anything you posted.  It was because of the way the thread started:

I stumbled across this the other day . and i thought it should be hosted for everybody to see.

I think Keith was blasted when doing this solo.  

Any opinions ..?

I think his playing was so sloppy at times..He reminds me of some drunk at a show that just wants to have a laugh on the drums..

I have to confess, I never ever "got" Keith Moon's drumming.

I'm not a big keith moon fan at all, he blew up his drums, trashed his gear, and had no respect for his craft.  

Up until this point in time, it looks like a "let's bash Moon" thread to me.

Then, it took this turn.

This about covers it, I think. I only really got exposed to his later stuff, which simply didn't strike any chords in me. I'll take some time and hunt out some earlier material.

Then it went into an open discussion of his abilities.  

My bad.  

I seem to have over reacted.  I know Moon is no "technician", but that is not all that is necessary to be an influential player.  

Ask Bart, I've never over reacted before