Carrying On: how the death of Keith Moon saved The Who
The Who would always be a shadow of themselves without Keith Moon. When you have a glorified circus clown who happens to be the best drummer in the world behind the skins, no one really has a set answer to what happens when that force falls silent. Although Moon may have been one of the biggest puzzle pieces to the band’s sound, his death actually ended up bringing them together a lot more than most people realised.
When you look at the way the band have interacted with each other both onstage and off, Moon was really the glue behind all of their best moments. Since Pete Townshend was becoming known for making the kind of songs that were a bit too serious for most people to handle, having someone like Moon in the background gave them the levity they needed to be superstars.
Even when the band was making its biggest hits, Moon may as well have been the lead instrument. Considering how many tangents he would go on whenever he played the drums, Townshend could have been the real timekeeper in the group, albeit with John Entwistle also being rock steady on the bass.
When Moon was found dead in his apartment after a night of heavy drinking, though, the band was convinced that they couldn’t go on. The only other drummer that could have equalled his power was John Bonham, and since Led Zeppelin decided to call it quits, why should they be any different?
As far as Townshend was concerned, the last thing that he wanted to do was do something to undermine the success the band had with Moon. If they had decided to call it a day and then move on to something equally strong in their solo outfits, it would have made Moon’s death feel cheap, like he was the weak link in the group that brought everything to an end.
When talking about Moon in 1979, Townshend said Moon’s death ultimately convinced him to stand by his old mates, saying, “We felt like we lost a leg in a way. None of us wanted Keith’s death to be pointless, so we decided to carry on rather than stop. Before his death, I had finally gotten to the point where I had decided to stop all work in the group…We looked at each other and thought we couldn’t possibly stop now.”
Although they did carry on with Kenney Jones behind the kit for a handful of albums, it didn’t come without some hardship, with Roger Daltrey later saying that he regretted putting Jones in Moon’s place. The band had shining moments without Moon, carrying on with even bigger hits on tracks like ‘Eminence Front’ and ‘You Better You Bet’.
Granted, the era without Moon in the band does tend to feel a bit bittersweet looking back on it. The songs were still of the same quality, but there are always times when you’re expecting an outrageous drum fill that isn’t going to come. Whereas most drummers tended to feel disposable in the context of a rock outfit, Moon had a unique fire and energy when he went behind the kit that no one realised was there until it suddenly wasn’t anymore.
