The 1974 Keith Moon performance that explains his genius
The Who’s Keith Moon is largely regarded as one of the greatest drummers of all time and it is moments like this which prove he deserves his credentials. More often than not, when talking about Moon, people will first reach for his debauched off-stage antics, but on stage, he was an animal.
Moon is thought to even be the inspiration behind the Muppets character Animal, with the furry fiend emulating his raucous and crazed playing style. It’s something that can be easily seen in this clip from 1974 as the drummer lets rip on the kit and wows his audience.
What separated Moon from many of his contemporaries was his refusal to treat the drums as a purely rhythmic instrument. Rather than simply keeping time, he approached the kit as a lead instrument, filling every available space with explosive flourishes that became just as essential to The Who’s sound as Pete Townshend’s guitar or Roger Daltrey’s vocals.
Perhaps as a homage to his animalistic ways, when Keith Moon appeared on the TV show Wide World in Concert: Midnight Special with his face painted like a cat. What’s more, he even filled one of his clear floor toms with goldfish as a prank. A scene which would never take place today.
It would be enough to get people talking but where Moon was really at his best was getting the audience dancing. The drummer rumbles through an entrancing fill and creates a passionate power that seemingly compels the crowd to start dancing.
Even decades later, performances like this remain astonishing because of their unpredictability. Moon played with a sense of controlled chaos that made every appearance feel as though it could veer off the rails at any moment, yet somehow always landed exactly where it needed to.
Often ‘Moon the Loon’ is only remembered for his crazy behaviour. The drummer was a hedonistic rock and roller and fell into a dangerously debauched lifestyle from a very young age. It’s a fact which has left many people to consider him a cheap pick for the title of “greatest drummer of all time”.
While we wouldn’t dare to contend such a title here, we would suggest that the furious firepower and yet undeniable flair with which Moon approaches this solo proves he’s certainly in contention. Moon once described himself as the “greatest Keith Moon-type drummer in the world” and it’s a fitting assessment.
So while other drummers could easily be called the best, Ginger Baker and John Bonham, to name the obvious two, Moon is utterly unique. A one-off capable of making dancefloors swell, eyes widen, and heartbeats rise.
Ultimately, Keith Moon’s greatness lay not in precision alone but in personality. Few drummers have ever played with such abandon while remaining so integral to their band’s identity. Whether or not he deserves the title of the greatest drummer ever is open to debate, but performances like this serve as a reminder that nobody sounded quite like Moon, and nobody ever will again.
Keith Moon was one of the best, and the clip below proves it.
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