The 1978 Who song that always reminds Roger Daltrey of Keith Moon: “He was a rascal”
September 7th, 1978, is a date remembered for tragic reasons: it was the day Keith Moon died.
Keith Moon’s death left a void at the centre of The Who that could never truly be filled. September 7th, 1978, was not only the day rock music lost one of its most enigmatic figures, but also the moment The Who ceased to be the band they once were. Although they carried on, they were never quite the same again.
While Pete Townshend wrote the songs and Roger Daltrey sang them, it was Moon who acted as The Who’s unique selling point. There was simply no drummer that operated on his level, and in the live arena, especially, he was the difference-maker that made them stand out from the other bands on the circuit.
Sadly, like with many other geniuses, Moon’s musical ability didn’t mean he was immune to issues in other areas of his life, and he suffered immensely from addiction problems.
Before his death, which occurred inside a property in Mayfair that he was renting from Harry Nilsson, which was also the building where Mama Cass had died a few years earlier, Moon was trying to get his life on the right path.
At the time, the drummer was taking prescription drugs to aid his alcohol withdrawal symptoms. However, due to the strength of the pills, which should have been taken in a safe, supervised setting, Moon overdosed on the drug. He was told not to take more than three in a day, but a coroner’s report later established he’d taken a lethal dose of 32.
Just a matter of weeks before his death, Who Are You, The Who’s final album with Moon, was released. His issues had a detrimental physical effect on his ability to play his instrument during the recording sessions, meaning that Moon was incapable of carrying out tasks that have previously managed with ease on prior albums. He was no longer the unstoppable force of nature that every drummer idolised, but a liability.
Naturally, the process of making Who Are You is now filled with unwanted memories for the rest of the group. For Daltrey, it’s the title track from the record that always reminds him of his former bandmate. Despite Moon grappling with his demons for a large part of the record’s creation, one exceptional circumstance has stayed with Daltrey for the right reasons.
Explaining to Vulture why ‘Who Are You’ makes him think of Moon, Daltrey said: “We were obviously having a lot of trouble with Keith at the time when we made that album. He wasn’t in the best of shape. He was indulging in quite a lot of naughties”.
“It was a difficult time, but when we came together to do that video to promote the album, Keith joined in on the backing vocals and he was hysterical.”
The Who frontman elaborated further about that special memory: “There’s something about Keith … no matter how naughty he was, you’d have to love him. You’d just have to love him. He was a rascal.”
While most of his memories of Moon from that period are likely ones that don’t paint his late friend in the light that he’d like to remember him, on that day, he was back to his true self. Tragically, those kinds of occasions had become few and far between by the end.
Sadly, Moon’s story isn’t an anomaly in the music industry, and addiction has prematurely ended the lives of many prodigal talents. However, despite dying aged only 32, Moon proved himself to be a true original, the like of which we’ll likely never see again, and remains sorely missed all these decades later. However, on a positive note, Daltrey still has the ‘Who Are You’ video shoot to cling to as a precious memory, and now, that song stands as a poignant reminder of a man he wishes were still here.
