The Who’s Pete Townshend explains how he tried to get Keith Moon clean
The death of Keith Moon in 1978 was understandably a traumatic event for Pete Townshend, his bandmate in The Who. However, the guitarist wasn’t shocked by his demise and had anticipated his death for some time. In fact, the only surprise to Townshend was that it didn’t happen sooner after he “tried everything” to help the drummer.
Moon was an intense figure who lived in the fast lane and never fretted about tomorrow – until it became too late for him to change the error of his ways, that is. For years, he struggled with addiction and mental health issues, and if he was a musician today, it’s likely sufficient help would have been on hand to save Moon.
The Who drummer knew he needed to change his ways if he wanted his life to continue, which made Moon decide to stop drinking alcohol. However, after years of being physically addicted, it wasn’t a straightforward exercise, and he took clomethiazole pills to help with his withdrawals.
Following an argument with his partner Annette Walter-Lax, according to his postmortem, Moon consumed 32 clomethiazole pills mixed with alcohol which caused his death. He was under strict doctors to not take more than three daily pills. As much as Moon wanted to get sober, his addiction tragically won the fight.
Townshend also struggled with addiction and knew first-hand about Moon’s pain. During an interview with People, the guitarist opened up about the various interventions he made before the fatal September evening at Curzon Place in Mayfair that cost Moon his life.
“I tried everything,” Townshend heartbreakingly admitted. “I tried giving him money; I tried starving him of money. I tried sending him into rehab. I tried sending him to a guru weirdo, voodoo doctors.”
He added: “I was obsessed with trying to keep Keith alive. It was quite clear that he was on a downward slide, and there was very little I could do. He was a very complicated character.”
Before Moon died, Townshend contemplated leaving the group, but following the news, he chose to continue with the band and keep the late drummer’s legacy alive. In the Audible exclusive series, Somebody Saved Me, Townshend revealed: “When [Moon] passed away. I did something very strange. I decided that I needed to go on in his memory, in a sense. I suppose the other thing was that I decided I was going to go on because there was an opportunity there to do something new. It was exciting.”
Elaborating on Moon’s role in the band, Townshend added: “[Moon] wasn’t a conventional drummer. He was an embellisher, a decorator, almost like an orchestral drummer, but he certainly wasn’t a Kenney Jones who laid down a really good beat.”
Although The Who continued following the passing of Keith Moon, in truth, they died when he died. He was the beating heart of the group, and their original recording suffered without him providing the framework which allowed Townshend, John Entwistle, and Roger Daltrey to thrive.
