‘Music Must Change’: The Who song Keith Moon couldn’t play
The late Keith Moon was the lynchpin of The Who and at the heart of their sound. Although the band have seen the highly talented Kenney Jones and Zac Starkey sit in on the drums since his death, Moon was an enigma that the musical world will never see again.
While a lot of attention about Moon is centred around his off-stage antics, whether this be driving a Lincoln Continental into a swimming pool at a hotel or throwing televisions out of windows, it’s what the late drummer brought to The Who’s sound which cemented his legacy. However, despite his magnificence, not everything Moon touched turned to gold.
As he was an unorthodox musician, Moon could create complex arrangements which were beyond the imagination of most. This trait, which made him operate on a different wavelength from his peers, also helped The Who stand out from the rest and thrive in a live environment when Moon was in his element.
While his genius is impossible to deny, Moon struggled to do the basics regarding drumming. Despite being capable of unfathomable moments of creativity, there were simple tasks on the instrument that Moon was less skilled at performing than an average session musician.
During an interview with Howard Stern in 2015 on his Sirius XM radio programme, The Who frontman Roger Daltrey discussed their track ‘Music Must Change’ and revealed why Moon was unfit to record the song.
“There is one, and I won’t ever play it again. There’s a song on the Who Are You album, it’s called ‘Music Must Change’. Every time we played that in the studio, Keith couldn’t play the drums to it. It was in a three, four. Keith couldn’t play normal drums. Keith could play great Moon drums, and that was it,” he told the legendary broadcaster.
Daltrey continued: “He just couldn’t do that, so he had to do it with a pair of squeaky boots walking the pavement and do a squeaky walk to do the rhythm. Anyway, Keith is not on that recording on the record, and straight after we made that record, he died.”
Rather than allowing Moon to alter ‘Music Must Change’ in his image, they allowed him to take a break from recording duties and brought in an uncredited session musician to fill the gap. At this time, Moon was struggling with his personal demons, which had begun to impact his ability to play his instrument.
During an episode of Words + Music on Audible, guitarist Pete Townshend revealed how Moon’s poor attempt at recording ‘Music Must Change’ almost led to him quitting the band. He commented: “I had decided to leave The Who, I had decided when we did the Who Are You album. Keith played drums on a song called ‘Music Must Change’, and it was in 6/8 time. All he had to do was go, [sings simple melody], and he couldn’t do it.”
Although Townshend would continue with The Who, they were forced to carry on without Moon. He tragically departed the world shortly after the recording of ‘Music Must Change’, which is now a song filled with painful memories for the band.
