When The Olympics tried to raise Keith Moon from the dead
On September 7th, 1978, just three weeks after The Who released their eighth studio album Who Are You, drummer Keith Moon died from a clomethiazole overdose. The drug was supposed to help wean Moon off of alcohol and control his withdrawal symptoms, but the drummer’s addictive personality caused him to indulge and eventually take too much. Moon was just 32 years old.
In some ways, Moon’s death was less of a shock and more of a fulfilled prophecy. He had lived a highly destructive lifestyle, abusing drugs and engaging in explosive antics (both literally and figuratively) since first joining The Who as a teenager. Almost an entire lifetime later, Moon began to deteriorate, gaining weight while struggling to keep up with his demanding drumming style. Moon was in the process of overdubbing drum sounds for the film The Kids Are Alright when he passed away.
“After two or three hours, he got more and more sluggish,” band technician Dave “Cy” Langston claimed in the book Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere: The Complete Chronicle of The Who 1958–78, “he could barely hold a drum stick.”
After Moon’s death, The Who opted to continue with former faces drummer Kenney Jones and then Zak Starkey, the son of Moon’s close friend, Ringo Starr. The Who continued to tour and record all the way up to the new millennium while Moon’s reputation and legend continued to grow. Even though he had been dead for three decades, Moon was still very much a part of The Who’s image and branding in the 2010s. Perhaps that’s what the 2012 Olympic Committee organisers were thinking when they reached out to The Who.
According to band manager Bill Curbishly, the organisers had a very specific, and very strange, request. They wanted to know if Moon was willing to participate in either the pre-games or post-games performances. Curbishly had to turn the committee down, giving them the unfortunate news that Moon had been dead for 34 years.
“I emailed back saying Keith now resides in Golders Green crematorium, having lived up to the Who’s anthemic line ‘I hope I die before I get old’,” Curbishly said in his response to the committee. “If they have a round table, some glasses and candles, we might contact him.”
The Who’s music was still used in the opening ceremony as a part of a dance sequence, with Curbishly’s quote of ‘My Generation’ eventually being incorporated into the actual ceremony. The band performed live at the closing ceremony as well, although they were unable to raise Moon from the dead to participate.
