Keith Moon
Excitable Drummer
Style Icons (Male) category pick for the week of 2/5/07
Moon is practically the poster child for "live fast, die young". Starting as a chaotic seventeen year old drummer for The Who and becoming an even more chaotic wildman about town, Moon is remembered for such antics as setting his drums up with explosives during a performance on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, driving a lilac colored Rolls Royce (possibly into a pool according to legend), numerous equipment and hotel destructions, and the accidental running over of his chauffeur.
The latter indecent, I want to make clear, is not why he is on my list, nor is he on my list for his rumored temper and awful treatment of his family and wife. So many people we admire for their talent and apparent charisma would disappoint if we only knew who they really were. Moon is certainly one of those. But his impact on music with his double drum sets and flashy rock and roll attitude live on along with his darker side. He died in 1978 of a drug overdose. |
