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while moon generally said he was only interested in working with the who he participated in outside musical projects in 1966 he worked with yardbirds guitarist jeff beck pianist nicky hopkins and future led zeppelin members jimmy page and john paul jones on the instrumental beck 's bolero which was the b @@ side to hi ho silver lining and appeared on the album truth moon also played timpani on another track a cover of jerome kern 's ol ' man river he was credited on the album as you know who
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moon may have inspired the name for led zeppelin when he briefly considered leaving the who in 1966 he spoke with entwistle and page about forming a supergroup moon ( or entwistle ) remarked that a particular suggestion had gone down like a lead zeppelin ( a play on lead balloon ) although the supergroup was never formed page remembered the phrase and later adapted it as the name of his new band
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the beatles became friends with moon leading to occasional collaborations in 1967 he contributed backing vocals to all you need is love on 15 december 1969 moon joined john lennon 's plastic ono band for a live performance at the lyceum theatre in london for a unicef charity concert in 1972 the performance was released as a companion disc to lennon and ono 's album some time in new york city
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moon 's friendship with entwistle led to an appearance on smash your head against the wall entwistle 's first solo album and the first by a member of the who moon did not play drums on the album jerry shirley did with moon providing percussion rolling stone 's john <unk> appreciated entwistle 's decision not to let moon drum saying that it distanced his album from the familiar sound of the who
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moon became involved in solo work when he moved to los angeles during the mid @@ 1970s in 1974 track records @@ mca released a moon solo single covering the beach boys ' don 't worry baby and teenage idol the next year he released his only solo album entitled two sides of the moon although it featured moon on vocals he played drums on only three tracks most of the drumming was left to others ( including ringo starr session musicians curly smith and jim keltner and actor @@ musician miguel ferrer ) the album was received poorly by critics nme 's roy carr wrote <unk> if you didn 't have talent i wouldn 't care but you have which is why i 'm not about to accept two sides of the moon dave marsh reviewing the album in rolling stone wrote there isn 't any legitimate reason for this album 's existence during one of his few televised solo drum performances ( for abc 's wide world ) moon played a five @@ minute drum solo dressed as a cat on transparent acrylic drums filled with water and goldfish when asked by an audience member what would happen to the kit he joked that even the best drummers get hungry his performance was not appreciated by animal lovers several of whom called the station with complaints
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= = = = film = = = =
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in the 2007 documentary film amazing journey the story of the who daltrey and townshend reminisced about moon 's talent for dressing as ( and embodying ) a variety of characters they remembered his dream of getting out of music and becoming a hollywood film actor although daltrey did not think moon had the patience and work ethic required by a professional actor who manager bill curbishley agreed that moon wasn 't disciplined enough to actually turn up or commit to doing the stuff
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nevertheless the drummer landed several acting roles his first was in 1971 a cameo in frank zappa 's 200 motels as a nun afraid of dying from a drug overdose although it only took 13 days to film fellow cast member howard kaylan remembers moon spending off @@ camera time at the kensington garden hotel bar instead of sleeping moon 's next film role was jd clover drummer for the fictional stray cats at a holiday camp during the early days of british rock ' n ' roll in 1973 's that 'll be the day he reprised the role for the film 's 1974 sequel stardust and played uncle ernie in ken russell 's 1975 film adaptation of tommy moon 's last film appearance was in 1978 's <unk> with starr and alice cooper this was the last film to star mae west
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= = destructive behaviour = =
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moon led a destructive lifestyle during the who 's early days he began taking amphetamines and in a new musical express interview said his favourite food was french blues he spent his share of the band 's income quickly and was a regular at london clubs such as the speakeasy and the bag o ' nails the combination of pills and alcohol escalated into alcoholism and drug addiction later in his life [ we ] went through the same stages everybody goes through the bloody drug corridor he later reflected drinking suited the group a lot better
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according to townshend moon began destroying hotel rooms when the who stayed at the berlin hilton on tour in late 1966 in addition to hotel rooms moon destroyed friends ' homes and even his own throwing furniture from upper @@ storey windows and setting fire to buildings andrew neill and matthew kent estimated that his destruction of hotel toilets and plumbing cost as much as £ 300 @@ 000 ( $ 500 @@ 000 ) these acts often fuelled by drugs and alcohol were moon 's way of demonstrating his eccentricity he enjoyed shocking the public with them longtime friend and personal assistant butler observed he was trying to make people laugh and be mr funny he wanted people to love him and enjoy him but he would go so far like a train ride you couldn 't stop
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in a limousine on the way to the airport moon insisted they return to their hotel saying i forgot something at the hotel he ran back to his room grabbed the television and threw it out the window into the swimming pool below he then jumped back into the limo saying i nearly forgot
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fletcher argues that the who 's lengthy break between the end of their 1972 european tour and the beginning of the quadrophenia sessions devastated moon 's health as without the rigours of lengthy shows and regular touring that had previously kept him in shape his hard @@ partying lifestyle took a greater toll on his body he did not keep a drum kit or practice at tara and began to deteriorate physically as a result of his lifestyle around the same time he became a severe alcoholic starting the day with drinks and changing from the lovable boozer he presented himself as to a boorish drunk david puttnam recalled the drinking went from being a joke to being a problem on that 'll be the day it was social drinking by the time stardust came round it was hard drinking
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= = = exploding toilets = = =
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moon 's favourite stunt was to flush powerful explosives down toilets according to fletcher moon 's toilet pyrotechnics began in 1965 when he purchased a case of 500 cherry bombs he moved from cherry bombs to m @@ 80 fireworks to sticks of dynamite which became his explosive of choice all that porcelain flying through the air was quite unforgettable moon remembered i never realised dynamite was so powerful i 'd been used to penny bangers before he quickly developed a reputation for destroying bathrooms and blowing up toilets the destruction mesmerised him and enhanced his public image as rock 's premier hell @@ raiser tony fletcher wrote that no toilet in a hotel or changing room was safe until moon had exhausted his supply of explosives
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pete townshend walked into the bathroom of moon 's hotel room and noticed the toilet had disappeared with only the s @@ bend remaining the drummer explained that since a cherry bomb was about to explode he had thrown it down the loo and showed townshend the case of cherry bombs and of course from that moment on the guitarist remembered we got thrown out of every hotel we ever stayed in
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entwistle recalled being close to moon on tour i suppose we were two of a kind we shared a room on the road and got up to no good consequently both were often involved in blowing up toilets in a 1981 los angeles times interview he admitted a lot of times when keith was blowing up toilets i was standing behind him with the matches in alabama moon and entwistle loaded a toilet with cherry bombs after being denied room service according to entwistle that toilet was just dust all over the walls by the time we checked out the management brought our suitcases down to the gig and said ' don 't come back '
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a hotel manager called moon in his room and asked him to lower the volume on his cassette recorder because it made too much noise in response the drummer asked him up to his room excused himself to go the bathroom put a lit stick of dynamite in the toilet and shut the bathroom door upon returning he asked the manager to stay for a moment as he wanted to explain something following the explosion moon turned the recorder back on and said that dear boy was noise this is the ' oo
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= = = flint holiday inn incident = = =
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on 23 august 1967 on tour opening for herman 's hermits moon celebrated what he said was his 21st birthday ( although it was thought at the time to be his 20th ) at a holiday inn in flint michigan entwistle later said he decided that if it was a publicised fact that it was his 21st birthday he would be able to drink
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the drummer immediately began drinking upon his arrival in flint the who spent the afternoon visiting local radio stations with nancy lewis ( then the band 's publicist ) and moon posed for a photo outside the hotel in front of a happy birthday keith sign put up by the hotel management according to lewis moon was drunk by the time the band went onstage at the atwood high school football stadium
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returning to the hotel moon started a food fight and soon cake began flying through the air the drummer knocked out part of his front tooth at the hospital doctors could not give him an anaesthetic ( due to his inebriation ) before removing the remainder of the tooth back at the hotel a mêlée erupted fire extinguishers were set off guests ( and objects ) thrown into the swimming pool and a piano reportedly destroyed the chaos ended only when police arrived with guns drawn
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a furious holiday inn management presented the groups with a bill for $ 24 @@ 000 which was reportedly settled by herman 's hermits tour manager edd mccann townshend claimed that the who were banned for life from all of the hotel 's properties but fletcher wrote that they stayed at a holiday inn in rochester new york a week later he also disputed a widely held belief that moon drove a lincoln continental into the hotel 's swimming pool as claimed by the drummer in a 1972 rolling stone interview
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= = = passing out on stage = = =
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moon 's lifestyle began to undermine his health and reliability during the 1973 quadrophenia tour at the who 's debut us date at the cow palace in daly city california moon ingested a mixture of tranquillisers and brandy during the concert moon passed out on his drum kit during won 't get fooled again the band stopped playing and a group of roadies carried moon offstage they gave him a shower and an injection of cortisone sending him back onstage after a thirty @@ minute delay moon passed out again during magic bus and was again removed from the stage the band continued without him for several songs before townshend asked can anyone play the drums i mean somebody good a drummer in the audience scot halpin came up and played the rest of the show
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during the opening date of the band 's march 1976 us tour at the boston garden moon passed out over his drum kit after two numbers and the show was rescheduled the next evening moon systematically destroyed everything in his hotel room cut himself doing so and passed out he was discovered by manager bill curbishley who took him to a hospital telling him i 'm gonna get the doctor to get you nice and fit so you 're back within two days because i want to break your fucking jaw you have fucked this band around so many times and i 'm not having it any more doctors told curbishley that if he had not intervened moon would have bled to death marsh suggested that at this point daltrey and entwistle seriously considered firing moon but decided that doing so would make his life worse
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during the band 's recording sabbatical from 1975 to 1978 moon gained a considerable amount of weight entwistle has said that moon and the who reached their live peak in 1975 76 at the end of the 1976 us tour in miami that august the drummer delirious was treated in hollywood memorial hospital for eight days the group was concerned that he would be unable to complete the last leg of the tour which ended at maple leaf gardens in toronto on 21 october ( moon 's last public show ) by the time of the who 's invitation @@ only show at the kilburn gaumont in december 1977 for the kids are alright moon was visibly overweight and had difficulty sustaining a solid performance after recording who are you townshend refused to follow the album with a tour until moon stopped drinking and said that if moon 's playing did not improve he would be fired daltrey later denied threatening to fire him but said that by this time the drummer was out of control
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= = = financial problems = = =
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because the who 's early stage act relied on smashing instruments and owing to moon 's enthusiasm for damaging hotels the group were in debt for much of the 1960s entwistle estimated they lost about £ 150 @@ 000 even when the group became relatively financially stable after tommy moon continued to rack up debts he bought a number of cars and gadgets and flirted with bankruptcy moon 's recklessness with money reduced his profit from the group 's 1975 uk tour to £ 47 @@ 35
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= = personal life and relationships = =
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= = = <unk> = = =
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before the 1998 release of tony fletcher 's dear boy the life of keith moon moon 's date of birth was presumed to be 23 august 1947 this erroneous date appeared in several otherwise @@ reliable sources including the townshend @@ authorised biography before i get old the story of the who the incorrect date had been supplied by moon in interviews before it was corrected by fletcher to 1946
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= = = kim kerrigan = = =
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moon 's first serious relationship was with kim kerrigan whom he started dating in january 1965 after she saw the who play at the disc a go go in bournemouth by the end of the year she discovered she was pregnant her parents who were furious met with the moons to discuss their options and she moved into the moon family home in wembley they were married on 17 march 1966 at brent registry office and their daughter amanda was born on 12 july the marriage ( and child ) were kept secret from the press until may 1968 moon was occasionally violent towards kim if we went out after i had mandy she later said if someone talked to me he 'd lose it we 'd go home and he 'd start a fight with me he loved amanda but his absences due to touring and fondness for practical jokes made their relationship uneasy when she was very young he had no idea how to be a father kim said he was too much of a child himself
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from 1971 to 1975 moon owned tara a home in chertsey where he initially lived with his wife and daughter the moons entertained extravagantly at home and owned a number of cars jack <unk> then working for track records ( the who 's label ) recalls moon ordering him to purchase a milk float to store in the garage at tara
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in 1973 kim convinced that neither she nor anyone else could moderate keith 's behaviour left her husband and took amanda she sued for divorce in 1975 and later married faces keyboard player ian mclagan marsh believes that moon never truly recovered from the loss of his family butler agrees despite his relationship with annette walter @@ lax he believes that kim was the only woman moon loved mclagan commented that moon couldn 't handle it moon would harass them with phone calls and on one occasion before kim sued for divorce he invited mclagan for a drink at a richmond pub and sent several heavies to break into mclagan 's home on fife road and look for kim forcing her to hide in a walk @@ in closet she died in a car accident in austin texas on 2 august 2006
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= = = annette walter @@ lax = = =
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in 1975 moon began a relationship with swedish model annette walter @@ lax who later said that moon was so sweet when he was sober that i was just living with him in the hope that he would kick all this craziness she begged malibu neighbour larry hagman to check moon into a clinic to dry out ( as he had attempted to do before ) but when doctors recorded moon 's chemical intake at breakfast a bottle of champagne courvoisier and amphetamines they concluded that there was no hope for his rehabilitation
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= = = friends = = =
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moon enjoyed being the life of the party bill curbishley remembered that he wouldn 't walk into any room and just listen he was an attention seeker and he had to have it
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early in the who 's career moon got to know the beatles he would join them at clubs forming a particularly close friendship with ringo starr moon later became friends with bonzo dog doo @@ dah band members vivian stanshall and legs larry smith and the trio would drink and play practical jokes together smith remembers one occasion where he and moon tore apart a pair of trousers with an accomplice later looking for one @@ legged trousers in the early 1970s moon helped stanshall with his radio flashes radio show for bbc radio 1 filling in for the vacationing john peel ( see rawlinson end radio flashes ) subsequently in 1973 moon himself filled in for john peel in a touch of the moon a series of four programmes produced by john walters
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guitarist joe walsh enjoyed socialising with moon in an interview with guitar world magazine he recalled that the drummer taught me how to break things in 1974 moon struck up a friendship with actor oliver reed while working on the film version of tommy although reed matched moon drink for drink he appeared on set the next morning ready to perform moon on the other hand would cost several hours of filming time reed later said that moon showed me the way to insanity
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= = = dougal butler = = =
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peter dougal butler began working for the who in 1967 becoming moon 's personal assistant the following year to help him stay out of trouble he remembers managers kit lambert and chris stamp saying we trust you with keith but if you ever want any time off for a holiday or some sort of rest let us know and we 'll pay for it butler never took them up on the offer
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he followed moon when the drummer relocated to los angeles but felt that the drug culture prevalent at the time was bad for moon my job was to have eyes in the back of my head townshend agreed saying that by 1975 butler had no influence over him whatsoever although he was a loyal companion to moon the lifestyle eventually became too much for him he phoned curbishley saying that they needed to move back to england or one of them might die butler quit in 1978 and later wrote of his experiences in a book entitled full moon the amazing rock and roll life of keith moon ( 2012 )
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= = = neil boland = = =
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on 4 january 1970 moon accidentally killed his friend driver and bodyguard neil boland outside the red lion pub in hatfield hertfordshire pub patrons had begun to attack his bentley and moon drunk began driving to escape them during the fracas he hit boland after an investigation the coroner ruled boland 's death an accident and moon received an absolute discharge after being charged with a number of offences
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those close to moon said that he was haunted by boland 's death for the rest of his life according to pamela des barres moon had nightmares ( which woke them both ) about the incident and said he had no right to be alive
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= = death = =
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in mid @@ 1978 moon moved into a flat in curzon place ( later curzon square ) shepherd market mayfair london renting from harry nilsson cass elliot had died there four years earlier at the age of 32 nilsson was concerned about letting the flat to moon believing it was cursed townshend disagreed assuring him that lightning wouldn 't strike the same place twice
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after moving in moon began a prescribed course of <unk> ( clomethiazole a sedative ) to alleviate his alcohol withdrawal symptoms he wanted to get sober but due to his fear of psychiatric hospitals he wanted to do it at home <unk> is discouraged for unsupervised detoxification because of its addictive potential its tendency to induce tolerance and its risk of death when mixed with alcohol the pills were prescribed by geoffrey dymond a physician who was unaware of moon 's lifestyle dymond prescribed a bottle of 100 pills instructing him to take one pill when he felt a craving for alcohol but not more than three pills per day
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by september 1978 moon was having difficulty playing the drums according to roadie dave cy langston after seeing moon in the studio trying to overdub drums for the kids are alright he said after two or three hours he got more and more sluggish he could barely hold a drum stick
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on 6 september moon and walter @@ lax were guests of paul and linda mccartney at a preview of the film the buddy holly story after dining with the mccartneys at peppermint park in covent garden moon and walter @@ lax returned to their flat he watched a film ( the abominable dr <unk> ) and asked walter @@ lax to cook him steak and eggs when she objected moon replied if you don 't like it you can fuck off these were his last words moon then took 32 clomethiazole tablets when walter @@ lax checked on him the following afternoon she discovered he was dead
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curbishley phoned the flat at around 5 pm looking for moon and dymond gave him the news curbishley told townshend who informed the rest of the band entwistle was giving an interview to french journalists when he was interrupted by a phone call with the news of moon 's death trying to tactfully and quickly end the interview he broke down and wept when the journalist asked him about the who 's future plans
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moon 's death came shortly after the release of who are you on the album cover he is straddling a chair to hide his weight gain the words not to be taken away are on the back of the chair
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police determined that there were 32 clomethiazole pills in moon 's system six were digested sufficient to cause his death the other 26 were undigested when he died max <unk> an authority on alcoholism wrote in the sunday times that moon should never have been given the drug moon was cremated on 13 september 1978 at golders green crematorium in london and his ashes were scattered in its gardens of remembrance
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townshend convinced daltrey and entwistle to carry on touring as the who although he later said that it was his means of coping with moon 's death and completely irrational bordering on insane allmusic 's bruce eder said when keith moon died the who carried on and were far more competent and reliable musically but that wasn 't what sold rock records in november 1978 faces drummer kenney jones joined the who townshend later said that jones was one of the few british drummers who could fill keith 's shoes daltrey was less enthusiastic saying that jones wasn 't the right style keyboardist john rabbit bundrick who had rehearsed with moon earlier in the year joined the live band as an unofficial member
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jones left the who in 1988 and drummer simon phillips ( who praised moon 's ability to drum over the backing track of baba o 'riley ) toured with the band the following year since 1994 the who 's drummer has been ringo starr 's son zak starkey who had been given a drum kit by moon ( whom he called uncle keith )
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the london 2012 summer olympic committee contacted curbishley about moon performing at the games 34 years after his death in an interview with the times curbishley quipped 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 ' if they have a round table some glasses and candles we might contact him
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= = legacy = =
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moon 's drumming has been praised by critics author nick <unk> described him as the greatest drummer in rock adding that he was to the drums what jimi hendrix was to the guitar holly george @@ warren editor and author of the rock and roll hall of fame the first 25 years said with the death of keith moon in 1978 rock arguably lost its single greatest drummer according to eder moon with his manic lunatic side and his life of excessive drinking partying and other indulgences probably represented the youthful zany side of rock & roll as well as its self @@ destructive side better than anyone else on the planet the new book of rock lists ranked moon no 1 on its list of 50 greatest rock ' n ' roll drummers and he was ranked no 2 on the 2011 rolling stone best drummers of all time readers ' poll in 2016 the same magazine ranked him no 2 in their list of the 100 greatest drummers of all time behind john bonham adam <unk> editor of drummer magazine said that moon 's performances on who 's next and quadrophenia represent a perfect balance of technique and passion and there 's been no drummer who 's touched his unique slant on rock and rhythm since
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several rock drummers including neil peart and dave grohl have cited moon as an influence the jam paid homage to moon on the second single from their third album down in the tube station at midnight the b @@ side of the single is a who cover ( so sad about us ) and the back cover of the record has a photo of moon 's face the jam 's single was released about a month after moon 's death animal one of puppeteer jim henson 's muppet characters may have been based on keith moon due to their similar hair eyebrows personality and drumming style
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god bless his beautiful heart ozzy osbourne told sounds a month after the drummer 's death people will be talking about keith moon ' til they die man someone somewhere will say ' remember keith moon ' who will remember joe <unk> who got killed in a car crash no one he 's dead so what he didn 't do anything to talk of
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clem burke of blondie has said early on all i cared about was keith moon and the who when i was about eleven or twelve my favourite part of drum lessons was the last ten minutes when i 'd get to sit at the <unk> and play along to my favourite record i 'd bring in ' my generation ' at the end of the song the drums go nuts ' my generation ' was a turning point for me because before that it was all the charlie watts and ringo type of thing
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in 1998 tony fletcher published a biography of moon dear boy the life of keith moon in the united kingdom the phrase dear boy became a catchphrase of moon 's when influenced by kit lambert he began affecting a pompous english accent in 2000 the book was released in the us as moon ( the life and death of a rock legend ) q magazine called the book horrific and terrific reading and record collector said it was one of rock 's great biographies
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in 2008 english heritage declined an application for moon to be awarded a blue plaque speaking to the guardian christopher <unk> said they decided that bad behaviour and overdosing on various substances wasn 't a sufficient qualification the uk 's heritage foundation disagreed with the decision presenting a plaque which was unveiled on 9 march 2009 daltrey townshend robin gibb and moon 's mother kit were present at the ceremony
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= = discography = =
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