MoroniCast: The Life of Keith Moon (and other explosions) 🥁💥

Keith Moon parted this Earth in September 1978. Legendary drummer for The Who, the man left behind a chaotic and bizarre life that continues to astonish and baffle in equal measure.

A genius drummer whose influence on the instrument continues to this day, we must also analyse an explosive and heavily troubled psychological makeup. One that saw him die at just 32 years of age.

That’s what we’re here to discuss! Thus, expect music and explosions and a look at a troubled soul who wanted to entertain the world.

Keith Moon Personality Analysis 101

The life of Keith Moon was so packed with mayhem and happenings it’s difficult to know where to begin. The result is a hodgepodge of a podcast above, but we feel we’ve covered some important ground.

Namely, his psychological makeup and addictions.

A lot of his behaviour was impulsive, reckless, and self-destructive. With a wider arc to it in the sense he was entertaining people. To achieve that goal, his naturally shy demeanour needed copious amounts of alcohol and drugs.

Despite his crazy reputation (“Moon the Loon”), he was perfectly capable of normal and insightful interviews. As with the below one from 1973.

But then there’s the drunken stuff, like this from the Isle of Wight festival in 1970. A lot of the footage/interviews from him around this time and he always has a brandy and cigarette in his hands.

Our interest in Moon’s character was piqued again by the below October 2021 interview with The Who’s singer Roger Daltrey: Looking back, I think Keith Moon was autistic. It’s a sad reflection. Moon’s death obviously had a big impact on Daltrey.

“I don’t think you would have changed the way Moon lived his life. I tried and tried. I became very close to him in the last two years of his life. My relationship with him was very different because we were arch-enemies at the beginning of the band. I think I was the only constant in his life. I didn’t do drugs and I wasn’t an alcoholic … I think Moon was autistic, I really do.”

Although we’d leaned toward borderline personality disorder for some time, it does make sense. Some personality traits:

Sociable when drinking, otherwise an introvert and reclusive
Many unstable relationships
General eccentricity and inability to fit social norms
Intense hyperfocus on his interests (i.e. drumming)
Difficulty with self-regulation
Drinking to self-medicate

The band’s manager, Bill Curbishley, said:

“On the one hand, he was this lunatic who couldn’t wait to get behind a kit and explode with it all. On the other, he was a very quiet sort of person.”

With all the garbage being spun by the Trump administration regarding autism, it’s just welcome to see someone of Daltrey’s status being so open the possible.

We don’t agree with some of Daltrey’s political opinions (being pro-Brexit, to Townshend’s anti-Brexit stance), but he does come across as a genuinely down to Earth kind of bloke. Very self-deprecating, too, and he’s gone out of his way over the decades to support various cancer charities.

One of the things we like best about The Who is that self-deprecation. Even peak fame in the early ’70s Townshend and Daltrey were going around saying how stupid etc. they all were.

And they’ve often been candid with their feelings on matters. Townshend through his music and songwriting. Daltrey is more open in conversation and has said his biggest regret in life was Moon’s death and not having been able to help.

Moon lacked that, never addressing his issues until the final year or so of his life. It says a lot that his attempts to dry out and get clean led to a lethal overdose of the powerful Heminevrin drug.

Whatever was up with Moon, a diagnosis may have offered some way for him to regulate his issues. Whether it was ADHD (almost certainly, you have to say), BPD/autism, avoidant personality disorder etc. But he was such an extreme character, you can’t help but think he was always going to burn himself out young.

Anyway, we’ll end with this picture of him from at school (circa 1951-ish). Try to guess which one is Keith Moon.

And a Note on Keith Moon the Drummer

Moon’s drummer style is bizarre, but in a good way. Unique, dramatic, entrenched in showmanship. He wasn’t concerned about timekeeping, more flamboyance, ridiculousness, drama.

The above clip (very rare and 8mm original film, uploaded to YouTube by a fan of the band who recorded it on 4th June 1970) is a classic example of Moon’s style.

Interesting to note, he’s also singing away on some tracks (see our list of best singing drummers for more of those types). The other members didn’t like having him sing backing vocals, as he wasn’t much of a singer, but allowed it on I Can’t Explain to placate him for a bit.

Then there’s his rampant showmanship and youthful energy here on My Generation. This was at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival.

But this idea he was unrestrained and incapable of “normal” drumming is nonsense. Across Tommy (1968) and The Who Sell Out (1967) he proved his critics wrong with a wonderful array of dynamic drum patterns.

Townshend’s wonderful satirical ditty Odorono is a real insight into Moon’s sweep as a drummer. Subtle, set back, restrained, excellent on the time keeping front. Everything he, according to others, wasn’t able to do.