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Keith Moon Video

Started by Thorne, August 16, 2004, 08:03 AM

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Thorne

I stumbled across this the other day . and i thought it should be hosted for everybody to see.

http://home.comcast.net/~nthorne/Pictures/Drum_Solo_-_Keith_Moon_Video.mpg]http://home.comcast.net/~nthorne/Pictures/Drum_Solo_-_Keith_Moon_Video.mpg

I think Keith was blasted when doing this solo.  

Any opinions ..?

I think his playing was so sloppy at times..He reminds me of some drunk at a show that just wants to have a laugh on the drums..

Stewart Manley

I have to confess, I never ever "got" Keith Moon's drumming.

Paul DAngelo

I can go two ways on this.

Keith Moon was an absolute inspiration for me when The Who first hit the scene.  His drums on "Pictures of Lilly", "Happy Jack", and a number of other songs that pre-dated "Tommy" were like nothing else in pop music at the time.  He was also only like 19 or 20 and I was about 14 or so.

His drumming on "Tommy" and "Quadrophenia" was pretty darn good as well.

Seeing him "live" was another story.  I saw him one night on "In Concert" (for those of you that remember that show) and he did a terrible, sloppy drum solo.  It was my first introduction into his weaknesses.

I've also seen him live a number of times and at least once, he was pretty obviously drunk or something like it, because of his actions and his sloppiness when playing.

He had demons like a lot of people have.  You have to look at his positive contributions, I know he inspired a lot of kids my age at the time to either begin playing drums or playing with more "spirit".

percussionmonkey1

I'm not a big keith moon fan  he did blow up his drums, and really trash his gear.

Paul DAngelo

Quote from: percussionmonkey1 on August 16, 2004, 09:22 AM
I'm not a big keith moon fan at all, he blew up his drums, trashed his gear, and had no respect for his craft.  :-\
He hit the BIG TIME while he was still a teenager.  Everyone is so critical of everything that somebody has done.  I'd be interested to see the percentage of persons having "problems" when they are VERY young, given enormous amounts of money, can freely travel the globe and basically do what they want.

His trashing of his equipment went along with The Who's persona, which was created by Pete Townshend, not Moon.

It's really too bad when somebody actually has a weakness, I assume everyone being critical of Moon would have handled the situation much better and would not have succumbed to any weaknesses possibly inherent in their personality.

Remember, don't let your weaknesses be known or you'll be in for a good trashing.

Stewart Manley

Quote from: mudlark on August 16, 2004, 09:08 AMI can go two ways on this.

This about covers it, I think. I only really got exposed to his later stuff, which simply didn't strike any chords in me. I'll take some time and hunt out some earlier material.

sptucker

Moon might have been sloppy at times in live performances, and he was certainly not a technician, but he did have some impact on our art form (ok, maybe not jazz  :-\)  For that he deserves some credit.  

It's unfortunate that his inner demons and excesses destroyed him in public.  I think this video is a good example of that.  I, personally, think this solo sucks, but I'm sure he was bombed out of his mind, as someone else noted.  In contrast, listen to Live at Leeds for some good live Moon drumming.  

There are numerous flashes of brilliance (soberness?) caught on tape throughout his career, but this is definitely not one of them...

Joe

I remember seeing on black-and-white film a performance of "Can't Explain It", and I thought that Moon's playing was perfectâ€"both technical and grooving.

The clip Thorne posted was a display not unlike that of some high-school kid at a usual house party, beating on a fishtank stand with "Hard Rock Cafe" (Phoenix) drumsticks off the bookshelf and cracking the fishtank while using it for a ride.

Thorne

I also found a video of Buddy rich and jerry lewis doing a drum off .

Only thing is . Its a 61 mb file and i only have room for 26 mb. Ill post as soon as i can find a host.

Oh i tried to compress it in RAR and it only compressed it  down to 51 mb :(

Adam's Dad

Quote from: sptucker on August 16, 2004, 10:15 AM

...but he did have some impact on our art form...

Moon's playing was definately an early influence for me.  I remember playing along to "I Can See For Miles" and really digging his "soloistic" approach to his playing.  He never seemed to play a groove, but was always moving around the drumset playing 16th note patterns with forceful crescendos.  As a young player, I thought this was the way to go until I realized there was more to playing within a band than just banging out hot licks.

Adam's Dad

Vintage Ludwig

Moonie fought many demons by the midway point of his short lived career.  Townsend was really the destroyer of equipment-and moon was young and followed Townsend, and eventually went way beyond Townsend.  Early on, Moon was a good drummer.  I liked his style of play.  To me, I liked the way he used his drums to crash alot-INSTEAD of using his cymbals.  He was the first drummer I remember as using a bouble bass kit.  I mean he used them both-didnt just have an extra kick for looks!  By the time he reched the midway point, he was plastered-CONSTANTLY.  When he in the studio for a take, I understand he would rehearse maybe once, then roll tape and record.  Other times, he would show up hammered-tell everyone to piss-off, sit down at the kit and record.  He was a crapshoot when it came to his alcoholism.  He was much like his friend Bonham-you never knew which person you were going to see.  Moon played more often drunk than sober.  By the time the Whos last album came out,  his alcoholism was way beyond anybodys control.  And was causing dissention in the band.  But the Who Are You album contains some of his best drumming, at least in my humble opinion.  Lastly, if you look at the album cover (yes, I said album, not c.d.) he is sitting in a directors chair.  And on the back of the chair it reads "not to be taken away".   He checked out shortly after that albums release.  As far as the gold fish incident goes, I think its pretty cool.....CUZ HE USED A LUDWIG VISTALITE SET TO DO IT!!!!!!  I miss ya Moonie-

devtrirob

Moon just never did it for me,he's all over the place constantly,and that's just a great example of it! hell even Peter Criss's solo on alive 1 and 2 is more worthy then to have to see and hear the garbage he was doing there!

DoubleC

I caught a Who Concert yesterday.  I think after one of the songs I noticed he and his roadie were changing the right bass drum head during Townsend's  guitar solo.  It made me think if the guitar solo was planned or just "inserted" to change the bd head.  

The timing was pretty cool because as soon as the bd head was on, the guitar solo ended and they launched into the next song.  

In any case, his drumming didn't do anything for me.  I just couldn't get into his playing; he seemed all over the place and sometimes I just couldn't figure out where his 1 was at.  

dc

oxford

As Clint Eastwood said in a movie, "Every man needs to know his limitations"...Keith did not.

felix

I saw a couple of old who videos last night on VH1.

I miss ya too Moonie.  Who knows how great you would be today?

I love his drumming- so free, heck we only wish we could play that free and expressive while getting away with it.

Paul DAngelo

Gee Thorne, why didn't you just call this thread "Let's Bash Keith Moon"?  

What's the point?  An awful lot of seemingly hostile feelings for a guy that had a GREAT TIME playing drums.  Break out your "Tommy", "Live at Leeds", "Quadraphenia" and "Who's Next" CDs and play to them.  Wait, you probably haven't heard them.  See if you can match what he's playing.

Out of all of you that posted, how many actually ever saw Keith Moon LIVE?  How many of you saw the power, the passion, the energy, the spirit of his playing?

There IS a place for all of those qualities in playing, NOT just technique and knowing how to play a paradiddle in an appropriate section of a song.

Thorne

I cant say that ive seen the who live..  I know that i would love it. Keith moon had some great moments..

His flame just burned to hott and died to quick..

IF anybody wants to get into the WHO, pick up THE WHOS GREATEST HITS!

I still love to put the album on and crank it up.. One of the best...


Christopher

Moon was unorthodox, but that is part of what made his playing so exciting and original.

I echo Mud's sentiments,
Quote from: mudlark on August 17, 2004, 06:42 AM
Break out your "Tommy", "Live at Leeds", "Quadraphenia" and "Who's Next" CDs and play to them.

Incredible stuff.

Much of what he played was not easy and was extremely original. His drumming was a very large part of what defined the hugely popular "Who sound."  

I think we all owe a little to Keith Moon. He brought allot of attention to the drummer's throne.

Chris Whitten

Quote from: Christopher on August 17, 2004, 07:29 AM
Much of what he played was not easy and was extremely original. His drumming was a very large part of what defined the hugely popular "Who sound."  
I think we all owe a little to Keith Moon. He brought allot of attention to the drummer's throne.
Ditto, ditto, ditto.  :)
If you don't 'get' his playing that's fine.
It doesn't mean Keith Moon was no good. It means you don't 'get' his drumming.
I love the fact you don't know where 1 is sometimes. Neither Moon nor the other guys probably knew where it was either!

Christopher

Quote from: chrisso on August 17, 2004, 08:25 AM
I love the fact you don't know where 1 is sometimes. Neither Moon nor the other guys probably knew where it was either!

Absolutely.

The phrase chaotic harmony comes to mind.



I have to go home and listen to "Whos Next" now…

Jonesin' some Who... Needs me a fix...  ;)