It’s the late ’60s. You’re with your wife, and you’re on a bit of a holiday. You’ve booked a room in a nice hotel, looking for some peace and quiet. After a pleasant day, you’ve turned in for the night.
Suddenly, there’s a banging on the wall. It gets louder and louder and louder. Finally, it breaks, and out of the dust you see an axe chopping away. There’s a pause, and after the dust settles, you see someone peering at you from the next room.
“’Scuse me,” says the face. “I understand that you have a mini-bar in your room. May I have a rummage in it? I find myself in need of more alcohol.”
First of all, there’s no mini-bar in your room. And second, who is this madman who insisted on coming through the wall instead of politely knocking on your door? Or better yet, why didn’t he just call room service?
But there is no reasoning with this loon, because you have just been introduced to Keith Moon, the drummer for The Who. He was just at the beginning of building a reputation as the craziest man in the history of rock.
Keith would spend the next ten years building on this reputation, which would see more incidents like this—and worse. In fact, before it was all over, he would be responsible for hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage, injuries to himself and his bandmates, and at least one death.
This is episode 62 of Uncharted: Crime and Mayhem in the Music Industry. And this is the life and crazy times of Keith Moon.
In addition to the podcasts, you can hear Uncharted on these Corus radio stations (all times local):
- Toronto: AM 640 (4-5am)
- London: 980 CFPL (4-5am)
- Vancouver: 730 CKNW (1-2am)
- Edmonton: 630 CHED (1-2am)
- Calgary: QR77 (770 AM) (1-2am)
- Winnipeg: 680 CJOB (1-2am)
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