Fuller, John G. Are The Kids All Right? (Times, US 1981)
Gambaccini, Paul; Rice, Tim; Rice, Jonathan. British Hit Singles (Guinness, UK 1995)
— British Hit Albums (Guinness, UK 1994)
Gillet, Charlie. The Sound Of The City: The Rise Of Rock’n’Roll (Da Capo, 1996)
Godbolt, Jim. A History Of Jazz In Britain 1919–50 (Paladin, UK 1986)
Gray, Marcus. London’s Rock Landmarks (Omnibus, UK 1985)
Hamilton, Marybeth. When I’m Bad I’m Better: Mae West, Sex, and American Entertainment (HarperCollins, US 1995)
Henderson, Dave. The Life Of Jimi Hendrix: ‘Scuse Me While I Kiss The Sky (Doubleday, US 1978)
Henry, Stuart & Mike von Joel. Pirate Radio Then And Now (Blandford, UK 1984)
Hewitt, Paolo. Small Faces: The Young Mods’ Forgotten Story (Acid Jazz, UK 1995)
Hoskyns, Barney. Waiting For The Sun: The Story Of The Los Angeles Music Scene (Viking, UK 1996)
Leonard, Maurice. Mae West, Empress Of Sex (Birch Lane, US 1991)
Lewis, Roger. The Life And Death Of Peter Sellers (Arrow UK 1994)
Lundin, Olle. The Who In Sweden (Squeeze, Sweden 1995)
Maltin, Leonard. Movie And Video Guide (Plume, US 1994)
Marchbank, Pearce, & Miles. The Illustrated Rock Almanac (Paddington, UK 1977)
Marlowe, Christopher. Doctor Faustus (Mermaid, US 1965)
Marsh, Dave. Before I Get Old: The Story Of The Who (St Martin’s, US 1983)
McMichael, Joe, & Lyons, ‘Irish’ Jack. The Who Concert File (Omnibus, UK 1997)
Miles, Barry. Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now (Henry Holt, US, 1997)
Motion, Andrew. The Lamberts (Chatto and Windus, UK 1986)
Neill, Andy & Kent, Matt: Anyway Anyhow Anywhere: The Complete Chronicle Of The Who 1958–1978 (Barnes & Noble, 2002)
Pang, May; with Edwards, Henry. Loving John: The Untold Story (Warner, US 1983)
Platt, John. London’s Rock Routes (Fourth Estate, UK 1985)
— with Chris Dreja & Jim McCarty. Yardbirds (Sidgwick & Jackson, UK 1983)
Reed, Oliver. Reed All About It (Coronet, UK 1979)
Ribowsky, Mark. He’s A Rebel: The Truth About Phil Spector – Rock and Roll’s Legendary Madman (Dutton, US 1989)
Savage, Jon. England’s Dreaming: Sex Pistols And Punk Rock (Faber & Faber, UK 1991)
Schaffner, Nicholas. The British Invasion (McGraw-Hill, US 1982)
Shaar Murray, Charles. Crosstown Traffic: Jimi Hendrix And The Post-War Rock ‘n’ Roll Revolution (St Martin’s, US 1990)
Sked, Alan; with Cook, Chris. Post-War Britain: A Political History (Pelican, UK, 1984)
Slaven, Neil. Zappa: Electric Quixote, (Omnibus, UK 1996)
Terrill, Marshall. Steve McQueen: Portrait Of An American Rebel (Donald I. Fine, US 1993)
Walker, Alexander. Sellers (Wiedenfield & Nicholson, UK 1981)
Ward, Ed; Stokes, Geoffrey; Tucker, Ken. Rock Of Ages: The Rolling Stone History Of Rock‘N’Roll (Summit, USA 1986)
Waterman, Ivan. Keith Moon: The Life And Death Of A Rock Legend (Arrow, UK 1979)
Whitburn, Joel. The Billboard Book Of Top 40 Albums (Billboard, US 1991)
— The Billboard Book Of Top 40 Hits (Billboard, US 1996)
White, Timothy. The Nearest Farway Place: Brian Wilson, The Beach Boys, And The Southern California Experience (Henry Holt, US 1995)
Wholey, Dennis. The Courage To Change (Warner Books, US 1994)
Wolter, Stephen; Kimber, Karen. The Who In Print: An Annotated Bibliography, 1965 through 1990 (McFarland, US 1992)
PRIMARY NEWSPAPER AND MAGAZINE ARTICLES
Altham, Keith. Who Are Going Around In Circles, New Musical Express, March 18, 1966
—Drummer Moon on Zither …, New Musical Express, Oct 7, 1966
—Townshend: ‘Moon Go Out Of So Many Hotels’, Record Mirror, July 18, 1970
Anon. Keith Moon Hospitalized, Rolling Stone, Sep 23, 1976
—At last! Entwistle’s Silence Is Broken, Melody Maker, Apr 16, 1966
—Who Incident – Keith Moon Hurt, Melody Maker, Aug 12, 1966
—Pop Think In: Keith Moon, Melody Maker, Dec 31, 1966
—Faces of Keith Moon, Disc Weekly, Jan 22, 1966
—A Little Touch of Moon ‘n’ Madness In The Night, New Musical Express, Aug 18, 1973
—Quirky, Turkey and Murky. Club International, Aug 1972
Boucher, Caroline. Moon Madness, Disc and Music Echo, Sep 5, 1970
—The Loons of Moon, Disc and Music Echo, Oct 30, 1971
—Tea House of the August Moon, Disc, Aug 25, 1973
Carr, Roy. Loon In Moon, New Musical Express, July 8, 1972
—Partial Eclipse of the Moon, New Musical Express, Apr 14, 1975
—Moon Raises Ruckus, New Musical Express, Aug 23, 1975
—The Best Part of Almost But Not Quite Breaking Up, New Musical Express, Oct 18, 1975
— So With One Mighty Bound …, New Musical Express, May 17, 1975 Charlesworth, Chris. Moon Probe, Melody Maker, April 22, 1972
Cohen, Scott. Keith Moon Collides with Danger and Destruction, Circus, February 1975
Cohn, Nik. Whoop-de-do. New York, Dec 15, 1975
Creedon, Larry. Keith Moon’s Split Personality. Trouser Press, June/July 1976
Dawbarn, Bob. The Economy Size, Family Pack Who …, Melody Maker, May 20, 1967
Drummond, Norrie. Who Are Mellower Fellows Now, New Musical Express, Feb 4, 1967
Farmer, Bob. Mad Moon the Door-blaster Strikes Again, Disc, April 20, 1968
Fletcher, Tony. Through The Years, Jamming!, June 1985
Goddard, Lon. Warming Up Moon’s New Home. Record Mirror, July 31, 1971
Green, Richard. Moon: Drummer Extraordinaire, New Musical Express, April 19, 1969
—Pete Townshend: The Man, New Musical Express, Nov 7, 1970
—The Fearful Duo Team Up To Make Disc, New Musical Express, Dec 19, 1970
—Mad Moon’s Tea Party, New Musical Express, July 24, 1971
—The Moon Report, New Musical Express, Oct 8, 1971
Hopkins, Jerry. Keith Moon Bites Back, Rolling Stone, Dec 21, 1972
Hutchins, Chris. With The Who in Denmark! New Musical Express, Oct 28, 1966
Kobernik, Harvey. Moon Beams, Melody Maker, Mar 8, 1975
Lewis, Nancy. Keith Moon Gets A ‘Welcome’ From The Deep South, Disc and Music Echo, Aug 12, 1967
Mackie, Rob. Will Normal Service Ever Be Resumed? Sounds, Aug 18, 1973
Marcus, Greil. The Different Drummer, Rolling Stone, Oct 19, 1978
Marsh, Dave. Two Sides Of The Moon review, Rolling Stone, May 22, 1975
—The Who Come To A Fork In The Road, Rolling Stone, Oct 5, 1978
—Keith Moon 1947–78, Rolling Stone, Oct 19, 1978
McConnell, Andy. Rollin’ & Tumblin’, Crawdaddy, May 1975
Middleton, Ian. ‘Rubbish – I’m Not Leaving The Who’ Says Keith Moon, Record Mirror, Aug 2, 1969
Moon, Keith. The Keith Moon Column, Beat International, Aug-Nov, 1967
Percival, Eamonn. The Keith Moon Exclusive, International Musician & Recording World, September, 1978
Russell, Rosalind. High And Dry In W12, Disc, May 17, 1975
Sanders, Rick. Bad Moon Rising, Record Mirror, Aug 18, 1973
Stewart, Tony. Who’s Last? New Musical Express, Dec 24, 1977
Thorpe, Martin. Total Eclipse Of The Moon, Record Mirror, May 24, 1975
Turner, Steve. The Ace Face’s Forgotten Story, New Musical Express, Nov 17, 1979
Valentine, Penny. The Day WHO Keith Blew Up, Disc and Music Echo, Sep 23, 1967
— Keith Moon: ‘I’ve been married for two years’, Disc and Music Echo, May 4, 1968
— The Sounds Talk-In: Keith Moon, Sounds, April 24, 1971
Various. ‘The Keith Moon Legend’, Drums & Drumming, USA, Oct/Nov 1989
Walter-Lax, Annette. ‘Blue Moon’, Sunday Mirror, UK, Apr 26, May 3, 10, 17, 1981
Welch,
Chris. Moon Over Chipping Norton, Melody Maker, Oct 3, 1970
— Two Sides Of The Moon review, Melody Maker, May 24, 1975
— A Night On The Town, Melody Maker, December 3, 1977
— Who Sell In, Melody Maker, January 27, 1979
Young, Charles M. Who’s Back, Musician, July 1989
SLEEVE NOTES
Atkins, John. Who’s Next & The Lifehouse Project, Who’s Next (MCA, USA; Polydor, UK, 1995)
Eden, Dawn. The Harry Nilsson Anthology (RCA, USA, 1994)
Pending, Patrick. Frank Zappa’s 200 Motels (Ryko/MGM, USA 1997)
Resnicoff, Matt. Who Are You (MCA, USA; Polydor, UK, 1996)
Stamp, Chris. A Quick One (MCA, USA; Polydor, UK, 1995)
Swenson, John. The Who By Numbers (MCA, USA; Polydor, UK, 1995)
Townshend, Pete. Who’s Next (MCA, USA; Polydor, UK, 1995)
The advent of the World Wide Web has made research of all kinds far easier and more enjoyable than ever previously imagined. Putting together the first edition of this book, between 1995 and 1998, I was constantly amazed at the speed with which I found musical and medical information – and stunned that I could even track down some of Keith’s acquaintances online. As explained on page 550, these were still the relatively early days of the Internet, long before Friends Reunited, allmusic.com, and broadband – and there were few sources of permanently archived, reliably accurate information. Typically, the one I relied on the most back then and which I would like to thank for being ahead of its time even as it was if entirely obsessed with the past – delerium.co.uk, which archived biographical information on obscure bands from the sixties and seventies – has since changed hands.
Only some of the historical research was conducted from the comfort of my computer. I also paid frequent visits to the antiquated British Newspaper Library at Colindale, London; the in-transit Records of Birth, Deaths and Marriages at St Catherine’s House, London; the resourceful Public Library at Brent Town Hall, Wembley, Middlesex; the ever-excellent Performing Arts Library at the Lincoln Center, New York City; the easy-to-access Newspaper Archives at the architecturally famous 42nd Street Library, New York City; and, on moving to Brooklyn in October 1996, the abundantly stocked shelves of the Biographies and Music Departments at the architecturally underrated and quite delightfully serene Public Library at Grand Army Plaza, Brooklyn, New York City.
Selected Discography
Keith Moon’s musical and film career is extensively detailed in the preceding text and I see no need to add yet more pages to an already lengthy book. In-depth Who discographies can be found in the back of the Anyway Anyhow Anywhere and Maximum R&B books as well as the 30 Years Of Maximum R&B four-CD box set, the latter also being a great place to start a Who/Keith Moon collection. Fortunately, the campaign launched in the mid-Nineties to reissue The Who’s back catalogue on compact disc with satisfactory audio sound, bonus cuts and extensive liner notes, now includes a double-CD package of the very first album, My Generation, and a new edition of Who’s Next with a second, live, CD. (These reissues replace the dreadful CDs originally issued in the late Eighties at the height of record company exploitation over the conversion of hardware.) Keith’s drumming can also be heard at its finest on the double CD of The Who Live At The Isle Of Wight 1970 (Legacy) and, in more spartan manner, on the BBC Sessions CD.
Keith’s solo album Two Sides Of The Moon was reissued on CD in 1997, along with the three Steve Cropper productions that were intended to mark the start of his second solo album. It’s still tough listening, but his charming character occasionally cuts through the lazy all-star jam sessions. Of his movies, all except Son Of Dracula/Young Dracula are available on home video in either the UK or USA and most are also occasionally shown on late night TV.
A complete list of commercially available videos and/or DVDs featuring Keith Moon can easily be obtained by anyone with a computer and access to an online store like Amazon or Barnes & Noble. The Kids Are Alright documentary was re-released in 2003 with a bonus DVD and is absolutely the first point of entry for anyone wondering what the previous 600 pages’ fuss is all about. The 30 Years Of Maximum R&B Live compilation shows Keith in other concerts over the years at his best – and with a fan’s video-recording of his collapse at the San Francisco Cow Palace in 1973, also at his worst. Who’s Better, Who’s Best is a compendium of live footage and promo videos for completists only. The 1970 Isle of Wight concert is the only Moon-era show available in visual entirety. There are also videos available of the Woodstock and Monterey Pop festivals with substantial Who content.
Finally, although they are not officially available, Keith’s radio shows with John Walters are occasionally found and swapped among tape collectors. They are well worth hearing to discover just what a talent was lurking unexploited in that capacity. I had closed out this section in 1998 by stating my hope that John Walters would do something with the tapes of the half-completed comedy album that followed this radio series; sadly, Walters passed away before the opportunity presented itself.
Acknowledgements
I have often been asked whether this book is ‘authorised’ – to which my response remains that Keith Moon was unfortunately not available to give or withhold his permission. Certainly, there is concrete evidence that he wanted his life story told even before he died, at which time such a book, as I have discovered from my own past projects, would have been a much more sanitised read than this one. I would like to think that the overwhelming honesty and openness of those people I talked to (all of whom were quite adult enough to make their own decisions on contributing, regardless of anyone else’s) was a reflection of their enthusiasm to see his life story told faithfully, warts and all. I recognise that the passing of time enables people to tell stories they may previously have held secret for fear of causing offence and, having seen so many political and other entertainment field biographies full of quotes off the record and from anonymous sources, I realise and am grateful that earthiness and informality has always been part of the rock’n’roll culture’s attraction for its participants and observers.
In alphabetical order, those interviewees were: Keith Allison, Keith Altham, Jon Astley, Mick Avory, Bill Ayres, Tom Ayres, Ginger Baker, Lenny Baker, Michelle Banky, Richard Barnes, Frank Barsalona, the late Lionel Bart, Jeff Beck, Rodney Bingenheimer, Mick Bratby, Jerry Brezlar, Tony Brind, Peter ‘Dougal’ Butler, Roy Carr, Hal Carter, Chris Charlesworth, Ron Chenery, Neville Chester, Dave Clarke, Doug Clarke, Richard Cole, Ray Connolly, Alice Cooper, Bob Cottam, Brett Cummins, Bill Curbishley, Pamela des Barres, Amanda DeWolf (née Moon), Jeff Dexter, the late Ian Dury, Dr Geoffrey Dymond, Dave Edmunds, Allen Ellett, Bobby Elliot, Steve Ellis, Robert Elms, the late John Entwistle, the late Gerry Evans, Michael Evans, Chris Farlowe, Ed Goodgold, Karl Green, Richard Green, Larry Hagman, Colin Haines, Roger Hands, Steve Harley, Roy Harper, Bob Henrit, Karl Howman, Annette Hunt, Lou Hunt, Ramon Hunt, Alan Jay, Bruce Johnston, Nick Jones, Howard Kaylan, Jim Keltner, Dermott Kerrigan, Gary Ladinsky, Corky Laing, Dave ‘Cyrano’ Langston, Rob Lemon, Nancy Lewis, Carlo Little, ‘Irish’ Jack Lyons, Dr Neil Mann, Jocko Marcellino, Ann-Margret, Dave Marsh, Jack McCulloch, Ian McLagan, Kim McLagan, Steve McNerney, Barry Miles, Linda Mills (née Moon), Norman Mitchener, Vic Much, Paul Nicholas, Roger Nichols, John Otway, May Pang, Basil Parkinson, Meg Patterson, George Patterson, Reg Presley, Viv Prince, Sir David Puttnam, the late Noel Redding, the late Oliver Reed, Willie Robertson, Michael Rosenfeld, the late Dave Rowberry, Peter Rudge, Patti Salter, Doug Sandom, John Schollar, John Sebastian, Sandy Serjeant, Mike Shaw, Colin Shirwin, Scott Simon, ‘Legs’ Larry Smith, Chris Stamp, Zak Starkey, Chris Stone, Peter Stringfellow, Gary Stromberg, John Stronach, Skip Taylor, Peter Thorpe, Mark Timlin, Peter Tree, Michael Verdick, Mark Volman, Phil Wainman, Joe Walsh, the late John Walters, Pete Wandless, Chris Welch, Bruce Wensch, Barrie Wentzell, Vicki Wickham, Chris Wincup, John Wolff.
Although they are already mentioned in the above list, I would like to offer an additional
note of exceptional gratitude to Kim McLagan, Annette Hunt and Dougal Butler, the only three people to have lived with Keith in adulthood and shared his private life on a regular, ongoing basis. Each of them (and their partners) took me into their respective homes in Austin, London and Stockholm, and shared their memories, scrapbooks, letters – and hospitality -over lengthy interviews that they no doubt assumed would see the back of me. They each then endured my numerous follow-up phone calls or visits without so much as flinching at the most personal of questions. Without them, this story could never have been properly told. I am deeply indebted.
There are only a few names missing from the above list of interviewees that I wish could have been included. Among them is Keith’s mother, Kathleen Moon, who felt that the non-musical aspects of Keith’s life had been detailed quite enough over the years; she was also frustrated that the time she had devoted to Roger Daltrey’s proposed film had produced no tangible results. She concluded that it was time to let her son rest in peace, an attitude I respect, though this book obviously does not allow for her wish to be granted to the extent she might hope.
Roger Daltrey felt that my biography conflicted or competed with his proposed film (an opinion his partner in that project, Chris Stamp, did not share). Unfortunate though this may be, I had considered all along that if I was forced to do without one member of the Who it should be Roger, for the simple fact that he saw less of Keith off stage than the others – although after Keith’s death, realising how much he missed his drummer despite their occasional conflicts over the years, I think Roger may have regretted that this was the case.
(Shortly before Dear Boy was published, Daltrey contacted me by phone; he had come across an advance copy of selected chapters of the book, and was concerned as to how he had been described in places, both by myself and by those who had toured with him. Once we moved beyond this issue, which took some time, he expressed his opinion that the book had “nailed” Keith and assured me it would do very well. We talked a little about Keith’s personality, some of the other characters that featured prominently his life story, and Daltrey’s proposed movie on his former bandmate. Roger left it that we should meet up. Since then, he’s been derogatory about the book in public. I can only reiterate in writing what I said on the phone that day: that I had a poster of Roger on my wall throughout my adolescence and have never grown beyond that reflex action of looking up to him. It was never my intention to offend him and he remains one of my musical idols.)
Dear Boy: The life of Keith Moon Page 91