Keith Moon

"I seem to have met quite a few dangerous people in my time, in one way or another, and one sticks in my mind: a dear, old friend named Keith Moon, drummer for The Who. And I first met Keith at a ... charity soccer match in which Monty Python was playing the rest of the world, and Keith was playing for the rest of the world. And I was rather annoyed at the way that the players in this charity match were taking the game rather too seriously. And I come along dressed as the colonel figure from the series, and just generally strolled around making a nuisance of myself: ordering people about, standing in the goal … and that kind of thing. And Keith must have felt similarly bored with the way things were going that afternoon, ... [for he] left the field himself and drove back on in someones car, and scored several goals before anyone could catch him. That cemented the relationship between us, I think, and the two of us went off to the bar afterwards and drank very, very, very, very, very, very, very many drinks, and I taught him there a game which Id like to show this evening because Im trying to popularise it around the world."

"I think it’s fairly safe to say that Keith was the first man to ever say he loved me, in his last days sadly, but I believed him, and I think he might have been the first man I was able to sincerely tell I felt the same way."

"After , Keith Moon was one of the first drummers that I heard play where I was left gobsmacked. He had so much freedom in his performing, every time he played you felt like he was right on the edge."

"Keith Moon flew by the seat of his pants. His skill and imagination allowed him to unconsciously play whatever he felt at the time. The freedom and passion he displayed is one of the most beautiful things I have ever witnessed. This inspires me probably more than any other skill a drummer can, or should, possess."

"When Keith played, he had a mix of pure rock ’n’ roll with a bit of American surf music thrown in, and when he played with the Who you were left feeling like there could be a train disaster at any time. Who records were a really exciting listening experience. … I started to look into Keith Moon, and realised that he was totally unique when it came to the way he set his drums up. And then I saw The Kids Are Alright, and [I] could see his drums close up and hear the way he played, and I had to go and buy a bunch of Who records. It occurred to me that, simply, no one else played like him. And I was left with the idea that he never liked to play the same way twice. Which is really how a lot of jazz musicians think and play, with their constant improvisation. Keith had that sort of spirit, too, and at that time it was unique in rock music."

"During the last year of Keiths life, he was attempting to dry out quite a lot, and I was drying out with him. We were, in fact, involved in a mutual project. … I went to his hospital bedside on a couple of occasions just after hed had a little ... epileptic fit of some description, following withdrawal of alcohol. ... The tragic thing was seeing Keith go back to drinking. You see, he … had never really decided to quit."