Moon: The Life And Death Of A Rock Legend (2000) - Plot & Excerpts
Brilliant but also terribly sad, Keith Moon managed to waste his life but also not waste his life at the same time. Tony Fletcher's biography captures this perfectly, and portrays a warm, funny, uniquely talented and well loved man essentially committing suicide for the merriment of others over a fourteen year spell following the initial success of the Who.Moon is so complex that trying to dissect his personality is a formidable task, and Fletcher wisely plays the part of the informed narrator rather than offer too many conclusions of his own. Moon's legendary caperings are genuinely hilarious, and he was almost as gifted a comic as he was a drummer. Indeed, the mid-70s years that he spent in America while the rest of the Who developed side projects to while away the time between stadium tours were his undoing: had he channeled his abundance of talents into acting or comedy instead of blotting everything out with drugs and brandy, he may well have found the happiness and confidence that, while reading, you can't help but notice all but eluded him throughout his life. Interestingly, Fletcher punctures many of the most celebrated Moon legends: the Rolls Royces driven into swimming pools and hotel foyers being the most well known. He also examines why these fictitious events are still routinely quoted as factual - essentially, that everyone wanted to believe in Moon the Loon as much as Keith Moon himself did.Obviously, this is a pretty bulletproof biography of the Who during their best years, too. There's the tantrums, wife beatings, and spite that form the flip side to Moon's up, up and away public persona. The violent death of his personal assistant Neil Boland - which affected Moon for the rest of life - is covered in depth, as is the harrowing experience of Kim, his first wife, whose leaving he never really came to terms with.This is the second time I've read this book in the last few years. I've been listening to the Who a lot recently and wanted to know where Moon picked up his drumming from, how he developed and so forth. No one seems to know, least of all Moon himself, bashing away tunelessly one minute and producing the most exciting sound in pop the next. There are few people who you'd consider had a claim to have been touched by God, as there is no other explanation for their talents: Keith Moon is one of them.The last couple of chapters are hard for a fan to read. They portray a man so beset with insecurities and addictions that he simply does not know who he is anymore. At 32, he looks 50. Worse than that, he looks 50 and heartbroken, because that is what he is at this point, knowing that his talents are being rapidly eroded by a lifestyle that he simply cannot give up. I have always been a fan of Keith Moon, but by the end of this book I loved him. Poor old brilliant Keith. Some people are just so extraordinarily talented that the weight of their brilliance kills them - such was the case with pop's most mischievous son.
"Moon: The Life and Death of a Rock Legend," by Tony Fletcher, is one of the saddest books I've read. As a fan of the Who, reading this book is exciting, pouring over hundreds of pages about the rise and success of one of the greatest bands in rock n roll history--and then (and not without warnings peppered throughout the first few hundred pages) the lifestyle of our protagonist catches up to him, and it's painful reading a detailed account of his self-destruction.Keith's is, overall, a sad story about a man whose insecurities were kept hidden from most of the people who knew him, and who could never be content just to enjoy the life he'd made for himself, always living in fear that said life, and lifestyle, could be taken away at any moment; that the Who could break up, and it would be all over. Because Keith had no desire to do anything but play drums with the Who (although there's a strong suggestion that he'd have also been happy with a career as a Beach Boy). Fletcher's book is filled with amusing, startling, and very repeatable anecdotes, some of which are covered in the magnificent "Before I Get Old," by Dave Marsh. It's unavoidable some stories should be repeated in different biographies of the band, but for a reader interested in learning more specifically about the band's drummer, Fletcher's book is must-have material. In the beginning of the book, Fletcher points out that it's quite a task assembling a nonfiction history of Keith Moon, since his life was surrounded by so many rumors and bits of hearsay, many concocted by Moon himself, that it isn't easy to separate truth from fiction. I'm sure, while there are many passages Moon probably wouldn't mind kept out of the records, that he'd approve of that.
What do You think about Moon: The Life And Death Of A Rock Legend (2000)?
This was an indulgence that, much like Keith Moon's own habits, became excessive. My brother gave me this book a couple of Christmases ago, and I had started on, put down, started back on it a few times. After reading the more high-brow novel "The Sea" by John Banville, I thought it a good opportunity to simplify things a bit and finally get through this biography of The Who's drummer, notorious for his reckless living (drinking, drugging, hotel-wrecking) that culminated in his death in 1978. It was fun to read, especially accompanied by Who music and supplemented with visits to YouTube, where you can find tons of clips of Moon's antics and performances (musical and otherwise) that weren't so readily accessible when I was 14. It's impossible, in fact, not to enjoy spending time with Moon and The Who ... for a time. This book is nearly 600 pages in length and by halfway through becomes dominated by almost day-by-day accounts of how drunk and drugged Moon got - and what then followed. What begin as escapades and shenanigans end up as disasters, even tragedies. It frankly became tiresome as the book followed Moon into this monotonous course of self-abuse, depression, and mania, but Fletcher does break to analyze and comment from time to time on just that - how living in Moon's orbit could go from exhilirating to exasperating, eventually breaking many of those around him. Although a fan - and an adulatory one on occasion, at that - Fletcher is honest in confronting the reality behind Moon's "loony", lovable, eccentric public persona and discussing what a terrible person he could be: verbally, emotionally, physically abusive to his wife; negligent towards his daughter; overbearing, inconsiderate, imperious, or worse to those close to him; perhaps suffering from borderline personality disorder. It was good to spend some escape time with Moonie, but I'm glad to be away from him now.
—Mike Clinton
This book is more than just a musician's biography. It is a complete psychoanalysis on the legendary Keith Moon, drummer for The Who. It pretty much covers everything from his career in The Who to the darkest sides of his personality. His innovative drumming style is only surpassed by his crazy offstage antics. Surprisingly thorough, considering none of the members of The Who contributed. Definitely a very condensed 600 plus pages of insanity. Most of what you heard about Keith offstage is true, with the exception of the Holiday Inn Flint, MI incident. Everything from the crazy 21st birthday party to the Cow Palace incident is covered here. Please do not think I am going to give away all the details. You have to find out on your own. Whether you are a fan of The Who or of music in general, it is worth the read. Normally I can read a book pretty quickly, but this one took me 2 whole weeks. Not continuously, of course, but it was pretty long. By the end of it all, needless to say I was pretty exhausted. Just to think, Keith used to stay awake for 5 days straight at times. That is pretty much how you will feel when you are through. It is one boozed, drug filled, wifebeating, emotional rollercoaster ride. I often suggest, as many have, to watch The Who movie The Kids Are Alright. That will give you more insight to the man they call "Moon The Loon"...
—Rachel
I'm not a Who fan although I find myself appreciating their earlier work more and more over time. After seeing The Kids Are Alright at the Brooklyn Academic of Music's recent film series on The Who, I found myself interested in learning more about Keith Moon's intense and strange life. This book is written by a British journalist who used to live in Park Slope. It is extremely detailed and it took me very long to read the book cover-to-cover but the details are never boring. The author doesn't overindulge the rock star pathology thread of Moon's life but doesn't focus exclusively on the music either. The book is nice blend of British rock history, celebrity gossip (who ever knew Larry Hagman was friends with Moon?) and often entertaining tales of excess. Moon was a genuinely funny person. Although he often used cruel humor (as well as violence to many a hotel room) to stave off the boredom that was an outgrowth of his extreme hyperactivity and attention deficit, Moon was a kind and an almost childlike innocent (whilst also being quite cruel to his wife and subsequent girlfriend).
—Monica
