Keith Moon - Legacy

Legacy

Keith Moon is often cited by critics as one of the greatest and most eccentric drummers in rock music. Holly George-Warren, editor and author of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: The First 25 Years, argues: "With the death of Keith Moon in 1978, rock arguably lost its single greatest drummer." According to Allmusic, "Moon, with his manic, lunatic side, and his life of excessive drinking, partying, and other indulgences, probably represented the youthful, zany side of rock & roll, as well as its self-destructive side, better than anyone else on the planet." In the words of Pete Townshend, "The production of our records has got nothing to do with sound. It's got to do with trying to keep Keith Moon on his fucking drum stool." Dave Marsh's The New Book of Rock Lists ranks Moon at No. 1 on its list of The 50 Greatest Rock 'n' Roll Drummers. Similarly, he was ranked at No. 2 on Rolling Stone's "The Best Drummers of All Time" readers poll in 2011.

Many rock drummers have cited Moon as an influence, including Neil Peart and Dave Grohl. The Jam paid tribute to Moon on the second single from their third album, "Down in the Tube Station at Midnight", in which the B-side of the single is a cover song from The Who: "So Sad About Us", and the back cover of the record is a photo of Moon's face; the Jam's record was released about a month after Moon's death.

Animal, one of puppeteer Jim Henson's characters from the Muppets TV show and movies, was rumored to have been based on Keith Moon, due to the fact that both share similar hair, eyebrows, outrageous personality and wild drumming style. Several sources dispute this, including Jim Henson himself, who said he based Animal's looks and style primarily on his friend, Grammy-winning drummer, Steve Mitchell.

John Entwistle, in an interview, once observed a unique way of Keith's style: 'He didn't play from right to left, or from left to right, he'd play forward. I've never seen anyone play like that before or since.'

In his book Stairway to Heaven, former Led Zeppelin road manager Richard Cole writes that Jimmy Page considered Moon top of his list as he was looking for a drummer for his new band, which would become Led Zeppelin. Robert Plant asked Page if he had a drummer, and Page said that he was still looking for one, and Robert brought him to see John Bonham in action.