Moon: The Life and Death of a Rock Legend

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 show more 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). show less

Well-written, informative and interesting music biography, more information-rich and insightful than others I can recall reading so far (to Jan 2024). Good coverage of the music, band and public/private life. The running theme is Moon's status among the 'in crowd', but a slight irritation is that it is always flagged up by using the word "élite" prefaced by 'social', 'cultural', 'jazz', 'wealthy', 'rock', 'touring' or 'music', usually with the accent, which appears in the text some 28 times. The last chapter and epilogue also seemed tortuously long and drowned in minutiae.

The definitive biography of one of the great, funny, talented, and tragic characters in rock and roll. An engaging in-depth look full of fascinating British rock history, delicious celebrity gossip, and astonishing and hilarious tales of excess.

A vivid yet ultimately depressing account of the rise and long, sad, slow fall of The Who's drummer, mired in substance abuse and alcoholism, afflicted by personality disorders, and attempting - but ultimately failing - to regain his former position as quarter-lynchpin of the most dynamic and explosive rock group ever.

This has to be seen as Moon's definitive biography.

my all-time favorite musician, and one of the saddest stories i've read.

RIP Keith