Friday, March 15, 2013

Moon the Loon

Moon the Loon is one of about a dozen books on The Who (once considered the third biggest group in the world after The Beatles and The Stones). Published in paperback by W.H. Allen (London 1981) and subtitled "The rock and roll life of Keith Moon -- the most spectacular drummer the world has ever seen." There are at least four books on the 'wild man of rock' Keith Moon. The hardest to find is Moon the Loon. Written in present tense 'mockney' (Chelsea/ Cockney) -  legend has it that Dougal Butler ghost wrote it 'to cover some of the debts he incurred working for Moonie'. The remaining members of The Who were furious with the writer - 'seeing the book as an affront to their dear departed drummer, and cut him off for years..' (Quotes from Amazon which has much background on this paperback.)


Another Amazon review notes; 'He appears to have written it in the same cheerful cockney/upper class gent manner in which Keith himself was known to speak.This begins to irritate after about two pages…' Covering the excesses of rock life it is said to have an undertone of pathos or sadness.  There is also Dear Boy: The Life of Keith Moon by Tony Fletcher - a hardback from 1998  which has interviews with Kim, his wife of eight years, and Linda, his sister and Annette Walter-Lax, his main girlfriend of the final years. Also interviewed are Oliver Reed, Larry Hagman, David Putnam, Alice Cooper, Dave Edmunds, Jeff Beck, John Entwistle and many others who worked and partied with him. Myths are exposed.

No comments:

Post a Comment