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The Who Pt 1: Keith Moon, Rockstar Excess, and a Dead Chauffeur · DISGRACELAND

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Disgraceland as a production of Double Elvis. The stories about
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: Keith Moon, drummer for The Who, are insane. He regularly
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: destroyed his drum kits on stage. He trashed hotel rooms
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: all over the world, reportedly getting banned from the Holiday
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: Inn chain for life. He supposedly drove a Rolls Royce
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: into a swimming pool or was it a Lincoln Continental.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: His band The Who, purveyors of Maximum R and B
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: at first led the rough and tumble, high fashioned mod
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: movement through the pubs of London before exploding onto the
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: American scene as part of the British invasion. Keith Moon
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: was the prototype for rock drummers, both on and off stage.
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: His approach to drumming was wholly unique. His stage presence
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: was magnetic, his personality electric, and he was hilarious. People
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: loved Keith Moon, most people anyway. Keith Moon never tired
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: of his mad cap, sometimes violent, always hilarious, drunken and
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: drugged hijinks. But a crew of British skinheads took issue
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: with the drummer's rock star excess and the results were disastrous.
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: But despite his reckless and violent behavior, Keith Moon made
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: great music that music you heard at the top of
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: the show That wasn't great music. That was a preset
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: loop from my mellotron called yes our Violin's low M four.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: I played you that loop because I can't afford the
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: rights for rain Drops Keep Falling on My Head by
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: bj Thomas. And why would I play you that specific
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: slice of sun dancing Butcher on a Bicycle Cheese? Could
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: I afford it? Because that was the number one song
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: in America on January fourth, nineteen seventy And that was
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: the day that Keith Moon, drummer for The Who, get
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: behind the wheel of his Bentley and went for what
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: would prove to be a very short, but very gruesome drive.
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: On this episode Butch Cheese, mad cap hijinks, Maximum R
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: and b ultra violence named Keith Moon. I'm Jake Brennan,
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: and this is disgracelited. Keith Moon wasn't just going to
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: keep time. He couldn't just keep time. That was what
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: drummers did. Keith Moon wasn't a drummer. He was a deconstructionist.
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: The drums were his chosen instrument of destruction, and his
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: band The Who were using that destructive behavior to capitalize
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: on England's newest mod craze, and right now, while bashing
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: away wildly at his oyster pearl Ludweed kit, Keith Moon
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: was making the mods happy. You couldn't tell by the
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: perpetual poet on their faces, or by the fact that
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: they were dancing with their heads down, of course, moving
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: their arms like Stone Frankenstein's to the beat on the
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: dance floor. The Mods were smartly dressed teenagers in tight
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: tailored trousers and winklepicker shoes whose anti social behavior was
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: matched only by their love of Black American R and
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: B music. And there were Mods because they saw themselves
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: as modernists, the first British teenagers since the end of
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: World War II. They'd had it with the scruffy, uptight,
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: classiest social norms that had handcuffed their parents emotionally and culturally.
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: The old world could piss off. It was nineteen sixty
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: four and this was the modern world. The old rules
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: didn't apply, which is why Keith Moon, in his fuck
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: all postmodern approach to drumming, appeal to the Mods. He
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: was a musical deconstructionist. Keith Moon didn't just play the
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: beat as rock drummers before him had On the drums,
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: he played the guitar riff his lanky bandmate Pete Townsend
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: was savagely beating out of his wrickenbocker. On the drums,
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: he played the bassline for his dapper ox of a
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: bass player, John Entwhistle that he was warping out of
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: his bass. And when Keith Moon became bored with those two,
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: he focused on the singer the Street Tough from Shepherd's
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: Bush with the chip on his shoulder, Roger Daltrey. Keith
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: would match the anger of Roger's vocals note for note,
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: hit for hit on his kit. It was as if
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: his bandmates pulled him aside before each show and we're like, hey, Keith,
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: we've been talking, and you know, we don't think you're
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: very good man. You don't really play with enough heart.
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: And so as a result, Keith would then go ape
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: shit behind his kit in an effort to prove them
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: all wrong. He wasn't a drummer, he was a fucking
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: jet engine with octopus arms. And like I said, the
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: Mods loved him and they loved his band too. The
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: Who exciting violent even just like the Mods, the band
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: were also pent up teenagers ready for a tussle, dressed
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: right for a beach fight, looking for any excuse to
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: bust the old world in the face, and that's what
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: the first beach fights in nineteen sixty four were all about.
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: The British press thought teenage hooligans were about to take
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: over the country, but really it was just a bunch
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: of mods out of school on holiday, bared and getting
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: into it with the rockers. The rockers were the antithesis
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: of the mods, leather jacket clad, pomp adored greasers who
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: were stuck on James Dean and Marlon Brando Old World Yesterday.
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: They rode motorcycles, fucked that working class nonsense. Mods rode
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: scooters or parkas. They were the youthful smart set, and
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: despite their peacocky carnaby street suit wearing ways, they weren't
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: averse to cracking a the mouth with a fistful rolled
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: up coins. Violence was the ultimate rebellion, the ultimate fuck
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: you to the previous generation. So when they heard about
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: a band whose drummer played like a wild boar and
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: heat and who destroyed their instruments on stage, they were
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: sold The Railway Hotel, London nineteen sixty four a dank
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: hole in the wall more basement than proper club. The
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: Who Dressed to Kill were on stage, barreling through Smokey
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: Robinson and the Miracles. I Get a dance to keep
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: from crying, but with none of the motown sheen at
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: the railway. Under the guidance of the Who, the song
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: was wroth, dirty and mean. The singer, dressed head to
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: toe in white jeans and cruse sweater wrap around blackfly sunglasses,
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: leaned into the mic with menace. The bassist, tall brooding
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: eyes surveying the was contempt casually anchored the song. The drummer,
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: his big eyes two moons, sitting impatiently behind his kit
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: like a jack in a box about to explode. And
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: the guitar player, wearing his guitar up high like an ascot,
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: jerking about in a way that made the mods in
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: the audience question whether or not he was actually all
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: right in the head. The four of them were impossibly cool,
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: and they sounded at the time better than any band
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: on the planet. In the middle of a song, Pete,
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: the guitar player, in an over excited moment, accidentally bashed
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: the head of his guitar through the low ceiling above
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: the stage, the neck on the guitar snapped and the
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: Mods laughed. Pete picked up his backup guitar without missing
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: a beat and played it off like it was meant
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: to happen. Beyond cool. Word quickly spread around London about
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: a mod band that was fresh out of focks to give,
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: and the following week, a larger crowd gathered at the
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: Railway for the Who's Next show. Pete knew what the
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: crowd was there for and refused to give them what
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: they wanted. Keith, on the other hand, displeased with the
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: disappointed crowds tepid response to their performance, booted his kick
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: drum across the stage at the end of the set.
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: Here is this what you came for, A fucking side show.
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: We'll take this. The audience loved it. The Who were
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: hooligans just like them, so the next week, when they
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: showed up in even larger numbers in anticipation of more
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: on stage, Shenanigans Townshend lost it. At the climax of
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: the band's set, he grabbed his rickenbacker by the neck
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: and smashed it against the stage, and when the body
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: of the guitar failed to break off clean, Pete grabbed
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: the neck tighter and spun himself around, bringing what was
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: left to the guitar flailing into his amplifier behind him.
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: That did it. The guitar, once an instrument, now a
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: thing of violence. It was toast. The audience was stunned,
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: and so was the band. Keith, not to be outdone,
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: rose up out of his seat behind his kit and
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: kicked his bass drum across the stage. Then the toms
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: standing legs spread. He played a fast war cry crescendo
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: on his symbols before tossing them aside too. The Who
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: then left the stage and left the audience begging for more.
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: It wasn't long after the railway shows before The Who exploded.
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: The smashing of instruments was now a patented part of
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: their performances. But it wasn't a gimmick. It was a
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: true violent expression of angst, and it took nothing away
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: from The Who's prowess. In the studio, the band banged
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: out a quick set of electric teenage anthems. I can't
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: explain anyway anyhow anywhere in my generation all took teenagers
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: through the UK by the throat, turned them upside down
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: and shook the change out of their trousers, like the
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: young street tufts. They were things they do look awful cold.
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: Hope I die before I get old. Success came quick
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: and was the perfect grease for the band member's rough
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: and manic behavior. Drinking became sport. It was the mid
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: sixties and it was the music business, so drugs, of course,
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: were everywhere, and the entire band partook. But Keith Moon
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: went at it with a special vigor. Doing drugs, drinking booze.
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: It was a test of will for Keith, imbibing, men
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: partying and partying, men having fun and having fun. Well,
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: wasn't that what this is all about? Wasn't that why
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: he was in the business, To have a good time,
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: To not have responsibilities, I mean, other than entertaining people,
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: which he seemed genetically inclined more than anyone else to do.
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: His energy was manic. He never stopped entertaining on stage
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: off stage, it didn't matter. Off of the stage, he'd
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: arrange any number of pranks, practical jokes, improvised bits to
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: get friends to laugh. Wiring the opening band's drum kit
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: with explosives, check driving your rolls Royce through downtown and
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: blasting fake public service announcements detailing non existent threats through
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: a bullhorn impending title ways, Everyone leave town now, Dangerous
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: snakes slithering through the streets. You must evacuate. The government
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: is relocating the country's entire immigrant population to the south
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: side of your town. Lock your doors, wicked and appearing
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: in court dressed in full Nazi regalia to settle a
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: beef with neighbor Steve McQueen. No joke, it happened, Look
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: it up. Keith pulled this shit constantly, and he was hilarious.
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: He was the type of funny that made you buckle over,
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: made snot run out of your nose, made your jaw
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: hurt from laughing so much, and he literally never stopped
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: his ongoing quest to make his friends act actually die.
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: Laughing was so constant that they'd beg him to quit it,
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: and when he didn't, when he couldn't, they'd inevitably end
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: up asking themselves if he was all right in the head,
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: And when they'd come up short of an answer, their
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: next questions would be, how long can this guy keep
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: this up? How long can this guy keep living this way?
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: The drug use was only part of it. Sure, The
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: drugs fueled the manic behavior, but it was more about
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: his hype level. It was hardwired to eleven plus ten charisma.
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: How does living that loud not take its toll? Getting
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: Keith to slow down was like asking a shooting star
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: to down shift to save energy. It just wasn't going
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: to happen. Everyone knew this star was going to burn
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: out and that it was likely going to take some
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: casualties with it along the way. One of those casualties
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: was almost his guitar player Pete Townsend, when in September
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: of nineteen sixty seven, while appearing on the Smothers Brother's
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: comedy Hour television show, Keith as a joke, wired his
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: own drum kit to explode with three times the requisite
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: explosive material. The kit was set to blow up on
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: screen following the band's live performance, and the explosion not
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: only freaked out the show's hosts in the audience, but
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: it also set Pete's hair on fire and partially deafened
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: him for life in one ear. No worries though, despite
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: the damage, it was hysterical and Keith got the laugh
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: he was looking for. We'll be right back after this
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: word word word. As the sixties progressed, The Who would
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: set about to pummel their fans with hits substitute. The
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: kids are all right, happy Jack, Pictures of Lily I
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: can see for Miles. Magic Bus and Pinball Wizard cruised
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: up the UK and US charts and cemented The Who
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: as one of the premier rock and roll bands of
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: the sixties. But while the rest of the counterculture obsessed
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: over peace and love, The Who couldn't shake their violent nature.
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: Five Am Bethel, New York, August seventeenth, nineteen sixty nine, Woodstock.
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: Half a million people scattered about oh Man Yascar's farm,
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: drugged out, sleeping in mud, reveling in their own filth,
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: literally like picks. Pete Townsend was tuning his own guitar
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: because The Who wasn't getting paid fuck all for the
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: gig and couldn't afford a proper crew. He was annoyed Americans,
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: he thought crazy. The rest of the band didn't seem
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: to mind. John was happy. There were plenty of loose
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: American women running about, and Roger was off somewhere doing
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: who knows what. At least he wasn't complaining into the
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: one good ear Pete had left, and Keith Keith was
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: happy because his boys from Shannah Naw were performing, but
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: Pete wanted to get the gig over with and get
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: the hell out of there. Pete stewed while he tuned
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: his Gibson SG Peace, Love and Happiness more like mud drugs.
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: The hippies grossed Pete out, plus the majority of them
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: were full of shit. Meet the new boss, same as
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: the old boss. Let's get this bullshit over with, he thought.
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: Keith sat down at his kit, John was ready, Roger
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: was somewhere close. The crowd was near asleep. Boy, were
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: they about to get a wake up call? In the
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: wings at the side of the stage an assortment of
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: hippie dippy illuminati, the show's organizer Michael Lang, singer and
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: activist country Joe MacDonald, who Pete had heard reportedly named
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: his kid after Joseph Stalin. Joseph Stalin. The fuck was
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: wrong with these people, he thought. Sly Stone wired out
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: of his mind from either the set he'd just performed,
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: or from the white lightning acid being passed around the
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: ho Chi mintrail, or both. The sly was there with
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: Gray Slick from Jefferson Airplane, who was set to take
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: the stage even later than the who, And of course
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: there was that dude who wouldn't shut the fuck up,
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: the big guy with the big hair and the your mouth,
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: talking white panther jive non stop Sinclair, this yippy, that
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: steal this concert, smoke this revolution, brothers, sisters, pigs, police,
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: blah blah blah blah blah, Abby Hoffman. He reminded Pete
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: of a less talented, less attractive, less interesting Lenny Bruce.
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: He thought about how this guy's stick would play back
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: in London. Not even Princess Margaret would fuck this guy?
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: Why did the Americans pay him any mind? Whatever, it
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: didn't matter who was ready. The set was about to start. Finally,
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: Roger looked at Pete. He nodded, shot a look at John,
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: then peered over to Keith behind the kit, and then
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: Abby Hoffman rushed the stage. He grabbed Pete's mike. Four
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: thousand of our brothers and sisters are being persecuted for
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: no more than we're doing on this hill. It's only
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: fair that we help out. We're the Woodstock nation, we
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: are one. What the fuck was this? Someone cut the mic. Thankfully,
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: Hoffman pissed, kicked the mic stand over. That did it?
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: Fuck this guy? Pete grabbed the neck of his guitar,
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: swung it back like a tennis racket, and swatted it
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: flat into Hoffman's hairy grill. Hoffman, dazed, stumbled for a
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: step or two toward the front of the stage before
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: falling over into the crowd. He was absorbed by the audience, who,
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: a day and a half into the festival, were too
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: sleep deprived and blitzed on acid to comprehend the violence
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: that had just taken place at this fugzy festival of peace.
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: Pete wasted no time. He looked again to Keith behind
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: the kit, who quickly counted the band off and into
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: the raucous set. Keith Moon had off switch. So you
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: can imagine what life was like for those around him
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: when he wasn't on the road or in the studio
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: without an outlet and constantly blitzed on pills and booze.
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: Keith went to great lengths to amuse himself, to keep
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: himself occupied, and, depending on their relationship to him, either
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: entertained or annoyed everyone who came in contact with him.
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: The fact that he was genuinely hysterical and rich beyond
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: most people's wildest dreams excused most of his behavior. Who's
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: the ugly chick in the back of the pub singing
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: beach Boys songs loudly and out of tune over the jukebox? Oh,
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: that's just our rock star neighbor, Mooned the loon and
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: drag having a pint with the locals. Leave him alone.
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: He always runs up a massive tab and he's good
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: for it. Why did Keith drive his brand new corvette
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: into the hand behind his mansion again? And why do
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: we have to tow it out for him? Who cares?
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: Moon is crazy? Besides, he has the best brandy and
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: never runs out of pymns back the tow truck up boys.
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: But the mad cap escapades Keith occupied himself with around
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: the homestead tested his attention span. He needed to get
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: out every now and then too, and given his behavior
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: in his constantly drug state, trouble violent trouble was never
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: far away. The pub, the Cranbourne Rooms, was about ten
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: miles from Keith's home. A friend had just opened it,
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: and Keith thought what better way to show support than
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: to appear in full rockstar glory and to run up
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: a massive bar tap. The bar was new, it's clientele
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: not yet firmly established, and Tonight's patrons were not what
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: was expected. The bar was walled wall with skinheads, working
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: class use from tough neighborhoods who suffered most everyone but
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: their own kind poorly. Yeah. Not unlike the Mods before them.
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: The Skinheads were a reaction to tradition, but their beef
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: wasn't with outdated cultural tropes. No, their beef was with
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: austere British economic policies that were at the time crippling
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: the working man. Pissed off at their windling career opportunities
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: and backsliding down the socioeconomic ladder, the Skins took the
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: violence to express their anger. They'd gotten into it a
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: year earlier, with long haired Stones fans outside of Hyde Park,
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: shaved for battle and dressed tight in Doc Martin's boots,
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: Fred Perry polo shirts, cuffed jeans and red suspenders. Skinheads
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: were like nothing anyone had seen before. But just like
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: the Mods, the Skins dug on black dance music, specifically
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: the type of West Indian influenced Jamaican styled ska that
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: Desmond Decker was bringing to the top of the charts
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: with his recent hit Israelites, a loosening of UK immigration
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: laws forced working class British youth to reckon with the
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: changing face of their neighborhoods. When immigrants, particularly West Indian Pakistanis,
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: came streaming in by the thousands, their young hosts loved
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: the music they brought, but that was about it. Packy bashing,
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: as it was called, became a favorite. Skin had pastime
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: right up there with street fighting in general, hooliganism violence.
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: It was the backbone of the skinhead ethos. The violence
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: was always there, just like it was with The Who.
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: But the skinheads had no time for the bloated rockstar
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: excess that the Who had become, and that Keith Moon
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: came to embody. They had no patience for fickle, elite
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: rich rock stars. So when Keith Moon pulled up to
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: the Cranborne Rooms on January fourth, nineteen seventy in his
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: shiny New Bentley chauffeured by his bodyguard and friend Neil Bolin,
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: ripped on Mandrex and Tom Collins, he literally couldn't have
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: found himself in a more hostile environment. The sight of
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: him dressed to the nines, yucking it up with that
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: shit eating grin and two finger thick unibrow, ordering drinks
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: willy nilly, loud, obnoxious. It was highly offensive to the Skinheads,
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: and they let him know, leering over at his booth
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: shouting insults. Keith shouted right back to him. It was
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: all in good fun, but his entourage knew better. Something
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: was different, and there was a darkness to the mood
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: of the room. The threat of violence was palpable, and
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: when closing time came, Keith and his friend spilled out
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: of the bar at the same time as the Skinheads,
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: who were now way drunk and spoiling for a fight.
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: And the sight of the rock star chauffeur Bentley outside
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: the modest pub gave the Skins all the ammo they needed.
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: They rained down obscenities on Keith and company as they
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: hardly ducked into the car. The Skins, now a small
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: mob of thirty or so drunk, angry, rockstar hating youth,
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: converged around the luxury automobile and began rocking it back
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: and forth inside the Bentley. The fear was thick and
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: they were stuck their hearts racing. They couldn't move the
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: car forward or backward for fear of running over the
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: pist off skins blocking their exit. The sound of fists
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: pounding on the roof added to the confusion and drowned
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: up the voice and Keith Chauffeur's head, the one that said,
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: chill the fuck out, Neil, this will all be over
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: in a moment. Sit tight. No. Instead, Neil decided to
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: reason with the angry skinheads. He jumped out of the
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: car before he could say a word, was consumed by
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: the mob. From inside the car, it looked as though
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: Neil just disappeared, like a lost ship drifting out at sea,
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: beyond the horizon. Once there, then, in an instant gone
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: fear soon turned to terror. Keith hopped in the front
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: seat and behind the driver's side wheel, drinking and drugging
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: all night, and unaccustomed to driving anything. It had been
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: years since he driven a vehicle on an actual street.
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: He was used to pools and ponds. He let his
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: lead foot pound the accelerator in the large Bentley heave
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: forward in a giant lurch before it was calmed to
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: a crawl by the brake thump. What was that? It
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: didn't matter. The skins were now worked into a fevered pitch.
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: They were screaming, kicking, the car, banging on the windows.
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: Keith moved the car down the road a little faster,
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: five miles per hour, ten miles per hour. The skinheads
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: began running alongside it, still screaming, still kicking. Finally, Keith
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: moved the Bentley faster and out of their reach and
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: up around the bed before pulling over at the insistence
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: of a frantic truck driver who driven up alongside them,
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: manically imploring them to stop the car. Hanging outside of
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: his own window, the truck driver was pointing to the
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: bottom of the bentley. No doubt about it. Something was wrong,
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: real wrong. Keith curbed the car, got out and walked
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: to the rear of the automobile to find his chauffeur,
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: Neil Bowlan's legs sticking out from underneath the backside of
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: the Bentley. Then, moved by adrenaline in sheer panic, he
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: reached underneath the card free Boland. Keith grobbed at whatever
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: he could to try and free his friend, and he
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: felt something wet, swishy his hand. It pulled out on
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: Lady Bolan's brains. Neil Bolan's head had been crushed like
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: an eggshell somehow in the melee. After Keith's chauffeur had
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: jumped out of the car to cool out the crowd.
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: Keith had run him over in the bentley and dragged
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: him down the road to his death. Neil Bolan was
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: taken by ambulance to a local hospital and pronounced dead
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: on arrival, and Keith Moon was despondent. The judge at
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: his trial took this into consideration and exonerated Moon of
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: all charges. Neil Bolan was not only keith schauffeur, but
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: his bodyguard and friend, and Keith and Neil were just
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: twenty four years old. Neil died trying to protect Keith.
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: Protecting Keith was a job that Neil had done well,
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: but the Gig up until then had been mainly protecting
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: Keith from himself, from his excesses, and from his dangerous,
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: often violent pranks. Violence is like a powder cake. Under
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: a certain canditions, it's harmless, but mix it with the
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: right ingredient and it'll blow up on you. Keith Moon
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: and the Who had flirted with violent disasters since their
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: earliest shows, smashing guitars into ceilings and then blowing up
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: kick drums with explosives on live television, and eventually whacking acid,
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: blitz pseudo revolutionaries across the face with guitars, and through
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: all of that, the band and Keith in particular skated
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: across life's thin ice pack to the gills with narcotics
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: and booze. So it was only a matter of time
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: before Keith's reckless behavior sparked a violent casualty. Neil Boland
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: was that casualty, and eight years later, after a night
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: not unlike almost every other night of his adult life,
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: Keith Moon filled himself to the lid with ooze and pills,
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: closed his eyes and never opened them again, and became
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: a casualty himself died before he got old. What a
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: drag and even call it on disgrace. I'm Jake Brennan
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: and this is Disgraceland. Disgraceland was created by Yours Truly
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: and is produced in partnership with Double Elvis. Credits for
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: this episode can be found on the show notes page
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: at disgracelampod dot com. If you're listening as a Disgraceland
• 27:27
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• 27:30
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• 27:32
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• 27:36
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• 27:41
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• 27:45
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• 27:49
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• 27:54
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• 27:57
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• 28:01
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• 28:06
  Speaker 1: a Roller. He's a bad, bad man.