Sailing in Tortola

A short video memorializing my trip to the Caribbean in January, 2011.

Keith Moon

I loved Keith Moon, as a performer.  The original drummer for The Who, he was the most exhilarating drummer in rock music, in my opinion.  Here's an account of his drum solo in the song, Won't Get Fooled Again which appears, oddly enough, in the Catholic Magazine, America.   It is an article that explores the spiritual significance of rock and roll.

I think the author nails it.

Take the interplay between tension and release in the song “Won’t Get Fooled Again” by The Who. Three-quarters of the way through the song, the guitar, bass and drums cease and are replaced by the droning sound of a synthesizer. The electronic sounds lull the listeners, providing a brief respite from the wild musical anarchy that precedes it. Suddenly, Keith Moon’s drumming comes charging out like a bull at Pamplona. It sounds as if he is hitting his tom drums with six arms, in a machine-gun frenzy of notes. As the drums build, so does the tension in the listeners. Just as the tension has built to a pinnacle, listeners are rewarded with one of the most gratifying releases in rock music—a boisterous explosion of sound punctuated by Roger Daltrey’s barbaric howl that seems to come from another world. “Won’t Get Fooled Again” is lengthy for a rock song, but when a listener surrenders to the song and allows its time, tensions and expressive elements to unfold, the reward is extraordinary.

Here's a video of that exact drum solo.  Awesome.