AFTER THE FIRE, THE FIRE STILL BURNS

Before Keith came along, a drummer was just a guy who sat in the back and kept the beat, and he really was the first person--first drummer--to become a frontman.  Pamela Des Barres

Ringo Starr was a great drummer.  Charlie Watts was a great drummer.  Keith Moon was an octopus.  He was all over the place and 'til this day is still the best rock'n'roll drummer of all time.  Alice Cooper

I don't know whether it was that my 3-day fever from bronchitis broke last night or me reviewing my youthful adventures tagged to the late '70s, 1978 and the loss of Keith Moon (1946-1978) specifically, that I found myself tearing up as I watched the following biography on him.  Tears came at the loss of youth, at the loss of a raging talent of a man who could very well be the best rock'n'roll drummer.  

   

Toward the end of it, Pete Townsend commented that 

There is something about being in the public's eye and wanting people to love you, and wanting them to respond to you, to the things that you do and say and think.  When you lose that, you suddenly wake up one day and say I don't care anymore that people laugh at me, or I don't care whether they clap.  I think that's what happened to Keith, and he just let go.

That's about how I felt with teaching. Watching that biography only made me weep for my former life of the mid-to-late-70s.  It made me think of the astounding comfort and love of the album store, Music+, in Azusa, where I bought my first Elton John record.  I miss the optimism of my life back then. I miss the days of driving up Hwy 2, Angeles Crest Hwy with Dannette Martinez who went to Bishop Amat with Sean Moore. She lived in La Puent and worked part-time at Burger King in Baldwin Park.  I visited her one time and she gave me a free meal--Whopper, fries, and Coke.  I miss those days.

Toward the end of the video, the song "After the Fire" plays, a tune written by Townsend but sung by Daltrey and released in 1985 as a tribute to their mate, Keith Moon.  Wikipedia cites the writers of the song were Peter Dennis Blandford Townshend.  That's just Pete Townshend's full name.  The strange thing about that biography documentary is that it focuses on Keith Moon's recklessness.  But if you listen to a lot of the studio albums, you don't hear a wild, incompetent performer; quite the contrary.  He is a standard studio musician.  He wouldn't be a member if weren't producing according to specifications.  

There are a handful of mini-documentaries at YouTube on Keith Moon's life.  Clearly, he was well-loved.  What I liked about this biography is a segment where Larry Hagman, co-star of I Dream of Jeannie and leading star of Dallas, tells the story of how he was friends with Keith and his girlfriend.  In fact, Hagman helped Keith find some rehab help in Santa Monica at St. John's Health Center.  The list of celebrities treated at the health center is a formidable one.  It's a list of entertaining giants.  

the loss of open-ended days and fantastic vistas of the San Gabriel Valley from its peak there in Duarte and along the San Gabriel foothills that I found myself weeping. 

Here are the lyrics if you'd like them . . . if you need them.  

nothing's / Gonna stop this gang going wild. 

After the fire, the fire still burns
The heart grows older
But never, ever learns
The memories smolder
And the soul always yearns
After the fire, the fire still burns

I heard a voice asking
"What happens after the fire"?
And then the sound of a
Breaking window and
The scream of a tire

And then the sound of a distant gun

And the cry of a hungry child

The night is hot but nothing's

Gonna stop this gang going wild. 

After the fire, the fire still burns
The heart grows older but never ever learns
The memories smolder and the soul always yearns
After the fire, the fire still burns.

I saw Matt Dillon in black and white 
there ain't no color in memories
He rode his brother's Harley across the TV,
While I was laughing at Dom DeLuise.

Now I'm cycling all my videotapes, and I'm cryin' and I'm jokin'
I've gotta stop drinking
I've gotta stop thinking
I've gotta stop smoking

After the fire, the fire still burns
The heart grows older but never ever learns
The memories smolder and the soul always yearns
After the fire, the fire still burns.

Raging through the pain, 
Blackening the promises the tears and the rain,
The fire still burns
'Til the wind begins to turn
And it all begins again.  

After the fire, the fire still burns
The heart grows older but never ever learns
The memories smolder and the soul always yearns
After the fire, the fire still burns.  . . . fire still burns . . . .

After the fire, the fire still burns
The heart grows older but never ever learns
The memories smolder and the soul always yearns
After the fire, the fire still burns.

The Who By Numbers gave me hours of listening pleasure from 1975 onward.  

Anyone reading this post might scoff at the claim that Keith Moon was the best rock'n'roll drummer of all time.  So the case has to be made, what makes a great rock'n'roll drummer?  That's hard for me to say since I am no musician, nor can I read music, or have any kind of a trained ear.  But opinions persist.  So it would hurt to look at the qualities or techniques that might form the skills of a great rock-and-roll drummer.  This gal helps us with a tribute to Ringo Starr.  Certainly, Neil Peart of Rush, who recently passed maybe my top nomination.  

Lists are selective and not complete, not even accurate or fair.  But lists do provide the curious with a start to begin thinking about a subject or topic.  They help orient the student.  Here is a "Top 10 List of Rock Drummers."  

1.  John Bonham of Led Zeppelin.

2.  Keith Moon of The Who.

3.  Neil Peart of Rush. 

4.  Dave Grohl, Nirvana.

5.  Stewart Copeland of The Police.

6.  Ginger Baker, Cream. 

7.  Mitch Mitchell, the Jimmy Hendrix Experience.

8.  Nick Mason of Pink Floyd.

9.  Ringo Starr of The Beatles. 

10.  Phil Collins of Genesis.

These are all rock-and-roll drummers, but are they the best?  What about drummers from other categories?  The following producer listed another "Top 10 Greatest Drummers of All Time."  Okay, but in no particular order.  He leaves that up to the viewer or listener.  So I put them in an order that I think he meant, but I do not know how he can place Neil Peart 7th in an all-time list.  

1.  Buddy Rich.

2.  Jojo Mayer.

3.  Dave Weckl. 

4.  Chad Wackerman.

5.  Kenny Aronoff.

6.  Stephen Perkins.  

7.  Neil Peart. 

8.  Tommy Aldridge.

9.  Cozy Powell. 

10.  Bobby Rondinelli.