Per all the stories we both hear and write about, it seems the inner circle of a rock ‘n’ roll band is one of the most volatile and high-stress environments in the entertainment business. There are countless stories attesting to this perspective, and one of the many includes Roger Daltrey, Keith Moon, pills, and an altercation that led to Daltrey’s temporary omission from the famed rock band.
While The Who didn’t receive as much acclaim as The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, they were still a vibrant rock band who had their thumb on the youthful public pulse of the 1960s. Like all 20-year-olds with a plethora of resources, they too indulged in the lifestyle accessible to them. They destroyed their instruments, partook in drug use, and Keith Moon reportedly even drove a car in a pool. Well, as a matter of fact, Moon’s drug use is the very thing that caused the altercation in question.
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Roger Daltrey Was Sick and Tired of Keith Moon’s Inebriation
It was 1965 when Daltrey was barred from The Who for fighting Keith Moon. Prior to the fight, The Who had become quite a name in the United Kingdom, but hadn’t gotten much farther. They were still on the come-up, and Daltrey seemingly believed Moon’s growing reliance on drugs would obstruct their upward mobility. So, he took it into his own hands to do something about it.
Following a poor performance due to Moon’s drug use, Daltrey confiscated his pills and flushed them down the toilet. The members exchanged choice words and then fought. Recalling the fight, Daltrey recalled in Roger Daltrey: The Biography, “It took about five people to hold me off him.”
“It wasn’t just because I hated him, it was just because I loved the band so much and thought it was being destroyed by those pills,” continued Roger Daltrey. Pete Townshend immediately kicked Daltrey out of The Who, but the decision didn’t stand for long, as The Who reinstated Daltrey roughly a week later. A little less than a month later, The Who released their iconic debut album, My Generation.
Needless to say, every rock ‘n’ roll band has its bumps on the road to fame. Though rarely do those bumps lead to such an intense decision. Luckily, that intense decision didn’t last long, and if it had, there is no telling if The Who would have become one of the biggest bands of the 1960s.
Photo by FilmPublicityArchive/United Archives via Getty Images
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