Keith Moon: Instant Party: Musings, Memories and Minutiae

by Alan Clayson, Rob Johnstone (Editor)

Renowned party animal and phenomenal drummer for The Who, Keith Moon lived fast and died young. Not a typical biography, this compendium of stories, facts, photos, and analysis is divided up by subject and details all aspects of Moon's personal and professional life. Among the topics discussed are his promising film career, his unique drumming style, his obsessions and addictive personality, and a notorious period in the 1970s called "the lost weekend." Interviews and commentary from some of his closest friends and contemporaries, such as Viv Stanshall, Harry Nilsson, Frank Zappa, and Screaming Lord Sutch, and more than 60 photographs fill in the details of Moon's short life.

Genres: Music, Biography

350 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Alan Clayson (Dover, England, 1951) is of a late 1970s vintage of composer-entertainers that also embraces the likes of Wreckless Eric, Tom Robinson, Elvis Costello and John Otway. While he is still making regular concert appearances, he has become better known as an author of around thirty books - mostly musical biography. These include the best-sellers "Backbeat" (subject of a major film), The Yardbirds and The Beatles book box.

He has written for journals as diverse as The Guardian, Record Collector, Ink, Mojo, Mediaeval World, Folk Roots, Guitar, Hello!, Drummer, The Times, The Independent, Ugly Things and, as a 'teenager, the notorious Schoolkids 0z. He has also been engaged to perform and lecture on both sides of the Atlantic - as well as broadcast on national TV and radio.

From 1975 to 1985, he led the legendary Clayson and the Argonauts - who reformed in 2005, ostensibly to launch Sunset On A Legend, a long-awaited double-CD retrospective - and was thrust to 'a premier position on rock's Lunatic Fringe' (Melody Maker).

As shown by the existence of a US fan club - dating from an 1992 soiree in Chicago - Alan Clayson's following grows still as well as demand for his talents as a record producer, and the number of versions of his compositions by such diverse acts as Dave Berry (in whose backing group, he played keyboards in the mid-1980s), New Age Outfit, Stairway - and Joy Tobing, winner of the Indonesian version of Pop Idol. He has worked too with The Portsmouth Sinfonia, Wreckless Eric, Twinkle, The Yardbirds, The Pretty Things, Mark Astronaut and the late Screaming Lord Sutch among many others. While his stage act defies succinct description, he has been labelled a 'chansonnier' in recent years for performances and record releases that may stand collectively as Alan Clayson's artistic apotheosis were it not for a promise of surprises yet to come.

Reviews

[John Trembly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Run for life! it's Clayson!!!!!

A few intersting stories but nothing to really recommend. Borrow it from the library, don't buy it.

[Gregarious cline · Rating 1 out of 5]

I stopped reading this book. The author was too concerned with getting across his own annoying personality at the expense of conveying the substance of Keith Moon's life.
A waste of time.

[Andrew Heitzman · Rating 3 out of 5]

An absolutely interesting book, but not your normal Keith Moon biography. The book gives a feeling for circumstances and events that took place around Keith, but doesn't give his actual life story. If you're looking for that, Tony Fletcher's book is for you. However, this book does a great job in explaining the world that formed Keith, and that he existed in. I would give it a 4-star review if not for the editing. The book doesn't seem to have a clear structure. I'm fine if a biography tells its story out of chronological order (Dougal Butler's book does something like that), but the chapter themes don't tend to follow an order, and once they start they get lost in tangents. Yet, I absolutely learned a ton. Don't expect too much out of this book, and you'll be pleasantly surprised.

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Keith Moon was the definition of badass.