Keith Moon remains one of the best drummers of all time and for good reason. The sheer force with which he played has inspired generations of drummers. In fact, he reportedly helped inspire the creation of one of the most popular Muppets: Animal, the drummer for Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem.

As entertaining as he was on stage, he was somehow more unhinged off stage. He might be one of the funniest characters in rock history and the most destructive, especially when it came to hotel rooms.

However, Roger Daltrey claimed in an interview from October 2019 that hotel managers loved when Moon and The Who trashed hotel rooms. Why? The band would pay for the damage in cash, and then the hotel would claim the damage on their insurance. Daltrey said of one hotel in New York, ” … swear to you I reckon that Keith Moon decorated every room in that hotel because he smashed one, we’d pay in cash, the manager would claim the insurance … When we came back, the manager would go ‘Ah Mr Moon,’ and he would be put in the worst hotel room that needed decorating each time, and we paid for it.”

Moon’s wild behavior wasn’t just reserved for trashing hotel rooms; it also involved breaking into them. Back in October 2021, Mick Jagger recalled in an interview a time when Moon broke into his hotel dressed as Batman.

“Keith was a complete lunatic,” began Jagger. “I was in Los Angeles in a hotel once and I was asleep, and he broke into my room dressed as Batman. I woke up and there was Batman in front of me, complete with a mask and everything. It’s not quite what you expect in the middle of the night.”

Jagger was, understandably, taken aback by the whole ordeal and mentioned he was, in fact, armed with “some sort of defensive weapon.” Once Moon realized his well-being was in danger, he tried to defuse the situation by telling Jagger, “It’s Keith! It’s Keith!” However, this created confusion, because Jagger thought Batman meant Keith Richards.

“I said, ‘You’re not Keith; I can tell you’re not Keith by your voice.’ [He said] ‘No, Keith Moon, Keith Moon!’ and he took his mask off,” said Jagger.

From hotel shenanigans to on-stage antics and everywhere in between, celebrate the life of Keith Moon by watching these funny videos. You know he’d appreciate people having a laugh in his honor.

• The Who Reminisce on Their First Gig With Moon

  Roger Daltrey, Pete Townshend and John Entwistle sat down for an interview and talked about their late friend. They reminisced about the first show they ever performed with him. Unsurprisingly, he wrecked his own drum kit during that show. Townshend clarified that he didn’t wreck the kit from shenanigans: “He smashed it up by playing!”

• Keith Moon on Trashing Hotel Rooms

  Here, Moon himself talks about a particularly infamous moment on The Rolling Stone 10^th Anniversary Special where one waterbed managed to ruin three hotel rooms. What follows is a fun skit featuring Steve Martin where Moon ruins a hotel room set in real-time. It’s something that you have to see to believe.

• Alice Cooper on his favorite Moon Stories

  At the top of this interview, Cooper says, “I always tell people 30% of what you hear about me is true … Everything you’ve ever heard about Keith Moon is true, and you’ve only heard a tenth of it.” Cooper goes on to share one of his favorite stories about Moon. Spoiler: It involves a French Maid’s uniform.

• Helen Mirren on When Keith Moon Nearly Crashed One of Her Stage Performances

  This is an absolutely incredible Moon story that doesn’t get enough attention. Dame Helen recalls an outrageous story about how the late drummer almost joined her on stage during a play performance in London’s West End. We’ll let Mirren tell the story, but it begins with Moon emerging from a trash can.

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