Paul McCartney’s opinion on Keith Moon

Even though The Who was formed in 1964, four years after The Beatles, both bands were part of the so called “British Invasion”, when Rock and Roll music produced especially in England conquered the whole world. Both groups are a huge influence to artists to this day and their members are often recalled as some of the greatest musicians of all time. Two of them are The Beatles bassist and singer Paul McCartney and the late The Who drummer Keith Moon.

Over the decades, the Beatle talked about many of his peers, including Keith Moon. The musician died too soon at the age of 32 in 1978 and was part of all the classic albums of the band.

What is Paul McCartney’s opinion on Keith Moon

Even though the songs written by McCartney on the Beatles and during solo career didn’t gave many times a lot of focus to the drums, he loves the work made by Keith Moon. In an interview with Howard Stern in 2020, he listed the three best drummers of all time and one of them was Keith Moon. He mentioned his bandmate Ringo Starr in the first position, followed by Bonham in the second position and The Who’s Keith Moon in the third.

Keith Moon once praised Paul McCartney skills as a drummer

The two artists were good friends and had the opportunity to hang out many times. As McCartney recalled in an interview with Record Collector Magazine back in 1997, Moon even praised his drum skills once.

“People often say we want to hear YOU on a record. We don’t want to hear you and lots of other people. I thought, well, great, I’ll do that, I’ll drum then. As you say, I did it on those other albums (“McCartney” and “Ram”). One of my great compliments was from Keith Moon, when he and John and others were going through that manic lost weekend episode.”

“I went out to see them. Keith Moon asked me who drummed on Band on the Run. I said it was me. Keith said “f***ing great!”. Coming from Keith, that was high praise for me,” Paul McCartney said.

Keith Moon asked him to join The Beatles

Even though Keith Moon was a good friend of Ringo Starr and The Beatles, he once asked Paul McCartney to join the band. Even when they weren’t looking for a replacement for Starr. In 1966, Moon’s relationship with his bandmates in The Who wasn’t the best. So he decided that he wanted to join another group. He asked McCartney if The Beatles were interested in him. That story was told by The Who’s biographer Mark Blake in the book “Pretend You’re In War”.

At that era there were also some animosity inside The Beatles. But they never even considered any changes in their line-up. So Paul told Moon that they were not looking for a drummer. Curiously, a few decades, in 1996, Ringo Starr’s son Zak Starkey joined The Who as their drummer. He had met Moon many times when he was still at a young age.

One of the last persons to see Keith Moon alive was Paul McCartney

Another curious fact involving Keith Moon and Paul McCartney, is that The Beatle was one of the last people to see the late drummer alive. On September 6, 1978, the Beatle threw a party diner to celebrate what would have been Buddy Holly‘s 42 birthday. The musician had acquired at that time, Holly’s song publishing rights. Also had recently produced the biopic “The Buddy Holly Story”.

Moon was invited for that party and went with his girlfriend. He was found dead by her the next day at their house. The musician suffered an overdose.