Keith Moon

  A Toothless Moon

Keith Moon, one of the best qualified musicians capable of turning an ordinary celebration into something that would be talked about for decades.

On August 23, 1967, the Who were touring America as the opening act for Herman's Hermits. They happened to be in Flint, Michigan, where Moon announced he was celebrating his twenty-first birthday.

There was only one problem. He was actually turning twenty.

According to his bandmates, Moon figured that if everyone believed he was twenty-one, nobody would question him drinking. It was a very Keith Moon solution to a very Keith Moon problem.

By the time the band returned to the Holiday Inn after the concert, the party was already well underway. Fans had sent dozens of birthday cakes. Instead of eating them, people began throwing them.

Within minutes, frosting was flying everywhere. The cake fight escalated into complete bedlam. Fire extinguishers were discharged throughout the hotel. Guests were shoved into the swimming pool, furniture was damaged, and a piano was reportedly destroyed. Somewhere amid the chaos, Moon smashed one of his front teeth badly enough that he had to be taken to a dentist. Because he was so intoxicated, the damaged tooth had to be removed without anesthesia.

Eventually, the local police arrived with guns drawn to restore order.

The hotel presented an eye-watering damage bill, and the story instantly became rock-and-roll folklore.

Then came the legend. For years, one of the best-known versions of the story claimed that Keith Moon drove a Lincoln Continental into the hotel's swimming pool before making his escape. Moon himself happily repeated the tale in interviews, and it became one of the most famous stories in rock history.

The trouble is, the evidence doesn't quite cooperate. Several people who were there later insisted the car never entered the pool. Others maintained that it did. Even decades later, witnesses disagreed, leaving one of rock's greatest myths permanently suspended somewhere between fact and fiction.

What isn't disputed is that the birthday party itself was absolute chaos. The food fight happened. The fire extinguishers went off. The police arrived. The hotel suffered thousands of dollars in damage. Moon lost a tooth.

And somehow, the argument over whether a Lincoln Continental took an unexpected swim has become almost as famous as the party itself. Perhaps that's the most fitting ending possible for a Keith Moon story. Even when everyone agrees the night was outrageous, Keith still managed to leave behind one final prank.

No one can quite agree where the truth ends... and the legend begins. 

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