![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/The-Who-TheWho-Roger-Daltrey-Pete-Townshend-John-Entwistle-Keith-Moon-1965-Far-Out-Magazine-1140x855.jpeg\")
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(Credits: Far Out \/ Alamy)<\/p>\n
Wed 24 September 2025 21:45, UK <\/p>\n
Without the endlessly anarchic stylings of Keith Moon<\/a>, it\u2019s very likely that the world might never have heard the rock and roll revolution of The Who; his wild antics, both offstage and on, captured the youthful spirit of the band during their earlier years, becoming as essential to their existence as a parka is to a mod. <\/p>\n Travelling back to the earliest days of The Who, long before the 1960s earned its \u2018swinging moniker\u2019, the band weren\u2019t quite the leading rock rebels that they later became \u2013 they hadn\u2019t even landed upon The Who name yet. Instead, they were travelling around the dingy R&B nightclubs of London, shilling out Cliff Richard covers as The Detours, but even then, it was clear to all witnesses that their core appeal lay with the unrelenting energy, and occasional violence, of their live performances. Inevitably, then, they were in need of a suitably unpredictable drummer<\/a> to match that energy.\u00a0<\/p>\n Then, in 1964, as mods and rockers duked it out on the beaches of Brighton, The Who finally found their white fucking whale in the form of Keith Moon. His uncontainable spirit and amphetamine-fueled playing style defined the explosive sounds of The Who, and he was arguably the key catalyst for the band\u2019s quick ascent to the top of London\u2019s rock scene. At the same time, though, the momentous discovery of Moon came at the cost of the band\u2019s original drummer, Doug Sandom.\u00a0<\/p>\n A bricklayer by trade, the young Sandom first joined the ranks of The Who back in 1962, when they were still touring under the slightly less-catchy name The Detours, after an unexpected encounter with Roger Daltrey. \u201cI thought I was going to an audition, but it wasn\u2019t happening, so during a brief chat with Roger, I told him I\u2019d had a wasted journey. \u2018It\u2019s not wasted, mate,\u2019 he said. \u2018Our drummer\u2019s going on holiday so come and sit in with my band The Detours,\u2019\u201d Sandom told the Daily Express<\/a> in 2014.\u00a0<\/p>\n From that chance meeting, Sandom suddenly found himself at the epicentre of the swinging sixties, and carving out the era-defining mod rock sounds of The Who in the process. Ultimately, though, his time rolling with the up-and-coming stars of Britain\u2019s rock scene was fairly short-lived. For starters, the drummer\u2019s wife was understandable not too keen on her husband being out until all hours of the morning, living an archetypal life of sex, drugs, and rock and roll. But the problems didn\u2019t end there. <\/p>\n