"Keith Moon drinking problem got the better of him. Says Roger Daltrey He wasn't at his best. So it was a very tricky time in that sense. But even Keith Moon at his worst was amazing. You can't keep a drummer out of work. They have to drum. You have to get that energy out. 
" At the time, Moon had just reunited with the band in England after a year of hiatus and heavy drinking in Malibu, California, to record Who Are You and participate in the making of The Kids Are Alright. The drummer did live long enough to see some Kilburn footage within a rough cut of the documentary, and he wasn't happy about what he saw, says Daltrey, who was with him.
"It had a very big psychological effect on him. Huge," says Daltrey. "He'd seen what he had become, which wasn't pretty. Then we did make plans: 'Come on, Keith, we'll get you fit. I'll get [guitarist Pete] Townshend back on the road.' He didn't live long enough, sadly."
In America, Keith "starred" in a regularly repeated episode of the memorable VH1 series Behind The Music. In the UK, Channel 4 commissioned a similar, though more sensationalist, documentary called The Real Keith Moon. Radio 2 (yes, Radio 2) led off its Real Wild Child series with a profile on Keith. And then BBC2 decided that Keith was worthy of profile in a series called Real Lives, though his episode was abruptly pulled when Pete Townshend was arrested over the matter of illegal Internet downloads.
On September 6 Paul McCartney threw a party at the Covent Garden diner Peppermint Park to celebrate what would have been Buddy Holly’s 42nd birthday. McCartney had acquired the rights to Holly’s song publishing, and a biopic, The Buddy Holly Story, was premiering later that night.
Moon initially told his girlfriend Annette Walter-Lax he didn’t want to go to the party. When she told him she wanted to go anyway, he changed his mind and called his dealer who delivered some cocaine. The couple arrived at Peppermint Park, where Annette has since insisted Moon didn’t drink or, if he did, limited himself to just two drinks. While he was still using cocaine, the fact that he didn’t go wild on the free champagne was considered progress.
Other party guests, including Paul and Linda McCartney, David Frost and ex-Faces drummer Kenney Jones (whom unbeknown to everyone would take Moon’s place in The Who) all remember Keith being in good spirits and surprisingly sober.
Others, including Led Zeppelin’s former tour manager Richard Cole, remember Moon telling them he planned to wed Annette. Cole: “He said ‘I feel great, I’ve given up everything… except women’. And I’m gonna get married again.”
