The Development of "Hard" Rock

After The Beatles and the Brtish Invasion more and more groups started coming to America. One of these groups you may or may not have heard was called The Rolling Stones. The Rolling Stones were the first band who truly and actually rocked like it was there business. Drummer Charlie Watts was able to take all of the pop rock beats of the British Invasion and played them much faster and harder than everyone else at that time. That more aggressive style of drumming helped make the Rolling Stones the first "true" rock band. Around the same time as the Rolling Stones, The Who came to America with the very first Rock and Roll drum extravagant, the one and only Keith Moon. Keith is, to put in brief, a Rock God. His stage antics, both on and off, are the stuff that music legends are made of. Moon is regarded for being the craziest drum soloist that ever lived and had a knack for making an ass of himself, for lack of a better word. One of the best stories in Rock history is the story of how Keith Monn took an overdose of horse tranquilizers before going on stage for a performance and then passing out ten seconds in. They couldn't revive Moon from his drug induced coma so a lucky Who fan was chosen from the audience to fill in on Moon's kit for the rest of the show. Keith Moon's outrageous lifestyle finally caught up with him when he dies from an overdose in the early 1980's. Despite his issues, his legend remains and his style and antics continue to influence aspiring percussionists to this day.