‘I flushed Moon’s bag full of pills’: The Who’s Roger Daltrey spills on the band

The Who’s Roger Daltry says he was the “enemy” of his bandmates for “spoiling” the rock’n’roll life of “taking as many drugs as possible”.

Roger Daltrey, left, and Pete Townshend of The Who perform in the US in 2016. Picture: Frazer Harrison/Getty

Roger Daltrey has revealed the inside story of how being the clean-living man in one of Britain’s most hedonistic rock bands made him the “enemy”.

The Who singer said that he had constantly fought with his bandmates Keith Moon, Pete Townshend and John Entwistle as they lived the rock’n’roll life.

His new memoir, released last night at the festival, recounts how he was thrown out of the band in its early days in 1965 after flushing Moon’s “great big bag full of pills” down the toilet.

The drummer, who eventually died from an overdose of prescription pills, “came slashing at me with the bells of a tambourine”.

The following day Daltrey was fired from the band, only to be reinstated after a few shows when the remaining members were “booed off stage”.

In the memoir, Thanks a Lot Mr Kibblewhite, Daltrey writes that he knew he “was the enemy”.

The Who, from left, Roger Daltrey, Pete Townshend, John Entwhistle and Keith Moon. Daltrey says when he flushed Moon’s a bag full of Moon’s drugs down the toilet, Moon came “slashing at me with the bells of a tambourine” Picture: News Corp

“Rock’n’roll had become all about taking as many drugs as possible until you died,” he writes. “And I was spoiling that. From their point of view it was an intrusion on how they wanted to live their lives. They wanted to be free and I was spoiling that.”

When he was asked back to the band Daltrey said the other members begrudged his return. He writes that Moon would “do everything he could think of to rile me” while Entwistle, the bassist, “was worse”. Entwistle, who died in 2002 in a Las Vegas hotel room from a heart condition brought on by taking cocaine, “had a very spiteful streak”.

He also fought with Townshend, once knocking out the lead guitarist, who had to be taken to hospital.

Daltrey reveals that he did become addicted to prescription painkillers and sleeping pills, which he began taking after damaging his shoulder.

It took two weeks of cold turkey to wean himself off them. He said that his only indulgence beyond alcohol was smoking a “bit of pot in the gaps between tours”.

For others in the business it was not that easy.

“It’s so intense, the temptation to take something to maintain the balance is huge. You take the downers to bring you out of the clouds after a show. Then you need the uppers to put you right back up there in time for the next one. That’s why there are so many casualties in our business.”

According to the autobiography’s synopsis, the Mr Kibblewhite of the title was Daltrey’s “draconian headmaster” during the singer’s rebellious teenage years.

— The Times