Tonight’s mystery artists replaced their drummer with one of the other band members drinking buddies and big surprise it didn’t last, think you know who they are or the guys name??

For starters and to give the guy his due as a drummer he was no slouch. He had played with Steve Marriott and ‘Small Faces’ and also in ‘Faces’ with Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood.   His drinking buddy?  That would have been Pete Townsend of ‘The Who’. After the untimely death of Keith Moon drummer Kenny Jones got the unexpected opportunity of a lifetime: being tapped to replace Moon as drummer for The Who. The group announced its new drummer in January 1979, but Jones’ time with the band was short and tumultuous.

Ultimate Classic Rock site recounts it this way:

Jones had been at the same party with Moon the night before the madcap drummer died in September 1978. Jones was also drinking buddies with Pete Townnsend, and he was able to step into the Who gig relatively easily — or so he thought.

Moon’s death brought on a period of turbulence for the Who that included an infamous gig in Cincinnati on Dec. 3, 1979, where 11 fans were trampled and killed. Townshend was also going through a period of escalating drug use that culminated in a full-blown heroin addiction, followed by detox, and to top it off, singer Roger Daltrey wasn’t terribly supportive of Jones’ participation in the Who. He quoted saying:

“I just felt that Keith was such an extraordinary drummer, to try and replace him was just ridiculous,” Daltrey recalled in 1994. “We just filled the gap and pushed it back into the same slot with a drummer who was quite obviously the completely wrong drummer. I’m not saying he’s a bad drummer. I’m not saying he’s a bad guy. I didn’t dislike the guy, but I just felt he wasn’t the right drummer for the Who. It’s like having a wheel off a Cadillac stuck onto a Rolls Royce. It’s a great wheel but it’s the wrong one.”

Here we find Jones playing along on tonight's featured song:

More From WWMJ Ellsworth Maine