John always struck me as just along for the ride... and perpetually annoyed with the rest of them.
 
He wrote some of their better tunes though (when he did write) and his vocals were great and were the glue to those sweet harmonies. Pete and Keef were warbly in their harmonies and Rog was the lead on top. Entwistle was the one who could keep the pitch and had a crazy range. The really high falsettos were usually him.
 
Tunes like "A Quick One" would not have been nearly as good without his backup vox.

jamesg1213

bapu

jamesg1213
I heard an interview with Pete Townshend a while back where he said he often wished Keith would ''just play the ****ing backbeat''. Mr Moon was a frustrated frontman I reckon.

Wasn't the whole band comprised of frontmen?

Maybe, but I didn't really get that 'Look at me! Look at me!' thing from Entwhistle.

He played "hard to get" and that in and of itself is believed to be borne from a bigger ego than the antics of the insecure over indulgent "out there" types.
 
JMO.
 
#EntwhistleBassLinesIsHardToGet

Hypothesis: Maybe he thought the skeleton outfit was "slimming"... which would indicate a certain level of narcissism.

 
Maybe.

jamesg1213
I heard an interview with Pete Townshend a while back where he said he often wished Keith would ''just play the ****ing backbeat''. Mr Moon was a frustrated frontman I reckon.

I'm not sure that Pete meant to say this that strait and that it was probably more designed as a joke and fun comment, that is being mis-quoted and represented.
 
KM was not a backdrop and backend, drummer ... he was not a metronome either ... he was up front just like the other guys, and his introduction to the band, pretty much immediately defined that group for a long time, and Pete has nothing to complaint about, since that's where his money was made ... with KM in there.
 
The fact of the matter is that 90% of all the drummers are not drummers ... they are wannabe metronomes for players that do not have the ability and desire to play without a time keeper, for fear that they will miss a note or a moment ... and in the end, they do not learn more about music, that is being confined to a slim design that is at least 500 years old, and boring.
 
The drummers that I enjoy the most are the ones that go beyond the time keeping ... and the guitars and keyboards have to keep up with them ... and some of the best are dead (KM, JB, PM), but the music they were involved in is incredible and well remembered. 
 
As a study, go listen to Steve Gadd in Kate Bush's album "50 Words for Snow" ... and then realize that this is not about time keeping as it is about making sensitive touches around Kate's voice ... and you can count the number of those drummers in one hand, if you are lucky, because most of the names mentioned here are strict time keepers and not willing or able to add more than something for a time change to the chorus, or back to the melody. 
 
This is a problem with automated drums ... all mechanized ... no personality ... and somehow we think that one little accent (as in rap) every 16 beats makes this sensational! What a joke!
 
And you guys are afraid to say so! That is weird, when you are a musician, and you are basically saying that a drummer can not be a musician ... he has to be a metronome!
 
Very weird!

I know a few drummers with "no personality", but they got the chicks on the up beat.
Note to self: need to add personality to automated drums, disable metronome, and let it play out of time. 
 
My mate James should be dropping in shortly to add a few fills, rides, and percussive noises. 

Moshkito

jamesg1213
I heard an interview with Pete Townshend a while back where he said he often wished Keith would ''just play the ****ing backbeat''. Mr Moon was a frustrated frontman I reckon.

I'm not sure that Pete meant to say this that strait and that it was probably more designed as a joke and fun comment, that is being mis-quoted and represented.
 
 

Different interview, but he's not joking;
 

Moshkito
 
 
And you guys are afraid to say so! That is weird, when you are a musician, and you are basically saying that a drummer can not be a musician ... he has to be a metronome!
 
Very weird!

No, that's you saying that, and projecting it onto the conversation.
 
The best drummers are both; Vinnie Colaiuta for example. Stewart Copeland for another. Dave Mattacks. Terry Chambers. Nick D'Virgilio. Manu Katche'. Pat Mastelotto. Marco Minneman...my list goes on..
 
Good thing I've got lots of fingers on my one hand.

I am always late or most of the time a no show on these forums now. Just saw this. 
The best drummers are ambidextrous and use hands and BOTH feet when playing. 
Once you learn to do that, you really can't stop the either foot from moving on the pedals. It's all second nature. 
So for drummers that don't know how to do this, I don't think it is being lazy as much as they were not trained up in using all their limbs.
 
Old drum books like "Advanced Techniques For the Modern Drummer" by Jim Chapin and "Progressive Steps To Syncopation" were used for decades when I grew up. They helped with learning independence.