On this day in 1967, The Who drummer Keith Moon reportedly drives his car into a hotel pool in one of the most notorious examples of rock and roll bad behaviour

The Who formed in 1964 and soon grew in popularity around London owing to their energetic live shows. They  quickly capitalised with a handful of hit singles before releasing their debut album My Generation in late 1965. A year of legal issues and in-band conflict followed, before they recorded and released A Quick One to alleviate financial pressure.

The popularity of these albums led to the band being booked to play at the famous 1967 Monterey Pop Festival, a performance which received mixed reviews but earned them greater recognition in the United States, as well as a spot on a tour supporting Herman’s Hermits. The bands shared a similar affinity for practical jokes, partying and drugs, and the Hermits showed Keith Moon that fireworks were legal to purchase in some states. It was during this tour that the band earned its reputation for destroying hotel rooms, with Moon being the main perpetrator, often with his favourite firework, the cherry bomb. 

After a show in Flint, Michigan on Moon’s birthday, the 23rd of August both bands retired to the Holiday Inn hotel, where a wild party ensued. Moon recalls that late in the evening he hopped into a car parked near the hotel pool, a Lincoln Continental, and took off the handbrake, causing the car to roll forward into the pool. He waited until the car filled up with water before throwing open the door and swimming to the surface.

However, the majority of the band and partygoers don’t recall the incident ever taking place. DJ Peter Cavanaugh claims to have seen the car in the pool, but Herman’s Hermits drummer Barry Whitlam claims that no car ever entered the pool, nor did Moon and that there was no way it could have happened without him seeing it. 

Whether the car was driven into the pool or not, the party caused a massive amount of damage to the hotel, earning the bands a bill for $24,000 to clean up the broken tables, bottles and chairs thrown into the pool, the ruined carpets, the ripped wallpaper and a ceiling covered with cake. The event has since come to be known as one of the most infamous examples of bad behaviour and over the top partying from a rock band, and it certainly didn’t help the reputation of the the often looked down upon new genre of rock and roll.