Born June 16, 1971

Died September 13, 1996

High of His Life: Tupac was clearly a talented and deep thinker who also happened to be great at rap music. Through his music he outlined his struggles in the world and became a legend in hip-hop and in American culture in general.

Apparently though his greatest achievement was his unending bromance with star Tony “Who’s The Boss?” Danza. Tony wrote a letter to Tupac while he was in jail. Apparently one letter lead to another and before you knew it the untold love story of the century began. We can only hope that someday a filmmaker comes along and dramatizes the Tony Danza/Tupac Shakur friendship in made for  Grey Gardens-esque TV movie.

Low of His Life: He’s no Biggie. Sure, Tupac was a deep thinker and a skilled poet with a sharp wit but the shear immediacy and ear pounding joy of a Biggie verse is untoppable, even by Tupac. I am confident that my horse in the old race Biggie is still slaying Tupac at rap battles in the sky. Or maybe they hang out. Mysteries of the universe right?

Who Sees Him As a Hero: Any rapper who claims to be starting a “movement.” So I guess all of them.

Born August 23, 1946

Died September 7, 1978

High of His Life: The spastic drums on the Who’s debut single “I Can’t Explain”, his shocking and fiery performance of “A Quick One While He’s Away” from the Rolling Stones’ Rock And Roll Circus, the invention of stadium rock with “Baba O’Reilly”, there are many moments in Keith Moon’s musical career that drummers for decades would emulate and envy. Still no moment spoke more to his rock and roll spirit than the fact that in hotel after hotel that Keith and the rest of the Who stayed in Keith would blow up the toilets. He’d use cherry bombs and eventually stepped up to M-80s. As those lost their luster and his star power allowed him to get stronger shit he moved onto dynamite. He also once drove a Cadillac(or to his recollection a Lincoln Continental) into a hotel pool.

Yes, you may be repeatedly voted the second or first best drummer of all time, but the high of your rock career is always the path of destruction you leave.

Low of His Life: Keith’s Wikipedia page has several sections to it. There is the obvious “early musical career”, “With the Who”, and all the usual stuff. There is also a section entitled “Recklessness”, which is cool for all the aforementioned reasons. That section however has a subsection entitled simply “Passing out on stage.” Not really words you want associated with your career as a musician.

So in spite of his indomitable spirit, his excellent records, and his status as a rock legend it is likely that more than a few of us have uncles and dads who will say things like, “I went to see the Who, they weren’t that great. Keith Moon couldn’t even play the damn drums he was so fucked up.”  Stuff no one says about John Bonham.

Who Sees Him As a Hero: Aldous Snow, any rock drummer anywhere, people rationalizing a reckless life style as part of their job.