When Keith Moon Ruined a Live Television Broadcast

On the seventeenth of September, Nineteen Sixty-Seven, The Who appeared on the popular American variety programme The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.
The band was already notorious in the United Kingdom for smashing their instruments at the end of their sets, but drummer Keith Moon wanted to ensure their American televised debut was completely unforgettable.

Before taking the stage to perform their hit single “My Generation”, Moon bribed a stage hand to help him pack his bass drum with chemical explosives. Unknown to the rest of the band, or the studio crew, Moon used a far greater amount of gunpowder than typically permitted for a standard stage effect. At the climax of the song, Pete Townshend began smashing his guitar, providing Moon with his cue to trigger the detonator.

The resulting explosion was catastrophic. A massive fireball engulfed the back of the stage, blowing Moon’s cymbals into the air and shattering his drum kit. The blast momentarily knocked the television network’s cameras out of focus, singed Pete Townshend’s hair, and left the studio audience in stunned silence. The sheer volume of the detonation contributed to the permanent hearing damage that plagued Townshend for the rest of his career.