Recreating Keith Moon

If there was ever a drummer who defined rockstar madness, it was Keith Moon from The Who. So naturally, I asked myself—what if I could bring him back, just for a moment, with AI?

This little project was part nostalgia trip, part creative experiment. Using my go to AI generators ChatGPT and RunwayML, I recreated a 1970s-era image of Keith, suited up beside a Rolls-Royce sinking into a swimming pool. Sounds like something he’d have done, right? Well, he did—in a Holiday Inn situated in Flint, Michigan. He got banned for life!!

The Reference Vibe

The concept was inspired by those wild urban legends of Keith Moon driving cars into pools. Whether they’re true or not, I wanted an image that looked like it was snapped on a cheap Polaroid camera during a summer’s afternoon in Flint, Michigan.

Building the Composite

This is where the fun began. I asked Jen to generate two different versions of Keith Moon using this simple prompt:

Can you create Keith Moon of The Who? 
Standing next to the swimming pool he crashed his Rolls-Royce car into. 
You can make Keith 100% lifelike.

The first version came back with a dramatic dusk setting and a black Rolls-Royce (Image 01). I loved the mood, but I wanted something with stronger lighting.

So I asked for better lighting, and the second image (Image 02) was returned with a cream-coloured car and a golden-hour glow. Much better light—but the outfit and car from version 1 still felt more rock ‘n’ roll and I liked the awkward pose.

📸 Image 01: Black Rolls-Royce Version

📸 Image 02: Better Lighting + White Car

Instead of choosing one over the other, I did what any old-school digital artist would: I took the best of both and composited a third image manually. And when I say manually, Photoshop did all the heavy lifting in seconds. 

📸 Image 03: Final Composite

The 1960s Polaroid Makeover

To really drive home the retro look, I took that clean AI image and styled it as an old Polaroid print. This step’s important because it grounds the image in time—it’s not just about the fashion or the props, but the feel.

Then for the Polaroid effect, I used:

Convert image to a vintage Polaroid photo, 
with square white border, slight yellowing, 
1960s film grain, and faded colour tones.

📸 Polaroid Style Image

Adding the Signature

Keith’s personality was never tidy, so his signature needed to feel raw, quick, and a little unhinged. I prompted the system to add his name in that spirit—chaotic but unmistakably “Keith Moon.”

📸 Signed Polaroid

🎞 Trying To Animate The Chaos

I tried to get Jen to animate a handwritten signature as a .gif but creating animations with ChatGPT can be hit or miss. This time we missed BIG—and it created absolute garbage.

I decided to take the signature image into Photoshop, select the signature, trim the transparent pixels, and export it as a .png. I had already generated a video clip using Runway GEN4 using the following prompt, along with the composited image:

🎞 Runway GEN4 Video Prompt

A Polaroid image of Keith Moon where he laughs then he turns and jumps into the pool. 
The white border must remain locked like a fixed frame, 
but the camera is handheld and can follow Keith into the water.

I then brought the video and signature .png into LumaFusion where it was scaled down to fit the original Polaroid and added a 5 second dissolve transition for a slow reveal. Video was exported at 1080 HD as an .mp4. The final touches were provided by an iPhone app called 8mm which gives you that retro 8mm film stock vibe. I have tagged a tutorial showing you how to use 8mm within the YT short below. 

Final Thoughts

Recreating Keith Moon like this reminded me that AI isn’t just about technical tools — it’s about storytelling. In my mind, this image wasn’t generated by a machine. It was shot by Annie Leibovitz while Hunter S. Thompson interviewed Keith poolside for Rolling Stone. Annie being Annie, she didn’t fly to Michigan — she recreated the whole thing in a friend’s backyard in LA. And instead of Keith’s usual T-shirt and jeans, she threw him in a suit. This image tells a story in a single frame. You don’t need to know who Keith is to feel the mischief coming off the print.

If you’re working on a creative project like this and need a hand with image prompts, vintage styles, or storytelling—drop me a message. Always happy to collaborate.

– Stu