Can someone explain Mosh Pits to me?

TheoFly · #1 11-13-2008, 07:48 AM

I am an old guy .... back in the day I went to lots of live music. It was all hippies, smoke, flowers, and love back then. No one got bruised up.

Now, I see pictures and video clips of people Moshing and gleefully kicking the crap out of each other at concerts. How did this get started? Are there rules - Mosh Pit etiquette, as it were? Is there a particular motivation to participate?

It is not my intention to condemn or judge the activity. Although I have no desire to participate I have always found it to be a fascinating spectacle. I just seek to understand it more.

lamarjones · #2 11-13-2008, 07:49 AM

First off, do you understand metal or punk? Like, what it does to a huge fan?

TheoFly · #3 11-13-2008, 07:58 AM

Metal - yeah, mostly.
Punk - not as much.
What either does to huge fans - no.

By "does to", are you implying that it is a visceral reaction to the music?

i_got_a_mohawk · #4 11-13-2008, 08:04 AM

It isnt anything new, not by a long shot.

Informational videos:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=9nYejkFKb9A
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=chiVMrWMHko

lamarjones · #5 11-13-2008, 08:07 AM

Yes, very much so, except for the idiots who would get drunk and mosh to Three Doors Down given the chance.

Listening to Slayer would straight up give me a rush that I couldn't get anywhere else, and live the machine was even bigger. I say the same for like Mastodon, Bad Brains, Antiseen and a slew of other 'out of control' bands that I saw live.

Traditional moshing (ha!) is usually in the form of a huge circle. Or just chaos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FoJaKwklRs

T.O.Bass · #6 11-13-2008, 08:21 AM

There are definitely unwritten rules, the main one being, if someone falls down/gets clobbered/crushed/whomped/thumped..... you help them up. Everyone is in it for the same thing, a kind of primal physical release. Nobody really wants to go out and intentionally send people to the hospital. Well, there are a few of those people here or there, but they usually get their *** kicked right back by a crowd of unhappy moshers. Then the "controlled chaos" resumes.

middy · #7 11-13-2008, 08:26 AM

These kids nowadays with their "slam dancing" and their "sex pistols" and their "star wars" and their "Jimmy Carter."

Fassa Albrecht · #8 11-13-2008, 08:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by T.O.Bass

There are definitely unwritten rules, the main one being, if someone falls down/gets clobbered/crushed/whomped/thumped..... you help them up. Everyone is in it for the same thing, a kind of primal physical release. Nobody really wants to go out and intentionally send people to the hospital. Well, there are a few of those people here or there, but they usually get their *** kicked right back by a crowd of unhappy moshers. Then the "controlled chaos" resumes.

+infinity.

I've been in moshpits at Christian rock concerts and everyone is there for the fun, not to hurt anyone.

MJ5150 · #9 11-13-2008, 08:34 AM

Ahhhhhh.....the good old days. Part of the appeal for me going to concerts was to "get in the pit and try to kill someone".

It was great to listen to super loud music from a band I liked, all the while kicking, punching, and thrashing about in a crowd of like-minded people. I was usually the biggest person in the pit, so it made the experience more enjoyable. I couldn't do it anywhere else without getting arrested.

-Mike

Relic · #10 11-13-2008, 08:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by T.O.Bass

There are definitely unwritten rules, the main one being, if someone falls down/gets clobbered/crushed/whomped/thumped..... you help them up. Everyone is in it for the same thing, a kind of primal physical release. Nobody really wants to go out and intentionally send people to the hospital. Well, there are a few of those people here or there, but they usually get their *** kicked right back by a crowd of unhappy moshers. Then the "controlled chaos" resumes.

That's how it's supposed to be.
There was a club near me back in the day where we used to mosh or slam dance etc, and there would always and inevitably be one or two buttheads who would start to throw punches and scream at people. I couldn't understand it. You know folks are slamming or whatever, if you don't like it, stay away from the pit, but no....
this was virtually every darn time, so we just stopped going.

etoncrow · #11 11-13-2008, 08:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Relic

...there would always and inevitably be one or two buttheads who would start to throw punches and scream at people....

Back thirty years ago those were the people who had taken 'ludes' and been drinking whiskey. You generally tried to stay out of their way until the 'lude' totally took over; Then you pulled them into a corner to sleep it off. Never was my idea of fun....

bassrique · #12 11-13-2008, 08:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MJ5150

Ahhhhhh.....the good old days. Part of the appeal for me going to concerts was to "get in the pit and try to kill someone".

It was great to listen to super loud music from a band I liked, all the while kicking, punching, and thrashing about in a crowd of like-minded people. I was usually the biggest person in the pit, so it made the experience more enjoyable. I couldn't do it anywhere else without getting arrested.

-Mike

+1

The problem with being bigger than most is that "crowd surfing" isn't really an option. On the other hand, you don't get pancaked by dudes jumping up on something and diving into the crowd.

Mark Latimour · #13 11-13-2008, 08:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fassa Albrecht

I've been in moshpits at Christian rock concerts and everyone is there for the fun

...and yet I can't help but think everyone was probably let down.....

GregC · #14 11-13-2008, 09:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by T.O.Bass

There are definitely unwritten rules, the main one being, if someone falls down/gets clobbered/crushed/whomped/thumped..... you help them up. Everyone is in it for the same thing, a kind of primal physical release. Nobody really wants to go out and intentionally send people to the hospital. Well, there are a few of those people here or there, but they usually get their *** kicked right back by a crowd of unhappy moshers. Then the "controlled chaos" resumes.

+1. I went to plenty of punk/hardcore shows way back (think Minor Threat era) and that was the way it was. Most of the shows I saw were in a small-ish college town where everyone knew each other, so there were fewer idiots. I noticed when I went to bigger cities, it seemed rougher. Still, I don't recall walking away with even so much as a bruise (but I'm a big guy).

Quote:

Originally Posted by middy

These kids nowadays with their "slam dancing" and their "sex pistols" and their "star wars" and their "Jimmy Carter."

I couldn't help LOL'ing.

lamarjones · #15 11-13-2008, 09:14 AM

I can't help but always admiring the irony on Slayer's Decade of Aggression where Tom goes

'....listen, you guys in the front, keep an eye on each other, if you see someone going down help them out, alright.

this is a little song called....WAR ENSENBLE!!!!!!'

wilser · #16 11-13-2008, 10:20 AM

though it's been a long time since I've been in a 'pit' I do remember the etiquette that's been mentioned before. I also remember this one incident when a new kid showed up with nail spiked bracelets and steel toed boots 2 sizes bigger than he needed and started throwing martial art kicks up in the air. We gently removed him from the premises, beat him up and told him that he's welcome back as long as he stops this non-sense. We never saw him again.

ElephantTalk · #17 11-13-2008, 10:22 AM

Actually, it all started as a way to evenly distribute the sound to both ears.
Since the music was so loud, people would lose hearing in the ear that faces the stage speakers.

(**bs...cough..bs..**..but I know you've all been there)

crimson_basser · #18 11-13-2008, 10:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lamarjones

I can't help but always admiring the irony on Slayer's Decade of Aggression where Tom goes

'....listen, you guys in the front, keep an eye on each other, if you see someone going down help them out, alright.

this is a little song called....WAR ENSENBLE!!!!!!'

Metal is so funny for irony like that

"alright everyone, when this part kicks in, i want everyone in this room from front to back, side to side, to get f***ing moving! NO ONE STANDING STILL. IF SOMEONE FALLS DOWN, PICK THEIR A** BACK UP. NO ONE GETS HURT.........

UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGHH KICK SOMEONE IN THE FACEEEEE GO!" *chugga chug chug chug chug chugga chug chug chagga MEEDLEE MEE chugga chug chug chug chug chugga chug chug chagga (and repeat)

lunarpollen · #19 11-13-2008, 10:58 AM

Just from my observations from going to punk shows over the years: Originally it was a hyper and playful sort of dancing that was fun to do when drunk at a punk show. People would be jumping around, bouncing off one another, helping one another up when falls would occur, etc. It was good silly fun and people rarely got hurt.

But this changed over the years. First, some some hardcore punk kids began to feel the need to prove how "tough" they were and would start to flail their limbs around full-force, and groups of them would use it as an excuse to beat on kids who were just trying to righteously mosh and have fun. Over time, the overall violence of the "dancing" escalated as more kids felt the need to jump on the "tough guy" bandwagon, some hardcore punk shows were basically non-directional brawls where people in the pit would beat the hell out of one another while dancing and be proud of their injuries. Over time, kids who didn't know any better (latecomers to the scene) would act in imitation of videos they saw on MTV where people were "moshing" violently (meant to make the commercial artists seem more "punk" and "dangerous I suppose) and would just add to the idiocy at real-life shows by deliberately shoving people and flailing their limbs around like dumbasses.

Mazatleco17 · #20 11-13-2008, 11:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by T.O.Bass

There are definitely unwritten rules, the main one being, if someone falls down/gets clobbered/crushed/whomped/thumped..... you help them up. Everyone is in it for the same thing, a kind of primal physical release. Nobody really wants to go out and intentionally send people to the hospital. Well, there are a few of those people here or there, but they usually get their *** kicked right back by a crowd of unhappy moshers. Then the "controlled chaos" resumes.

+1 on the unwritten rules.