MOSH

'Moshing' is a type of dance characterized by audience members aggressively pushing or slamming into each other. It is frequently if not invariably accompanied by stage diving, crowd surfing, and/or headbanging, though incarnations of the dance are specific to music genre, scene, and era. It is commonly associated with punk, hardcore, and metal music genres, but has expanded into more popular rock genres as well. While moshing is occasionally done to recorded music, it is far more prevalent at live shows.^[1]
Today, many variations of moshing exist, such as "thrash", and the dance is practiced at concerts of many musical genres. Moshing is typically done in a 'mosh pit' or circle pit. There is a loosely acknowledged "moshing etiquette", which involves immediately helping up others who fall down and holding up lost articles of clothing (usually shoes, hats or glasses) to be claimed by their owners.

Contents

History

Origins of the term

Origins of the dance

Evolution

Controversy and anti-moshing stances

In popular culture

Media

References

See also

External links

History

Origins of the term

Darryl Jenifer and H.R. (Paul Hudson) of the Washington, D.C. area band Bad Brains, regarded as a band that "put moshing on the map"^[2], are believed to be partly responsible for the coining the term. Due to their affected Jamaican-accented pronunciation of the word ''mash'' in their lyrics and stage banter, fans in D.C. heard this as ''mosh'' instead. ^[3]
During the emergence of the American hardcore scene, the dance was frequently spelled ''mash'' but pronounced ''mosh,'' as in the 1982 song "Total Mash" by the Washington D.C.-based hardcore group Scream. Later, the term began to appear in hardcore fanzines of the time with its current spelling.
However, the invention of the term has sometimes been credited to Vinnie Stigma of the New York City hardcore band Agnostic Front, as an acronym of ''March Of Skin Heads''.

Origins of the dance

Slamdancing can be traced back to 1970s punk rock shows ^[4] in the form of "the pogo" and was later developed into moshing by the hardcore punk subculture of the early 80s. ^[5][6] While many use the terms slamdancing and moshing interchangeably, distinctions can be made between the two. Moshing tends to consist more of just running into each other and pushing each other whereas slamdancing people run and flail their arms and/or legs.
Moshing is thought to have originated in Los Angeles, California during the first wave of American hardcore in the early eighties. Violence and physicality characterized aspects of the movement and were manifesting on the dancefloors of shows. Slamdancing began as an audience response to the bands of the L.A. scene such as Black Flag, Fear and The Circle Jerks, whose more rhythmic and heavy form of punk rock was being called "hardcore."
To match the intensity and aggressive nature of this new music, fans would move frantically and engage in stage diving. Beyond audience and band members slamming into one another and leaping from stages into the crowd, slamdancing was defined by "strutting around in a circle, swinging your arms around and hitting everyone within your reach."^[7] This aspect of slamdancing was termed the "Huntington Beach Strut" (or "HB Strut") after the neighborhood of Orange County where it originated. Author Steven Blush writes of the HB Strut:
Marine and others in the Huntington Beach and Long Beach areas invented this violent dance and soon exported it to the San Francisco and Bay Area scene, where pogoing was still the prevalent form of dance. From there, it spread to the East Coast scenes through national acts such as Bad Brains and other D.C. area natives such as Henry Rollins and Ian MacKaye who witnessed the HB Strut while traveling. ^[8]
Because the early American hardcore scene gave way to and coexisted with the burgeoning crossover thrash scene, it, too, became defined in part by slamdancing.

Evolution

Moshing has progressed in several ways since it started in the Punk scene of the '70s. Originally moshing consisted of pogoing or circle pits, but when it filtered through into metal it became a lot simpler, mainly just pushing and shoving fellow pitters. Moshing in hardcore punk evolved into a much more elaborate style (see hardcore dancing).
In smaller venues, mosh pits may be replaced by aggressive but non-contact dances because of the close proximity of the concert goers.

Controversy and anti-moshing stances

Some concert venues do not allow moshing. This notice at a Pearl Jam concert prohibits moshing and crowd surfing in the venue.

Some bands such as The Smashing Pumpkins have taken a stance against moshing. At a 1996 Smashing Pumpkins show in Dublin, 17 year old Bernadette O'Brien was crushed by moshing crowd members and later died in hospital despite warnings from the band that people were getting hurt. ^[9] Billy Corgan was heard at another time on stage saying on behalf of his band:
In another incident, Jessica Michalik died of asphyxiation after being crushed in a mosh pit during the 2001 Australian Big Day Out music festival. The coroner's findings into her death criticized the crowd control measures in use at the time, and also criticised Limp Bizkit lead singer Fred Durst for "alarming and inflammatory" comments during the rescue effort. ^[10]
Cedric Bixler-Zavala of At the Drive-In had previously asked the audience to calm down and observe the safety rules. After the refusal of the crowd, Zavala told the crowd, "I think it's a really sad day when the only way you can express yourself is by slam-dancing!", followed by cries of, “You're a robot, you're a sheep!” and proceeded to baa like a sheep at them several times before the band left the stage around 10 minutes into their set.^[11]
Some other bands have expressed varied degrees of disapproval to mosh pits. Mike Portnoy of Dream Theater, in an interview publish on his website, described mosh pit as a "problem", while expressing disapproving indifference:
^[12] Mosh pits are infrequent or unpopular in concerts of bands, such as progressive metal bands, NWOBHM bands, and black metal bands, that deploy complex song structures.

In popular culture

★ In the massively multiplayer online role-playing game World of Warcraft, the undead male character model headbangs/moshes for its dance animation.^[13]

★ In an episode of the animated television series ''South Park'', the character Kenny dies in a mosh pit at a party. ^[14]

★ Moshing to the song ''Super Disco Breakin' is featured in the animated television series ''Futurama'' when Fry, Bender and Leela enter a mosh pit at a Beastie Boys concert.^[15]

★ On an episode of The Awful Truth, filmmaker Michael Moore attempts to get a presidential candidate of the 2000 primary elections to jump into a traveling mosh pit, with music by Rage Against the Machine.

★ The song "Punk Rock Girl" by the Dead Milkmen contains the lyrics "Let's go slamdance."

★ Reel Big Fish have released a song called "Thank You For Not Moshing" (originally called "In the Pit").

★ Anthrax wrote a song called "Caught in a Mosh"

★ In Mario Party 8, there is a mini game that is called Mosh Pit referring to the dance.

★ In the Power Ranger's spoof "Mighty Moshin' Emo Rangers", "Moshin" is used, rather than "Morphin'".

★ The Taking Back Sunday song "Bonus Mosh Pt.2" was named after a friend of the band noted that there was a second part in the song that would prompt moshing at live shows.

★ Former WWE superstars Mosh and Thrasher used to have two-man mosh pits in the ring.

★ Massachusetts deathcore band The Texas Chainsaw Massacre have a song about moshing entitled "Breakdown Brodown Beatdown Throwdown."

★ The song Dance And Dense Denso by Mexican Rock/Rap Band Molotov (band) talks about moshing.

Media

References

1. Tsitsos, William (1999) Rules of Rebellion: Slamdancing, Moshing, and the American Alternative Scene ''Popular Music'', Vol. 18, No. 3, pp. 397-414
2. Bad Brains biography
3. Bad Brains - History
4. Nussbacher, Mike (2004) A Survivor’s Guide To The Mosh Pit. ''YPP.''
5. Irvine, Martha (1996) Moshing Exciting but dangerous. ''Associated Press.'' at rockmed.org
6. Sacahroff, Reaz (1996) Music: Pit Etiquette. ''Tucson Weekly''.
7. Blush, Steven (2001). ''.
8. Rachman, Paul (2006). American Hardcore: The History of American Punk Rock 1980-1986.
9. Fan Crushed at Smashing Pumpkin's Show
10. Findings and Recommendations by the Coronial Inquest into the Death of Jessica Michalik
11. [1] At the Drive-In at Big Day Out 2001
12. [2]Mike Portnoy's Interview
13. World of Warcraft - Dancing
14. "Clubhouses", ''South Park''. Original airdate September 23, 1998.
15. "Hell Is Other Robots", ''Futurama''. Original airdate May 18, 1999.

See also

★ Hardcore dancing

★ Moshcore

★ Wall of Death

★ Skanking

★ Zero Bullshit

External links

★ Berger, Tom (2004) ''In the Pit - How to survive mosh pits and bodysurfing!''

★ The Beginners Guide To Moshing