Organization: University of Illinois at Chicago
Date: Friday, 2 Oct 1992 19:11:18 CDT
From: <U46837@uicvm.uic.edu>
Newsgroups: alt.music.alternative
Subject: Re: Tangets to Moshing

Ramona writes...
> First off, when exactly did slamming stop and moshing begin?

Yeah, can someone clue me in on when "moshing" started; is it
intended to have less intensity than slamming or is it just
my own misperception.

> Second order of business...The thing about bouncers is
> truer than anything.  I was at a TKK show in Chicago at
> the Riviera.  Since about last February, when ownership
> changed, there's been barricades and bouncers between the
> crowd and the stage...
>            ...Metro gets by just fine without these
> fucks, and Metro is such a tighter place.  Does anyone
> know if we can do anything about this?  We really should.

Looking back awhile, there were barricades at the Aragon and Metro
back in the early and mid eighties whenever a band like DM, SMiths,
or the Cure played, whenever there was lots of fancy equipment (Daniel
Ash had his voice synth stolen off the stage when Tones onn Tail
played the Metro, no barricades then), or when the bouncers thought
there would be a lot of stage diving.  The barricades did start
to disappear for awhile.

You could take action by boycotting the Riv and encouraging clubs
like Metro, China Club, and the Vic to book more bands.

What's really needed is some attitude adjustment on the part of the
crowd.  It use to be that the slamming would be contained to a small
area, but now the moshers have to spread out accross the entire
dance floor.  It seems to me that the moshing starts with a few
assholes (who don't seem like they came for the band) with the
feeble-minded followers acting like lemmings and jumping in.
What's worse is that they have no respect for the people around
them and will grab and toss around kids who want nothing to do with
them.  This is a far cry from the old days when the slam pits were
really bloody, but at least the slammers kept to themselves
(for the most part).

I think a lot of it has to do with the crowds that go to the shows
now; the crowds use to stand their ground to the slammers, but now
when the moshing starts the crowd backs off.  With the crowd
backing off, it starts a trend where the moshers (who are  the
minority at the concerts) get into the mindset that they think
the front dance floor is their's to mosh forever.

When an older act plays, like the Buzzcocks, Peter Murphy, or
the Creatures, that draws an older crowd, the moshers are never
even given a chance to start.  The older set isn't about to pay
$20+ for a show and then tolerate the moronic actions of a few.

But when a band like Meat Beat Manifesto , Front 242, or 808 State
comes to town, the moshing is back because the crowd tolerates it.
Is the indifference because the crowds don't care about the band
they're seeing, or maybe they didn't earn the money to buy the
ticket, so they really don't care?  And really, do these bands seem
to be the types to mosh to, they have a bit more class than that.
Moshing to these bands is about as reasonable as moshing to
Morrisey or the Orb.

Seems to me that if the core group of moshers that frequent the shows
didn't act like animals with the crowd being so tolerant, there would
be no need for barricades and sadistic bouncers.

This may sound like the ramblings of an old man but I have to point
out that going to shows isn't as enjoyable as it used to be.  I like
being all the way up front and camping out to do so but nowadays
you have to watch your back, and that's no way to enjoy yourself
at a show.

Maybe with some luck, country music and mechanical bulls will get
big again (WLS just turned country) and the moshers will be
moshing to Garth Brooks or an Al Jourgensen-created speed-country
band.  After all, Al's a chameleon second only to David Bowie
himself, and he seems to like wearing cowboy hats and boots.
:-)  :-)  :-)

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||  Gene J                     ||
||  <u46837@uicvm.cc.uic.edu>  ||
||  Chicago, Illinois          ||
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