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[Tom]

I fail to see the appeal of moshpits. I don't see the point in not being able to see the band due to people constantly getting in your way and constantly getting bumped around.


who like moshpits? who doesn't? wieso?

[negative creep]

I like moshpits when I'm 50% of a Wall of Death that we just do because we like the people in the band. On most other occasions, not so much.

[a pack of wolves]

What you need to remember is that moshing was originally only done to hardcore. Stick on any hardcore song which isn't a slow number (so almost any) and imagine people doing something other than walls of death, touching base, two stepping, KDS, stage dives, lots of finger pointing at any and all crucial moments and the good old slam. It just doesn't work really does it? It got weird when people started doing it at general rock gigs, where there are other acceptable dances and people aren't quite so into catharsis and unity. But at a hardcore gig the appeal is in letting rip and having some fun dancing, usually in a deeply silly fashion. Like they say, "stage dives make me feel more alive than coded messages in slowed down songs".

[PECOAE]

i mosh when there are people who enjoy hitting people around, because i love doing it - especially when there are a lot of people in the crowd.

excess aggression, too

[a pack of wolves]

I don't mean to be a dick, but people who hit people in pits are just being arseholes. Grow up and leave it out.

[De_El]

Moshing is like dancing, only without form or style. It's best-suited for hardcore, although it's pretty common and can do well at concerts for certain varieties of metal.  I have a good time moshing; I mean, it's not something you're supposed to think that much about, but rather just thrash and flail and feed off the natural adrenaline high.  It's pretty instinctive really, and if the urge never seizes you no matter how frenetic the music, then I guess that explains why you don't like moshing.

[FireAarro]

Moshing is like dancing, only without form or style. It's best-suited for hardcore, although it's pretty common and can do well at concerts for certain varieties of metal.  I have a good time moshing; I mean, it's not something you're supposed to think that much about, but rather just thrash and flail and feed off the natural adrenaline high.  It's pretty instinctive really, and if the urge never seizes you no matter how frenetic the music, then I guess that explains why you don't like moshing.

Agreed. <3 moshing.

[Felix_]

When at shows, I stand in the corner grimacing menacingly with my arms folded across my chest and the incredibly obscure t-shirt I have on with the logo that is indecipherable. I hate mosh pits.

[StaedlerMars]

Oh... you're that guy.

I mosh when the music is hard. When it's not, I try to enjoy the music while keeping those silly people shoving into eachother away from me.

[The extra letter]

People who insist on moshing during *every* song shit me. Well, them and the dickheads who try to mosh outside the moshing area. Like, you'll have the core moshing area petering out to people who are just standing around chilling and listening to the music on the outer edges with the occasional smacktard who's trying to get their own little mosh going.

That said, I don't really have anything against moshing per se, and would probably engage in a bit of it if I didn't go to gigs and concerts with my fairly fragile ladylove.

[KharBevNor]

I used to mosh quite a lot. Then the big metalcore craze down South bought in that wave of 'hardcore dancing', and it suddenly wasn't fun anymore. The fucking kids nowadays will karate kick you in the face and then not pick you up. I refuse to mosh at pretty much anywhere that admits under 18s, anywhere where more than five people are wearing a raggedy Palestinian keffiyeh as a bandana, or anywhere where the crowd basically does not seem to understand that a mosh pit is not actually a streetfight with sillier clothes.

Funniest mosh-related thing I ever saw, a pit was forming to a support band, and these two, call 'em 'hardcore' kids, started bouncing off each other, basically. Then they started slamming into folks on the edge of the pit. Dickish. I clearly saw what happened next: one of them shoved the other into the back of an ENORMOUS metalhead, spilling half his pint up his girlfriends back. The metalhead calmly wiped down her jacket, handed her his beer, then turned round and clotheslined both of them. Then the pit really took off.

[Jimmy the Squid]

If I'm moshing (which is to say, rarely) I'm at the front, right up at the barrier, just having fun and destroying my brain with headbanging. If not I'm usually as close to the stage as I can get without actually being in the pit, soaking up the ambience and enjoying the show.  I've only moshed at Sakkuth, Gospel of the Horns, Cryptopsy, Cog and a bunch of other metal bands I can't remember. There wouldn't be that many extra though.

[supersheep]

we can dance if we want to

[Edible]

raggedy Palestinian keffiyeh as a bandana

They make good scarves in winter I have to say.

[a pack of wolves]

I used to mosh quite a lot. Then the big metalcore craze down South bought in that wave of 'hardcore dancing', and it suddenly wasn't fun anymore. The fucking kids nowadays will karate kick you in the face and then not pick you up.

That's not hardcore dancing, or rather it's just one very particular type of hardcore dancing. Kickboxing (although I thought the term KDS, or karate dance style, was funnier myself) used to only be done at tough guy shows back in the day. Not a good thing even then, but if you were going to see a band like Knuckledust you really should know what to expect. But then people started doing it at more and more gigs, finally spreading out of the hardcore scene with all these myspace metal bands. I haven't seen it in ages though, I don't go to metal gigs much and nobody does it at proper hardcore or metal gigs round here.

Moshing is like dancing, only without form or style.

That's what you think:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=9fvu951up_0&feature=related

[monkandmovies13]

I almost got moshed to death this summer at a Gogol Bordello show.

I'm not sure if it was actually rough enough to be a mosh pit, but I couldn't breath, got lots of nice bruises, and was about to pass out, so I think it may qualify.

[valley_parade]

I like it.

I did not like having some random frat boy BITE ME in a mosh pit at Warped this summer, though. WHO FUCKING BITES?!

[pinkpiche]

As with every other sort of dancing, there are no-no's and biting definitely falls under that catagory.

Mosh is good.

[valley_parade]

It was probably my fault, though. My friend had dragged me to see Family Force Five, and I got so bored that I decided moshing would alleviate things.

[KharBevNor]

That's not hardcore dancing, or rather it's just one very particular type of hardcore dancing. Kickboxing (although I thought the term KDS, or karate dance style, was funnier myself) used to only be done at tough guy shows back in the day. Not a good thing even then, but if you were going to see a band like Knuckledust you really should know what to expect. But then people started doing it at more and more gigs, finally spreading out of the hardcore scene with all these myspace metal bands. I haven't seen it in ages though, I don't go to metal gigs much and nobody does it at proper hardcore or metal gigs round here.

Notice the inverted commas round hardcore dancing, and the talk of the South. Awful myspace kids are like a fucking rash over Hampshire, Dorset and the Isle of Wight. It pretty much goes away once you get north of London. Your based in Leeds, right? I imagine it's a lot better up your way. I've been out a few times in Birmingham, and the difference in quality is ridiculous. It's a shame, because we have some good venues, good people and good bands down here, they're just swamped.

[PECOAE]

I only do it when the music is loud and fast, and it's usually in good fun - I don't know that I'd do it at a show of a professional band or anything, I just do it at shows of my friends' bands. 

And wow, Sick Of It All is mad good, I hadn't heard much really good hardcore but that video was awesome...

[a pack of wolves]

Notice the inverted commas round hardcore dancing, and the talk of the South. Awful myspace kids are like a fucking rash over Hampshire, Dorset and the Isle of Wight. It pretty much goes away once you get north of London. Your based in Leeds, right? I imagine it's a lot better up your way. I've been out a few times in Birmingham, and the difference in quality is ridiculous. It's a shame, because we have some good venues, good people and good bands down here, they're just swamped.

Yeah, I just didn't want anyone to think that kind of nonsense was what went on at all hardcore gigs.

Sadly we're overrun with them here too, this is the home of 30 Days of Night records after all. Happily there are so many of them that they can have their own scene for the most part, so unless you go to see bands like Waking The Cadaver, Bring Me The Horizon, Clone The Fragile or something you don't have to deal with the macho nonsense. You don't see them when bands like Nile play and since that's the kind of death metal I'm fussed about that's fine by me. It's a shame you're overrun with the morons down there, nothing worse than an unfriendly gig.

[rb_lestr]

THROW DOWN

[RachelEvil]

I've become too old for moshing.

[mediumrare]

The chaps in that top .gif look like a really awesome unit from a new RTS.

Umm yeah. Moshing. I like it a lot when it's that sort of formless energetic lunacy of people mutually agreeing to thrash about in each others' faces. It is cathartic and unbound by rules, and it just makes sense in the most primal of ways. However, this "hardcore dancing" doo-dah has my mind perplexed. It seems utterly contrived to me, and I don't see how it connects to the music or the natural movement of a gig. Then again, I have only ever come across it in recent years, as it has become a fad, so maybe I am not getting the real deal.

[Jace]

I like the ol two step if the band is right, and maybe getting in on the old pushing around moshing where if someone falls you pick them up. What I don't get is jackasses at ska shows that start a moshpit instead of the skankpit. That is what I don't get.

[kablaaamo]

People who mosh when they shouldn't are assholes. People that don't know how to mosh and think that punching people counts are assholes. People that get confused by the idea of a pit, wander in, and then bitch about the experience are assholes.

If those three classes of people didn't exist I would be 100% pro-moshing.

And I am a polite, teeny tiny little lady. I get knocked around a bit too much in a pit proper but I like to be right at the edge; you can push people off and keep things going without getting destroyed yourself.

[Tom]

Am I coming across as the latter group?

[ALoveSupreme]

I was regrettably at a Tilly and the Wall show once, and during the closing song, some younger kids started moshing.  It was probably the most embarrassing and unexpected thing that has ever occured to me in my entire life.  I mean, I'm talking full on push mosh with kids falling down and shit. 

I still think hardcore dancing is fun, though I wish I had gotten more in when I first got into metalcore/hardcore.  There weren't as many people in pits for the bands I liked.  Now it's way too many and I'm a little too timid of getting smacked.  Though, as is my experience, kids are really polite about everything. 

[a pack of wolves]

I wish I'd done it more back in the day too. There's just not so many bands playing the kind of hardcore I like round my way, and those that are generally don't have enough fans to dance to them.

[Thrillho]

When the crowd around you is staring at you instead of the band...you're an idiot.

[october1983]

Moshing I'm happy with, even if I don't do it much myself. Being too drunk to stand up while dancing and crashing into my back every five seconds, though, annoys me.

[Jackie Blue]

Even when I was seeing my first shows 14 years ago, I didn't really "get" moshing.

No band I have seen since like 1996 has had fans who mosh.  I mean, it's hard to mosh to Mogwai or Spiritualized.

So it doesn't really affect me anymore.

Still, I'm amazed it continues to happen.

[TheFuriousWombat]

I saw Man Man at the Starlight Ballroom in Philly (where they're from). Their music is pretty crazy and I guess that fueled the hometown frenzy b/c the crowd moshed the entire  time. I had to cling to my then-gf, who happens to be very tiny, so she wouldn't be swept under the sea of sweaty, frenzied moshers. Not only was it really uneccessary b/c it didn't suit the music, but it made the music much harder to pay attention to and enjoy. Since Man Man has such killer stage presence and put on such a great performance visually as well as aurally (part of the fun of seeing them live is actually watching them) and this moshing made it impossible to really watch, I quickly got pissed off. It should have been one of the most enjoyable shows I've been to but I barely recall the music. That being said, I've been to more hardcore shows where the crowd moshed and it was great. Basically moshing has a time and a place and when people do it at obviously the wrong time and/or place it annoys me to no end.

[KharBevNor]

You don't see them when bands like Nile play and since that's the kind of death metal I'm fussed about that's fine by me. It's a shame you're overrun with the morons down there, nothing worse than an unfriendly gig.

Yeah. I doubt Nile could fill any venue in Bournemouth, Portsmouth or Southampton big enough to make it worth them coming here, which is the real problem. If we get a foreign metal band down here, it's more likely to be Soilwork or The Haunted. Once you combine the dearth of bands that I like, plus the proponderance of utter fucking blowjobs, you'll get why Wacken has been the only gig I've been to this year. And it's a shame. I really, really enjoy gigs. But not if I spend the two support acts as the only guy headbanging, then during the headliner some fucking idiots actually try and single me out and beat me up in the moshpit for headbanging. This happened to me when I saw Crowbar last year.

Last time I moshed was in fact at Wacken, to Sabbat. But that was utterly awesome, because it was in Germany, and they still know how to be metal over there.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laSzQrGfpB0

\m/

[Liam]

Most of the moshing that occurs at shows I go to is just a result of people dancing at close proximity. It can be extremely fun, especially when someone gets under you right at the height of an upward motion and you end up on top of the crowd. You may get bruised and you may fall down, but it's not dangerous, and everyone comes out smiling because no one in the pit is being a dick.

At some shows though, the moshpit is actually a pit of karate windmills in skinny jeans. Dudes and ladies get kicked in the face, punched in the throat, and stabbed by sharp hairstyles. It is not fun, because everyone is being a dick, especially the people who push you into the pit.

[kablaaamo]

Am I coming across as the latter group?

Mmmm, not really. You can fail to grasp the point of moshing and that's cool, as long as you keep out of harm's way. I'm referring more to the people who are like 'oh what's this, people slamming into each other, I'm going to mosey on in and OW YOU HIT ME YOU ASSHOLE WAH WAH WAH'.

[Drill King]

I wouldn't consider most mosh pits to be dancing, it's really just a bar fight to music when you get down to it.

Head banging, thrashing, going nuts to hardcore and the like? I approve.

[Tom]

Am I coming across as the latter group?

Mmmm, not really. You can fail to grasp the point of moshing and that's cool, as long as you keep out of harm's way. I'm referring more to the people who are like 'oh what's this, people slamming into each other, I'm going to mosey on in and OW YOU HIT ME YOU ASSHOLE WAH WAH WAH'.

Oh God! that'd be some funny shit to watch.

[mfpole]

I'm somewhere in here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zibjpTWEF8

Moshing can be fun! Or it can suck.

[pistachio_love]

Ah yes. Moshing. The method of dance that requires litte (to no) skill or coordination.

In my experience, it generally ends badly for the flimsy little girls that insist on being right in the dead (pardon the irony) centre of a mosh pit; they usually end up being trampled/stomped/crushed, then end up being whisked off to hospital wrapped in foil to keep them from dying of shock-induced hypothermia. But hey, it makes for a (and I quote), "wikkid myspace story!"... *shakes head with distaste*

Call me boring, but I'd much rather see live bands in open spaces, e.g. The Whitlams concert - there were awesome vintage (70s) couches for dancing a-top! ^^

Muchos funs.

[Ballard]

Outdoor shows can be fantastic or shit.

The LCD Soundsystem/Arcade Fire/Blonde Redhead/Les Savy Fav show was outside at Randall's Island. It was fucking epic. Les Savy Fav went first while it was light out and rocked the fuck out. Blonde Redhead played at dusk and their weird lighting effects mixed with the sunset were gorgeous. LCD Soundsystem played just as it got dark, and the disco ball and lights played on the night sky, leaving me mesmerized for an hour and a half. And the Arcade Fire slayed, in the pitch black night with loads of screens and weird effects.

On the other hand, Television outside was boring as hell. It's nice that I got to see them live (not many people from my generation have) but that show was like a sleepy, extended jam on the grass in the sunlight. Bad environment for that band.

[Chad K.]

In my teens and early twenties I played in a metal band.  I started out liking moshing and saw it as a way to appreciate the band's music, but we were continually stopping shows to deal with somebody who was hurt badly- broken noses, split foreheads, nasty stuff.  The more metal and hardcore shows I went to the more I realized that, for a large number of people, the band is almost tangential to the experience and they are just there to hurt somebody. 

I started playing with an indie-rock band in my mid-20's.  At first, it was hard getting used to an audience staring at us, but I really came to enjoy it because I knew they were listening and all that hard work meant something.  Now I play in a jazz/rock thing and I get dissapointed if people aren't paying attention.

I think that's the ultimate difference, moshing tends to negate the music in favor of a semi-controlled riot, which is something I have no desire to be a part of.  I go to shows to see bands.

[a pack of wolves]

All of these examples of moshing being a negative thing seem to stem from chumps who have no idea how to act in the pit. I've been going to hardcore gigs for years and I've never seen a broken bone or anyone getting taken to hospital. Bust lips, bruises and scrapes sure but nothing nasty. Moshing has never negated the music for me and it's nothing like a semi-controlled riot. It's dancing.

[Chad K.]

Moshing has never negated the music for me and it's nothing like a semi-controlled riot. It's dancing.

I suppose the Karate Kid stuff and older "Picking Up Change" stuff might be dancing.  That wasn't really coming into vogue in the area of the midwest I grew up in until after I was starting to get out of hardcore music.  It was more just flailing arms back and forth and colliding with people, which can get scary.

With regard to the Karate style moves, I personally think its distracting.  But then again, people go to see swing, ska and jazz bands to dance, not to gawk at the musicians, so maybe it has its place at a show as a valid of form of appreciating the music.  It just never did anything for me.  That said, your point is well taken.

[Spinless]

Moshing is supposed to be about catharsis, respect and love, or at least, that's always been my understanding. Unfortunately, the occasional violence to casual spectators resulted in the attraction of mindless, violent individuals who think it's just about being violent because you love the music or something, I don't know. Whatever, stupid people use it as an excuse to be as rough as possible without any consideration at all for the other people involved.

Any time I've been in a moshpit, I've actually encouraged just as much kissing as punching in the face. While people at first are taken by surprise, eventually they catch on and they usually end up hugging each other as much as they karate chop each other in the neck.
Try it, then take a few steps back and admire what you've created. Watching a heavy band playing and screaming while the former moshpit has turned into a big puddle of love is immensely satisfying.

Am I doing it wrong you guys?

[a pack of wolves]

Guyana Punch Line used to always try and get people to have naked pits or fuck pits at their gigs. So yes, you're totally doing it right. If I was ever to look up in a chug part and see the crowd getting all smoochy I'd be very chuffed.

I suppose the Karate Kid stuff and older "Picking Up Change" stuff might be dancing.  That wasn't really coming into vogue in the area of the midwest I grew up in until after I was starting to get out of hardcore music.  It was more just flailing arms back and forth and colliding with people, which can get scary.

With regard to the Karate style moves, I personally think its distracting.  But then again, people go to see swing, ska and jazz bands to dance, not to gawk at the musicians, so maybe it has its place at a show as a valid of form of appreciating the music.  It just never did anything for me.  That said, your point is well taken.

Kickboxing at gigs is a load of nonsense really, it's a load of macho crap but thankfully the people who do it usually only go to see terrible bands 'round where I live anyway so I can avoid them. There's nothing really wrong with flailing about though so long as you do it right which is perfectly possible. Sadly, since moshing can look violent over the years it has attracted people who don't get how to slam dance properly into doing it and hurting people. But done right it really is fun.

[supersheep]

I don't think I've ever been in a pit where people's predominant concern in moshing hasn't been for the people around them, with the exception of a few jerks. The sight of a fifteen-stone topless metaller with enough metal in their face to make a saucepan hauling a fifteen-year old girl back to her feet as a number of idiots try and knock him over was priceless.

[LifeCausesCancer]

I'm a huge fan of punk music so I've always been pretty gung-ho about moshing. Especially around the RI scene where it's such a small place that everyone knows everyone else so nobody gets seriously hurt. And seeing as we a so close knit, the jerks who think hurting people is cool get kicked out fast.

[Leinad]

I've been in very few mosh-pits where it wasn't all about having loads of fun. I live in Nor-Cal so mostly we have the whole hardcore two-step,which I find mildly annoying, but then we get some good metal and metalcore and have real pits. I think the best are circle pits, cause there is nothing more fun than turning around and knocking some guy flat on his back, and watching the whole pit degenerate right in front of you.

As to detracting from the music, I find that completely false. All the pits I go in just have people walking around during the slow parts, and then when it hits a breakdown, we mosh. Rather fun, and if a chick gets knocked down and you don't pick her up, your chances of getting nookie that night are VERY low.