Mish-mosh.

I've had one of those weekends of spectating. For better or worse, I found myself in one audience or another. On Friday, I saw another helping of Urinetown: the Musical. This time, I saw it for free just by wearing a tie and handing out programs. What a deal! The audience was much weaker this time around which killed most of the show pretty efficiently. Stupid old people. The cast tried their best to keep up the energy but it was weird. Afterwards, Liz and I met Buddy and Lindsay at Geet's Diner to yak it up. We talked mostly about horror movies and how much of an impatient freak our waitress was and then parted ways for the night. I had a patty melt.

I was much more excited for Saturday's show. I was going to meet Justin in Bensalem to see The Faceless, Arsis, and All Shall Perish at a Holiday Inn. I've been to veteran's halls, bars, and basements but I've never been to a hotel for a metal show. I arrived at the hotel and a very nice lady and her daughter were at the door collecting money, stamping hands, and selling water. I later ran into the father and the son who were working the sound board and lights. Not only was I in a hotel watching death metal, but a nice family was putting on the show. I have to wonder if they knew what they were getting into.

Left to Vanish was playing when I arrived and they were in the midst of playing breakdown after breakdown just to watch the kids kick each other. I use the term kids as literally as possible since the majority of the crowd was probably 16-17 years old. And they all brought their girlfriends with them. One of Justin's soon-to-be father friends commented that he felt like an old fart. I told him,
"Hey, I'm a married home-owner. How do you think I feel"
We had a good laugh and then secretly started weeping to ourselves. But at least we were still cool enough to come to these shows, even if we didn't dance. There was plenty of dancing to be had without us, though. Both Left to Vanish and All Shall Perish were metal-core so every song they played sounded like Unearth. These bands don't even bother writing creative songs, they just create a soundtrack for the hardcore dancers. While one part of me felt like dancing it up, the other half was very disillusioned with heavy metal in general.

That's why I was there to see The Faceless. I had heard a couple tracks on their MySpace and was VERY impressed. They didn't submit to the social tendencies of metal/hardcore music. There were no "breakdowns"; there were no "two-steps"; just good schizophranic progressive death metal. They delivered it live too! I don't think I've been that impressed by a metal band in recent years. They only played 4-5 songs which was SUCH a bummer since they had come all the way from California without so much as a CD to hock. I bought a T-shirt just to show my support. I thought I had my only taste of real metal that night until Arsis took the stage. Let me just say that they must eat, sleep, and breathe metal. The lead singer looked like he was 40 and was somehow thrashing, singing, and finger tapping some of the sickest guitar licks I've ever seen all at the same time! Justin commented, "I'd say he was doing all of that without breaking a sweat but, well, look at him." He was pretty nasty. I bought an Arsis T-shirt as well.

All Shall Perish came on and brought the pit with them. There was plenty of kicking and flailing to force the sound guys to hold on to the light fixtures to keep them from toppling. Justin and I stayed for as long as we were interested. But we'd heard it all before and decided to leave early. As we were exiting, I thanked the woman who had admitted us. I figured that she had bitten off more than she could chew and wanted to let her know that her help was appreciated. She replied,
"Your welcome. You know, I think all this moshing is totally inappropriate."
I told her, "Nah. These kids know what to expect. It's fun."
"Tell that to the poor kid who gets sent to the hospital. You'd better hope he has a health plan. Moshing is so inappropriate."

Spoken like a true mother. I chose not to get into the unique social dynamic of hardcore dancing since I was miles from home and I wanted to get there. Justin and I both know that there is rarely ill-will and if someone gets hurt, everyone comes to the rescue. But that wasn't the part of the conversation that bothered me. I don't know if it was because she was a middle-aged woman or not but it sounded funny to hear what I had seen referred to as "moshing".

The following is my definitive summary of moshing:

I've been hearing the term "moshing" ever since I was twelve when a friend of mine went to enjoy the moshpits of an Offspring show at the Sony/Blockbuster East Center (now the Tweeter). My first glimpse of a moshpit was at the 1995 WDRE-fest when 311 took the stage and legions of stoners started kicking up a great big dust cloud on the lawn. I was both fascinated and semi-annoyed that I couldn't see the band through the dirty haze. But what was it that I was not seeing? What is moshing?

If you look up the word "mosh" in most online dictionaries, you'll get something like this:

"To knock against others intentionally while dancing at a rock concert; slam-dance. Perhaps an alteration of mash."

Now to many outsiders, this just about covers what they envision "moshing" to be. I am here to tell you that it doesn't even come close. Slam-dancing is slam-dancing. Only stupid people who have never been to shows go slam-dancing (and crowd-surfing for that matter). Slam-dancing is something you do to House of Pain, not heavy metal. So what is moshing all about?

There are many theories about where the word comes from. The consensus says that it is an English variant of the word "mash" or even "mishmash" (they turned twat to twot after all). There are accounts of this alternate spelling as far back as 1848. However, most early accounts of the slang version suggest that it is American-born. It was the N.Y. Village Voice that first cited the term (as we understand it) in 1983,
"...it is ‘violence within friendship’... Besides, ‘you're so into the music and dancing that you don't think about getting moshed.’"
Not to call them idiots, but are we really to beleive that punk kids and scene-sters are versed in British slang from the mid 19th century? Other theories developed saying that it's a recent mix of several words: mash, squash, smash, and even crush! This seems reasonable as they all seem to describe what goes on in there.
To me, moshing is just shaking things up with running, stomping, and pushing (occasionally punching). Once the spin-kicks and flailing come into play, that's when I consider it "dancing". Moshing doesn't do the art form of hardcore dancing justice.

I'm reminded of the Brazilian art of Capoeira. Capoeira is a martial art that was developed in Brazil by African slaves in the 16th and 17th century. Because they were forbidden to practice martial arts, they would pretend it was a dance and hold circles to practice the various arial kicks and flips that Capoeira employs with energetic and often varied native music. Even today, the tradition of the circle is the most accepted way of learning Capoeira. It helps to have a circle of people to make sure no one is hurt and it also helps everyone learn new moves as a group.

To me, that is the best way of describing hardcore pits. Anytime dancing is about to incur, one brazen youth pushes everyone out of the way to make room to dance safely. Everyone stands poised to catch out of control moves(often in the face)and in so doing, are exposed to new dances. Instead of berimbaus and atabaques and songs of Quilombo there are electric guitars and double-bass pedals to the strains of Sworn Enemy, but I think the dance is similarly spirited.
Compare:

I also think, that while it looks WAY more violent, hardcore dancing is much less harmful (socially) than moshing. The sole purpose of moshing is to shake people around and get the adrenaline flowing. That only breeds belligerence. Plus, it's not that much fun to watch. Dancing, while perhaps presenting more physical danger, does at least inspire others to learn moves. I still can't two-step with out looking completely homosexual so there is much to teach me.


Intructional resources are limited.

Jerry Springer's final thought: I doubt that woman at the door would have come from a Capoeira circle and said, "I think that Capoeira is very inappropriate." I hope she reads this and appreciates that hardcore has many unique dance forms and isn't just "moshing".

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