Moshing Vs. Dancing - The eternal struggle

[FarBeyondMetal]

Well you guys can all take turns one by one at calling me a faggot, because I'll be the first to admit that I am a fan of a few metal-core acts. My favorite of them all being unearth. So I just got back from one of their shows and the tension in the pit made it difficult to enjoy by neither dancer nor mosher. The problem is when the "hardcore" parts come everybody starts doing their dancing, and all the moshers get in there and push them around because we dont want this in our pit and thus all the dancers get butthurt that you ruined their dance and try to pick fights. Then when the "metal" parts come the circle pits ensue and the dancers get bumrushed by everybody. One of them was so frustrated that I pushed him a circle pit that he grabbed me by the neck and unsuccessfully tried to throw me me to the floor.... hes lucky i dont have ethics adjacent to his because i just let this go. From my perspective (a mosher) I feel that moshpits have a certain code of ethics and nobody should really be out to actually hurt somebody else. On the other hand these so called dancers have no concept of ethics inside of a moshpit and couldnt care less if one of their elbows knocks somebody in the head and knocks them out, which I've seen countless times. I am of the personal opinion that these "dancers" are faggots of the highest caliber and should walk off a cliff but i wanted to hear your guys opinion also. Do you think there should be some sort of harmony in the pits of bands such as unearth where people can dance or mosh in peace or do you think there should only be moshing and anyone who tries to dance is promptly curb stomped? I'm assuming noone in here is actually a hardcore dancer but if any of you are and I offended you.... good!

 

[PhilR]

I'm of the opinion that as far as moshpits are concerned

1: If they're not in it, then leave them out of it.
2: If I catch you doing that ninja-kicking bullshit that scene kids call "self expression" these days then you're fair game for a pint glass in the face.

 

[hoehlentroll]

there are people who dance to metal? oh my god the scene is totally fucked up. if I ever see someone dancing on our concerts I would certainly beat the shit out of him.

 

[GeertSamuel]

I still know that it happened at one of our concerts, a guy started with that dancing bullshit.
So our singer just threw a bottle of water straight on his head.. didn't see the guy dancing anymore and there was space again for a moshpit .

 

[elmuchoescadawg]

I think you should all get a chair each and sit and appreciate the music... Harcore dancing is gay but circle pits are basically pissed blokes skipping.. Its all gay.. be a true individual.. get a chair..

I really dont see what unearth, hatebreed and spacky dancing has to do with hardcore...

 

[Jarkko Mattheiszen]

Well, IMHO when you get into a pit, you sign an imaginational agreement that you might get hurt. Of course it should never be anyone's intention to hurt others when in a pit, but let's face it, when a group of people are running around, pushing each other etc., to aggressive music, it's easy to get a fist in your face or otherwise find a part of your body in the way of another.

That being said, happy moshpiting and take care of yourselves and others!

 

[Nebulous]

Harcore dancing is gay but circle pits are basically pissed blokes skipping.. Its all gay.

Haha! Yes!

I never quite got the whole "pit" thing. I do like my "stand and thrash" at gigs, and even interacting with others, but the whole violence aspect of gigs hasn't ever enticed me.

 

[hoehlentroll]

what happened to the good old headbanging?

 

[Kazrog]

I think pits are beyond stupid. No matter what people are doing. Debating about moshing vs. "dancing" is like debating about BREEEE vocal techniques - either way you're a fucking idiot.

One of the things I like about nerdy bands like Opeth is the lack of moshing. An ex-drummer of Backmask once criticized me for writing "nerd metal" but now I wear the term proudly.

I've never incited pits at our shows, although it has happened a few times (whatever people want to do really, stoked that they were into our music at least.)

 

[Aaron Smith]

One of the things I like about nerdy bands like Opeth is the lack of moshing

I like this as well, but what irritates me at Opeth shows is that during the beautiful soft parts, it seems like the majority of the people in the room are yelling and cheering for no reason...

"Shut up, I want to hear the song!"

 

[Kazrog]

I like this as well, but what irritates me at Opeth shows is that during the beautiful soft parts, it seems like the majority of the people in the room are yelling and cheering for no reason...

"Shut up, I want to hear the song!"

Totally man... or the people who sing along to the guitar parts... out of tune/time... uke:

It's no wonder I've become a hermit and go to fewer shows. With the quality of Andy's DVD mixes it's nice to get to experience this stuff on a great system, with good balances, without the irritating people. I guess I'm not a very good metalhead anymore.

 

[kaomao]

... what kind of questions...
"harmony in the pits" bah I don't get both of them.
There's even people that grab you from outside of the circle pit to throw you in the pit even if you're making your own business, usually that people get punched in the face and blood is spilled everywhere, ha well done.

 

[The Unavoidable]

Totally man... or the people who sing along to the guitar parts... out of tune/time... uke:

It's no wonder I've become a hermit and go to fewer shows. With the quality of Andy's DVD mixes it's nice to get to experience this stuff on a great system, with good balances, without the irritating people. I guess I'm not a very good metalhead anymore.

I feel exactly the same way, I go to shows to enjoy the music and to headbang for the heavy parts but that's it. Ideally, I want to be able to hold a beer in one hand through the entire set!

 

[LSD-Studio]

damn, even thinking about "problems" like that seems kinda gay to me

 

[Trep]

I love nothing more than standing and watching the guys who i went to go see play some awesome music and do it well. I like perving on the gear they are using, how tight they play, their playing technique and paying attention to the production side of the Gig. Call me Boring but that Excites me over running into a group of sweating drunk men, often often shirtless and getting pushed over and trampled on.

to watch these bands- isnt that why we bought the ticket in the first place?

If i wanna mosh ill get a group of my friends, a carpark, and a big ass PA and a few cases of beer........ Its cheaper that way

eh but im boring, id probly just rather be playing around with protools anyway. jks

 

[SocialNumb]

Yup gay. Both. Ideal concert= Me, Friend, Beer, & band of choice. Not good for the band but hey.....

 

[Deadstar]

I feel exactly the same way, I go to shows to enjoy the music and to headbang for the heavy parts but that's it. Ideally, I want to be able to hold a beer in one hand through the entire set!

+1

 

[grywolf627]

I like this as well, but what irritates me at Opeth shows is that during the beautiful soft parts, it seems like the majority of the people in the room are yelling and cheering for no reason...

"Shut up, I want to hear the song!"

Totally man... or the people who sing along to the guitar parts... out of tune/time... uke:

It's no wonder I've become a hermit and go to fewer shows. With the quality of Andy's DVD mixes it's nice to get to experience this stuff on a great system, with good balances, without the irritating people. I guess I'm not a very good metalhead anymore.

I feel exactly the same way, I go to shows to enjoy the music and to headbang for the heavy parts but that's it. Ideally, I want to be able to hold a beer in one hand through the entire set!

I love nothing more than standing and watching the guys who i went to go see play some awesome music and do it well. I like perving on the gear they are using, how tight they play, their playing technique and paying attention to the production side of the Gig. Call me Boring but that Excites me over running into a group of sweating drunk men, often often shirtless and getting pushed over and trampled on.

to watch these bands- isnt that why we bought the ticket in the first place?

If i wanna mosh ill get a group of my friends, a carpark, and a big ass PA and a few cases of beer........ Its cheaper that way

eh but im boring, id probly just rather be playing around with protools anyway. jks

I couldn't agree more! I rarely go to shows anymore and this is exactly why. That, and shitty sound engineers (from the local scene) that think louder automatically means better.:zombie:

 

[Executioner213]

When I went to Summer Slaughter this year (this must be what "hardcore" dancing must be), there were this throng of kids who were like hopping up and down while spinning thier arms backwards in a circle with intermittant kicks thrown inbetween every few arm-circle bursts. It really made me want to punch them all out, but that would have gotten me ejected from the show so I just laughed at them. On the other hand, while I'm fine with people writhing around and bouncing off me and shit, I think any purpose of being in the pit that was supposed to have a meaning in the first place...whatever that may have been...must be lost because there are now too many people who think it's all about going in and punching people. All it makes me want to do is fuckin hit people in the throat for being ignorant. Sure...headbang and shove people around (not down on the ground), but what fuckin point is there to go to a show just to hit people and get hit. It makes about as much sense to me to pay for a show just to go get drunk: why not just enjoy the show and get drunk later?

 

[Exocaster]

One of the things I like about nerdy bands like Opeth is the lack of moshing.

The first time I saw Opeth, there were a bunch of hardcore kids in the audience trying to mosh. I don't think they were familiar with Opeth at all and were caught totally off-guard by the clean parts. They just sorta stood there and looked confused.

I saw them last month, and while there wasn't a mosher to be found, there was some serious headbanging going on to the funk breakdown in The Lotus Eater.