As summer concert season rolls around, so too does the tradition of moshing.
Moshing dates back to the 1970s rock scene when members of the crowd gathered together to slam, shove and push into one another. There is also the more glamorous aspect of crowd surfing or stage diving where one’s body is pushed around by members of the crowd. A word to the wise: before jumping into a crowd of people, make sure you have some friends who are willing to catch you. Otherwise you will be, as they call it in the moshing world, “a flying Moses.”
In order to get a better understanding of the moshing world, we sought out a moshing expert Joe Ambrose. He wrote “Moshpit: The Violent Wolrd of Mosh Pit Culture,” where he accumulated five years of information about moshing from fans and bands alike.
Ambrose became involved in moshing by accident.
“I was at an open air festival one day and got accidentally sucked into a moshpit. I found it both terrifying and exhilarating. I think that’s how a lot of people end up moshing for the first time; they get kind of sucked in, like into a whirlpool,”he said.
Moshing according to Ambrose, can happen at any type of venue not just at rock concerts. Even now with emo music the moshing tradition has continued.
“Emo is that bit more girl-friendly, and most pits are a male-only preserve where, traditionally, women don’t have such a big role, said Ambrose “So emo tends to give women a chance.”
In recent years, moshing has become a very controversial matter due to moshing related deaths.
In 2001 at the Australian Big Day Out Music Festival a girl was suffocated to death in a mosh pit during a Limp Bizkit performance.
“Moshing is controlled violence., said Ambrose. “It is violence but it should be violence by mutual consent. There is nothing worse than bullying or forcing people to participate in pits when they just don’t want to.”
For everyone who is not into the moshing scene you are missing out on what Ambrose calls a natural high.
“I think you’ve got to do something a bit more involved at a punk rock show or a rap metal night than tapping your feet. You’re the loser if you don’t,” said Ambrose.
Ambrose’s book is “Moshpit: The Violent World of Mosh Pit Culture.” Also check out Ambrose’s new book “Chelsea Hotel Manhattan.”
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