The Etiquette of Mosh pits and its Misconceptions

Written by Nadia Rahman and Salsa Mazlan

Edited by Amal Murni

Mosh Pits

“Sweaty. Liberating. Fast paced. A mesh of people all united by one defining factor; their love for the artist and music.”

This is how a mosh pit would be described to anyone who has never seen or experienced the raw and rhythmic phenomenon themselves.

The act of moshing, also known as ‘slam dancing’, is a style of dance where participants push or slam into each other. It is said to originate out of the American hardcore scenes of California and Washington D.C. in the early 1980s. First generation bands like Bad Brains, Black Flag, The Germs and The Circle Jerks set the scene with politically charged lyrics and music that elevated from the usual 170 BPM speed of 77’ punk (a term coined towards the year where Punk music exploded with bands like the Clash, the Sex Pistols and the Ramones pioneering forward on the mainstream airwaves) to that of 300 to 400 BPM.

Black Flag. Source: https://punxinsolidarity.com/tag/mosh-pit/

In the book Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes From the American Indie Underground 1981-1991 by Michael Azerrad, Barney Hoskyns - a british music critic, described the new music as something that was “younger, faster and angrier, full of the pent-up rage of dysfunctional Orange County adolescents who'd had enough of living in a bland Republican paradise," and this reflected within the pits that took place; the pit was a safe space for an individual to let go of their pent up frustrations and enjoy the music and artist that they related to.

However, this new form of punk quickly attracted the attention of the police and soon hardcore shows were routinely being broken up. Instead of playing traditional gigs, bands like Black Flag would play at parties across Orange County. Gregg Ginn, one of the founding members of Black Flag credited their signature short and fast paced songs to the knowledge that their shows would eventually be stopped by the police.

“That's where we really developed the idea of playing as many songs in as little time as possible because it was always almost like clockwork - you could play for twenty minutes before the police would show up. So we knew that we had a certain amount of time: don't make any noise until you start playing and then just go hard and long until they show up.” (Source: Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes From the American Indie Underground 1981-1991, 2001)

The members of the audience at the time were also male dominated; angst filled and unafraid of authority, at least a dozen of Black Flag shows ended up in violent confrontation and eventually started to attract people who were just looking for violence, of which the band did nothing to discourage. Soon, hardcore bands were banned by many clubs in LA and negative media coverage over the genre began to circulate. In January 1981, an editorial in an LA paper was titled “The Black Flag Violence Must Stop”.

Source: here

Misconceptions

Since then, mosh pits have been misconceived as a place that promotes violence and general barbaric behaviour. Whilst it can’t be denied that some mosh pits can get out of hand due to participants who were probably acting too macho for their own good (which is a no-no, most venues will kick them out), it doesn’t mean that ALL mosh pits are violent. In fact, much of the process of forming a mosh pit requires a method, and proper etiquette. There's an unspoken rule within the music community and we'll share you the details as follows.

The Etiquette

According to UNIFY Gathering organiser, Rhett McLaren, the first thing you should do as a beginner mosher is to stand back and observe. How are people moving - in which direction, at what pace? Once you enter the pit, it can go from 0 to 100 real quick.

Every pit is different in its level of intensity, depending on the type of music played at the show and the people participating in that pit. Watch out for the guy who thinks he’s the sh*t, roundhouse-kicking everything and everyone in his immediate area. Be prepared to have your clothes tarnished by the unavoidable sloshing of drinks in the crowd.

Be on the lookout for any signs of distress. Whether you decide to join the pit or not, the general rule is to watch out for each other and to always be ready to assist. Respect the space—of those moshing, those to the sidelines, and of the women.

Regardless of the cramming, the heat, and the chaos - the mosh pit is ultimately for having fun. For many, the music takes over as they partake in the cathartic process of headbanging, pogo-ing, and slam-dancing. Though it may be hard to imagine a pit in a period of no crowds or gatherings, its legacy lives on, as we wait to be able to obtain a semblance of the moshing experience once again.