Ok, Hendrix lighting his guitar on fire was cool. The Clash and the ‘London Calling’ cover was cool. I would even go as recently as Kurt Cobain slam-dancing with a drum-set as cool. But c’mon…What is cool about smashing your guitar into little pieces these days? :dubious:
“Ooohhh…look at him! He got SOOO carried away with the moment he decided to smash his guitar like an ape on meth!!! Wow, I wish I could be just like him!” :rolleyes:
It’s been done folks! Get over it! Find something else to do on stage besides trash your equipment.
The only time I think that this would be cool again is if the entire London Orchestra all jumped up in their tuxes and gowns after a seriously intense Wagner performance got to them and started smashing their instruments while moshing in the orchestra pit. Now THAT would be worth seeing.
Other than that, quit-it-out lame-boy; your false need to express your emotions through destruction is silly at best.
I agree.
But for someone who’s never been to a concert it might be cool right after the intense chorus to see the guitarist smash his guitar and everyone’s yelling and applauding?
With the Who (who were the first to become famous for it), it was cool because of the “who gives a damn” attitude. It was especially impressive to those in the UK, where salaries at the time were lower than in the US. In a way, it was a committment to their art – they lost money for years because of the equipment costs. Pete Townsend used to have to steal guitars* to keep the act going.
Ultimately it was an enormous crowd pleaser, though the Who didn’t do it every show and only when they felt like it.
Nowadays, of course, it’s “been there, done that” and isn’t the mark of rebellion it once was.
*Technically, he was putting them on account. He’d grab one, shout to the guitar store owner, “I’m taking this one; put it on my tab,” and get out of the store before the owner could say anything like “what tab?” Once the group started making money, he paid everyone back, though.
Jimmy Durante use to do a bit where he played a number on a piano as he dismembered it. Used a fire-axe, I think. That was before any of us were born.
Pete Townshend says the first time for him was when he accidentally ran his guitar into something (wall? ceiling?) and broke it and since it was trashed already he just smashed it. The crowd went wild, so he continued smashing.
So, in answer to the OP, maybe it’s not “cool” but if the crowd likes it, keep doing it. One hopes that there is a limit to this attitude, but the popularity of “reality TV” suggests that there might not be.
I, too, would pay to see a symphony orchestra go wild, but the mental estimate of the instrument replacement cost is staggering. Some of those instruments run $3 million each. Not quite the same as smashing a $250 Strat.
There is some song done by concert bands where the trombonist gets up in the middle, breaks his bone and walks off stage. I don’t remember who wrote the piece though. Maybe it was PDQ Bach. I always wanted to do it since I had an old Bone.
I was just at a Stephen Malkmus (dude from Pavement) concert, and since it was the end of the tour, the drummer went nuts and trashed his drum set at the end of the encore. I’d never seen anything like it before. All of us were just sorta vaguely unsettled. I kept thinking “C’mon! This is indie rock, people! This just isn’t done!”
I thin its dumb as hell. Give it to a poor guy like me, I’d play it and enjoy it so much more than watching these spoiled bastards tear it up…how silly…
Yeah, I love Hendrix and the Who (and the Move), but it’s quite annoying to think of all those vintage Stratocasters and Rickenbackers getting trashed.
Add another vote to “it’s not”. However, if I had to guess why it appeals to certain fans, it probably feeds into the whole “we’re out of control and we just don’t care” image that was, and still is to a degree, part of rock.
The thing is…when the WHO was doing it as a part of their act, it was fresh, shocking and angst-filled. Those who have followed have cheapened themselves by trying to replicate an original statement.
Think of Paul Stanley of Kiss. In the 70’s used to destoy a guitar (a cheap copy I might add) after every show. He did it as schtick not as a statement. The kids ate it up who didn’t know any better.
It goes on and on. Kurt Cobain? Please.
BTW, I think about the same whenever I see a pretentious singer with leather pants (ala Jim Morrison) or a smoking, dischelved, stoned rythym guitar player (ala Keith Richards). It’s easy to replicate but it’s SO watered down that it looks…silly. Do your own thang man!
Yep, the director was telling us about it and told us that the person stands up says something like “The hell with this” breaks their bone and walks off stage. It’s been a long time so I don’t remember who wrote it though. The director could have been BSing us though for all I know.
Thank you Cardinal. I was planning to defend my statement as well. (As if this were an important discussion or something
On this site, they claim a string quartet (2 violins, viola, cello) of Stradivarius instruments to be worth $50 million together.
In The Making of Crouching Tiger… (Bravo), James Schamus says “And of course it helps when you’ve got YoYo Ma sawing away on a 3 million dollar cello.” He might have overstated the case for publicity purposes, but I imagine it’s close.
And, j_kat_251, I would dearly love to see a Grand Jesus Piano, so please let me know if you find one.
I’d love to get back to the OP, but I think everything has been said. “Taking the guitar and smashing it and ramming it into the soft pulsating speaker…” has been my favorite so far.
Anyone remember when Kris of Nirvana tossed his bass up in the air (on an MTV awards show, I think), missed it coming down, and got a big cut on his head? Very rock and roll, I guess, except for the way he did it.
Soooo, the only reason that they are valued at about $50 million is that they’re together. The grouping of them and the common ownership greatly increase the value because of the difficulty of getting a complete set. The owner has added to the value by bringing them together. It so greatly simplifies the process of gathering a complete set that the value goes up a LOT.
Individually, it still would be an extraordinary Strad that would be worth $3 million.
