FWIW, I know that The Who repaired, rebuilt, or recycled for parts most of the instruments “destroyed” in their act.
True enough. The book The Who: Maximum R&B has a photo spread on one page that shows Townshend onstage abusing a Telecaster (with a Strat style headstock, so it may already be a combination of two different guitars), and below that are two pictures of him working on the same Tele with a soldering iron.
I think Paul Revere and the Raiders would occassionally destroy instruments and generally destroy part of the stage sets. Basically, it was a way to get word of mouth publicity when they were just starting out. Eventually, the stories would get exaggerrated from one person to the next and it would grow to “they were tipping over cars in the parking lot !!! GREAT - let’s go see them !!!”.
Perhaps the most violent group was the Plasmatics who would chainsaw a guitar in half and for a finale, drive a Cadillac into the stage.
Since Paul Revere and the Raiders destroyed instruments in the 1960’s and even the Plasmatics (a relatively ‘recent’ group) did that twenty years ago, it is time to think up something new.
Smashing instruments is definately a sad-ass thing to do. I feel embarrassed for people who do that thesedays, they’ve got no idea what an idiot they look like.
I suppose it was seen as kind of cool in the 60’s but dumb now…a bit like being in a bad and having a heroin habit. ZZzzzz
Jimi did it as a genuine sacrifice. The Who did it by accident at first, then it became part of their extraordinary blend of music and performance. The others are fools, and the instruments they played on are unworthy.
Bah. It was merely an attention-getting gimmick. How seriously can you take it as a “sacrifice” after watching the Monterey video and noticing that Hendrix pulls a switcheroo, and that the Strat he burns is not the same one he’s been playing all through the rest of the show?
John Hiatt had something to say about this in “Perfectly good guitar.”
That’s what I was thinking. Flames, explosions, smashing things, hitting your head with the microphone until it bleeds (saw that at a Rammstein concert). It’s all good in my book, although it has to go with the music.
Funny story…
I remember watching some no talent second stage act get into the instrument smash thing a few years back at a club one night.
The thing that set this one apart was the ineptness of some of them, specifically the drummer. This wiry skinehead was bashing about his drum and I guess he thought he could go “Animal” and pound his melon through his snare drum while the others destroyed their instruments.
I saw him rear back and slam his head into it. Somehow the snare drum skin handled it with a thunderous BOING! The guy was a little too forceful as it bounced his casaba straight back and carried him head over heels over his stool. He got up and staggered off stage.
It was too funny to be purposeful. The highlight of their entire set too