December 5, 2002

To mosh or not to mosh
BY DAVID JAKIELO

During my teenage years, mediocre bands that were made famous by exposure on MTV’s Total Request Live have dominated the music industry. The only things worse than this period of bad music are the actions of today’s concertgoers.

The youth of America decided that bad music at concerts could be made better by beating the hell out of each other, and thus, the mosh pit was born.

Dictionary.com defines “moshing” as, “to knock against others intentionally while dancing at a rock concert.” Call me old-fashioned but when I attend a concert, getting the bejesus beaten out of me is not high on my agenda. It seems that there could be more intelligent ways for people to release their anger, rather than on each other.

Many questions arise concerning mosh pits. Besides the obvious question – WHY!? One has to wonder where all this rage is coming from. Are “moshers” people who do not know how to deal with the anxiety of everyday life or do they have deep psychological problems? Is their angst built up from years of getting picked last in gym class? Are mothers not telling their children that they love them often enough?

Additionally, a mosh pit staple is the bodybuilder on steroids who immediately takes his shirt off at the start of every concert. His mentality for the evening is, kill or be killed. After the show, when asked how the music was, he responds, “Someone was playing music?” He is known at the concert as “that guy.” During his childhood, going out in public he had limitations. He was one of those poor kids connected to his parents via a child leash, and that can scar any person for years. The mosh pit is his way to get even with the world. Anyone who has ever been hurt by “that guy” should know not to take it personally, for he is not angry with you, he is angry with his parents.

Perhaps the solution to phasing out the mosh pit is better music by more entertaining performers. This was proven Nov. 22 when Guns N’ Roses played at Mellon Arena. The audience was filled with the older generation of fans (whose GN’R shirts were a little tighter this time around) and newer fans that managed to realize that there is life beyond “The Top 100.” At the start of the show, about 10 kids instantly began “moshing.” Thankfully, Guns N’ Roses fans, new and old, who are smart enough to appreciate great music, gave them looks which implied that giving and receiving swift elbow shots to each others jaws would not add to the overall enjoyment of the evening.

I am not against mosh pits because of the fact that I bruise easily; I am against them because they are stupid. I hope music someday returns to a point where audience members would rather watch the show than take part in mosh pits, crowd surfing or anything else that diverts attention away from the music.

I will never understand why people spend money on a concert ticket when their top priority is not to listen to the music, but to inflict and feel pain. You can do that for free, in the privacy of your own home. Or contact me and I will beat you repeatedly with a baseball bat for a low fee. Act now, and I will wear a Santa hat with every holiday beating.

David Jakielo invites you to read his full review of the Pittsburgh Guns N’ Roses concert, an exclusive to his Web site at www.davidjakielo.com/columns. All feedback can be sent to DavidFJ@aol.com.