New Wave Karate Moshing…WTF?
December 4, 2008 by Scott
After ten years of not going to any concerts I attended my first one back in March of this year. It was All that Remains and Chimaira co-headlining with Black Tide and Light This city. It was a good show, but this was my first experience seeing the now infamous “Karate Moshers“. After seeing the video below (all 25 seconds of it) and seeing a lot of comments on it at MetalSucks.Net, I thought I would weight my opinion on this new wave of moshing.
So back in 1998 the last show I saw was Slayer, System Of A Down and Clutch. The pit was like any other pit you’ve been in. Just a lot of people dancing madly and slamming into each other. It was a lot of elbows and the occasional accidental hit in the face, fall or stomped foot. Every now and then you would have the bigger dudes that would get in the middle without their shirt on and push people around while doing the “I’m a bad-ass”, arms to the side flexing. There was no danger of getting really hurt and people helped each other out. Kind of like a good circle pit that you might see at some good shows.
Now it’s different because you get the spastic, hemorrhaging, karate moshing jack-offs throwing wild fists and kicks as if they think they are dancing in a “Hardcore” fashion like the days of the old school NYHC scene. They even put their heads down and do a helicopter And Koffman style dance. When you stood at the sides of the pits before you could just kind of push someone back in that might be coming your way. These days if you stand at the edge of a “Pit” you have to worry about some dick-wad hurling a wild fist and catching you in the eye or some half-ass roundhouse kick catching you in the sack. Even if there is all sorts of open space in the middle of the pit, they come your way as if they are trying to hurt someone.
So at 32 I avoid the pit. It’s not what it used to be. Even outside the pit you can be standing there and all of a sudden one of these scene kids will go in to an almost epileptic standing seizure just about anywhere in the floor. It’s no wonder that a lot of clubs don’t like or even allow moshing anymore.
I’m with you. I was knocked unconscious by an errant knee/fist at the New England Metal-Hardcore Festival a few years ago, damn near had my jaw broken.
Violence: the downfall of metal. Oh well, right? At least Nathan Gale had an appropriate soundtrack to his life.
It’s not like we go to a show and get in or near a pit without expecting to maybe get hurt now and then, but these Karate fools are just blatantly stupid and dangerous to others in the pit.
Yeah, it’s a drag, you know? I’m 24 and I stay away from it, because unlike the kids doing that shit, I have a job and other responsibilities that make it impractical for me to go out and get smacked in head like a fuckin idiot. It’s like these people just generally want to hurt people but don’t have good reasons or opportunities so they just take advantage of the situation.
On the Slayer doube-live album “Decade of Aggression”, there’s one part where Tom Araya stops in between songs and says “Those of you out there in the crowd, if you see someone go down, help ‘em out. That’s what we’re here to do: help each other out. Now here’s a little song called WAR ENSEMBLE…” Not any more Tom, not anymore.
I love that part of Decade. In fact I think that’s one of the best Live albums you can find from a metal band. Sometimes it’s almost hard to tell that it’s live.
I hate to sound all old and shit, but you’re spot on. I can’t afford to get hurt even thought I work out of the house. Medical insurance and bills are too high to treat a broken bone or any injury for that matter. When you;re younger you have no regard for getting smacekd int eh face a little or getting a sharp elbow in the ribs in a pit, but now it’s just crazy.
Over the years i’ve noticed that a lot guys do this they just go for whatever moves come up, but there’s few that got pretty good moves, i used to do it at the time they were playing the breakdowns and have bad experiences moshing but a lot of times shows were after work so i was kind of tired, so yeah sucks that you want to watch the show but you gotta be alert all times ’cause next thing you know some idiot already hit you.
Another thing that was mentioned was the crowd surfers that go from back to front. When we were at Hatebreed, how many times did we get kicked in the head from someone doing that. Though it’s tough for them to do it any other way these days.
in the recent years moshpits have turned to such shit i hate those hard-core kids that start throwing there fist around bc there scared to get hit they ruin the pit for everyone
It’s hardcore dancing, deal with it.
No it’s not “Hardcore” dancing. It’s scener kid retardedness.
And BTW, the term “Hardcore” is thrown around way too loosely these days.
That’s what it is called “Hardcore Dancing” it isn’t “Karate Moshing” and you guys just need to deal with the fact that that’s how some kids like to dance or eet out of the pit.
Go watch the Sick Of It All “Step Down” video …that’s hardcore dancing. What you guys do out there is flailing of arms and legs. like you’re the Karate Kid on PCP. Sweep The Leg!!
Things change over time…