Tonight We're Going To Give It 35%

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Here's your question and answer of the week from the Punknews Formspring:

Q: Everyone is always like "All Pit, No Shit" but honestly, I like a little bit of shit in the pit. What should I do?

A: Oh, I have to disagree. From a literal standpoint, there is nothing worse than shit in the pit. Have you ever been in a circle pit and some dude just drops trow right there and leaves a deuce on the dance floor? It bring the whole procession to a screaming halt. As much as people don’t mind sore ribs, black eyes, and torn shirts, doodie on the shoes brings the danger of punk to a whole other level that people just don’t want to engage with. GG Allin proves that.

And that brings us to our second issue- metaphorical shit in the pit. Honestly, mosh pits are A LOT of fun. There’s something to be said for jumping up and down, bumping around, and pogoing to loud, fast, wild music. In fact, if you think about, I’d argue that the mosh pit is just the latest incarnation of the tribal dance, which goes back some six thousand years or more- a physical representation of man’s connection to music or perhaps, even more broadly, being alive. It’s great fun and I think does sort of put you in a mental space that you rarely get into in other situations.

But, where mosh pits often go lame are when there is shit in the pit. At more extreme punk/metal shows, and punk shows in general, there are always dudes (yes, it always dudes) that think the mosh pit is some sort of "toughest man" competition where they whip their arms around in a ridiculous gesticulations that sort of look like pimp-slaps, kick their legs out hitting people, slam elbows into people, and worse of all, do that thing where they run full speed into people just minding their own business and watching the show.

You’ll note than whenever a douchebag does that, he never runs into the BIGGEST guy in the place- he always runs into a smaller dude or even a girl… to… prove how tough he is?

I think the reason these boneheads do that is because they actually have very little conflict/violence in their life, so they smash into smaller and unassuming people to make themselves feel tough. If you’ve even been to a non-punk music club where there are ACTUAL bad dudes, those dudes aren’t smashing their elbows into each other’s faces. They’re either spending time with good looking girls or just chilling in the back. Why? Because they have enough violence and don’t need to purposefully court a fight for no reason.

So really, these mosh dudes that run into crowds that aren’t moshing, or smash elbows out into people minding their own business are really just, quite pathetically, crying out, "See! I AM a real man! I AM!"

Listen, if you want to engage in extreme mosh behavior with slapping, and kicking, and what else, I don’t care. Go ahead. But, don’t try to mosh into people that are just trying to have a good time. You’re not macho.

Also, pogo instead. Pogoing rules.

-John G

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