Instrument destruction
The destruction of musical instruments is a ritual performed by a few pop, rock and other musicians during live performances, particularly at the end of the gig.
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Early years [edit]
In 1956, on the Lawrence Welk Show, a zoot-suited performer billed as "Rockin' Rocky Rockwell" did a mocking rendition of Elvis Presley's hit song "Hound Dog." At the conclusion of the song, he smashed an acoustic guitar to smithereens over his knee.[1] Ira Louvin was famous for smashing mandolins that he deemed out-of-tune.[2]
Jerry Lee Lewis may be the first rock artist to have destroyed his equipment on stage, with several, possibly erroneous, stories of him destroying and burning pianos in the 1950s.[3]
In the mid 1960s, guitarist Pete Townshend of The Who was the first guitar-smashing rock artist. Rolling Stone magazine included his smashing of a Rickenbacker guitar at the Railway Hotel in September 1964[4][5] in their list of the "50 Moments That Changed the History of Rock & Roll".[6] A student of Gustav Metzger, Townshend saw his guitar smashing as a kind of auto-destructive art.
Keith Moon, The Who's drummer, was also known for destroying his drum set. The most spectacular episode of this occurred during The Who's debut on U.S. television on the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour in 1967. Moon overloaded his bass drum with explosive charges which were detonated during the finale of the song, "My Generation." The explosion caused guest Bette Davis to faint, set Pete Townshend's hair on fire and, according to legend, contributed to his later partial deafness and tinnitus. Moon was also injured in the explosion when shrapnel from the cymbals cut his arm.[7] VH1 later placed this event at number ten on their list of the twenty Greatest Rock and Roll Moments on Television.[8]
Jeff Beck, then a member of the Yardbirds, reluctantly destroyed a guitar in the 1966 film Blowup after being told to emulate The Who by director Michelangelo Antonioni.[9] Jimi Hendrix is also famous for destroying his guitars and amps. He famously burned two guitars at three shows, most notably the Monterey Pop Festival.[10]
Paul Stanley of KISS is also noted for destroying his guitars after playing the final song of each tour which is usually Rock and Roll All Nite.
Instrument destruction has also featured in other musical genres. Towards the end of Peter Maxwell Davies's monodrama Eight Songs for a Mad King, first performed in 1969, the vocalist seizes the violin from one of the musicians and smashes it.
Later instrument destruction [edit]
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Ritchie Blackmore of Deep Purple and Rainbow smashed guitars in performance through the seventies.[11]
Paul Simonon of The Clash famously destroyed his bass only once at the side of stage, a photograph of the event becoming the iconic cover to their London Calling album.[12]
Kurt Cobain and members of Nirvana smashed guitars and other equipment at performances throughout the band's career.[13][14]
When on tour, "Weird Al" Yankovic frequently performs an acoustic ballad parody, "You Don't Love Me Anymore", holding a guitar, but never actually playing it. At the song's conclusion, he smashes the guitar, emulating the conclusion to the song's original music video.
Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails was known to destroy both guitars and keyboards during shows, most famously during Woodstock 94.[citation needed]
Matthew Bellamy of Muse has the world record at breaking guitars, destroying 140 during the Absolution Tour. [15]
In 2007, Win Butler of Arcade Fire destroyed an acoustic guitar at the end of a live performance of "Intervention" on Saturday Night Live, after a string had broken during the performance.[16]
In 2012, Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day destroyed his guitar at the end of a live performance of iHeartRadio music festival in Las Vegas as a sign of outburst of not given enough time for his performance. [17]
John Hiatt criticized the practice in the title song of his 1993 hit album Perfectly Good Guitar.
See also [edit]
- Gallagher, a comedian who regularly smashes watermelons on stage as part of his act
- Shock rock
Notes [edit]
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This article uses bare URLs for citations. (December 2011) |
- ^ Rockin' Rocky Rockwell's performance
- ^ Gardner, Lee. City Paper
- ^ About.com
- ^ Rock and Roll: A Social History
- ^ The Marquee Club
- ^ The Moments
- ^ The Who, Smothers Brothers, 1967
- ^ VH1
- ^ Anyway Anyhow Anywhere: The Complete Chronicle of The Who
- ^ Hendrix's burnt guitar for sale
- ^ Parade
- ^ Parade
- ^ The Ax Murders
- ^ Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain's smashed guitar sold for $100,000
- ^ "Matthew Bellamy – MuseWiki: Supermassive wiki for the band Muse". Musewiki.org. Retrieved 2013-02-02.
- ^ A.V. Club Interview of Win Butler
- ^ Gladwell, Amy (2012-09-23). "Newsbeat - Green Day lead singer smashes guitar on stage in Vegas". BBC. Retrieved 2013-02-02.
