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My Kingdom for a Mosh

Phil

Master Satyr
P
Joined
Jun 5, 2003
Messages
6,508
Thought I'd start my first new topic of 2006. I enjoy posting fresh ideas as often as possible and then watching as they devolve into crass jokes, name calling, and sexual innuendo. Ahh, good times. Good times.

Anyway, I was at a live music show the other night and the house band played a System of a Down song. It was a decent, extra raucus rendition, but what amazed me was that the people in front of the bandstand, all of whom appeared to be between 18 and 25 give or take, started doing the 1980s white boy dance! To System of a Down!!

What the hell?

I like System of a Down, but when I hear their music, I have the urge to turn cars over and burn things.

You know, there was a time --- from the 70s punk movement to the 90s grunge era --- when if you weren't bruised or bleeding after a concert, it wasn't a good show.

I want to see body slamming, bashing skulls, and broken teeth with my rage rock. These kids seemed remarkably angst-free and way too happy. Where are the punks and the angry youth of today?
 
I find that many young gentlemen seem prone to doing some odd sort of blissed-out monkey dance.

Seriously. The arms go into arboreal-swinging position and then they sort of bounce on the balls of their feet. And crush up against one another. Generally doing odd forky gestures with their fingers. Sing along to the music in a monotone.

This makes it difficult for the ladies of their acquaintance to actually get into some sort of 'dancing with a guy' position and they generally congregate on the other side of the dance floor away from the gibbon impersonators and sort of shuffle their feet, sway and glance over in dismay at their former male partners. This continues for most of the night until a particularly tarty song may have one rather brave male attempt a sort of 'lambada' with his suggestible girlfriend, to the general jeers of the crowd until herd instinct (and a sprightly rendition of a crap 80s song, minus the chorus, by a nameless and talentless cover singer to a slighly faster beat) kicks in... and they're back to the baboon-bounce and the shuffle-glare backbeat from the disillusioned babes.

This is action research taken from six or seven separate high school functions from February to November, age range 12 to 17/8 years of age.

The two concerts I attended (Elvis Costello and Rockit, featuring Oasis) also had less of the typical mosh behaviour that I have experienced in the past. And the age range was certainly the over-20s, mostly late 20s up (although the bands were clearly more sedate than your previously mentioned 'System of a Down').

No bruising or bleeding but quite a few drunk guys who just started to deflate slowly into unconciousness before we waved over the attending medics to get their sorry arses out of our mutual friendly grope session of a hundred or more people.

So, I'm thinking that the era of punching and fighting may be well and truly over. Happy appears to be the new ettiquete.

I'm wondering if it may be what ecstacy-parties of the UK Acid House 90s might have been aiming for back in the days. All we really need are a few huge white bunny-suits, a couple of candy pacifiers and a dub-beat and we could easily start a Stone Roses / Inspiral Carpets / Happy Mondays revival without all the illegal drugs.... because these kids are tripping on joy.

Man. What is the world coming too?

:rolleyes:


(edit for a nice comma and a cappuchino)
 
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Maybe the anger skips a decade.

60s = peace and love
70s = punks and metal
80s = drugs and decadence
90s = grunge and angst
00s = happy and cool
 
Phil said:
Maybe the anger skips a decade.

60s = peace and love
70s = punks and metal
80s = drugs and decadence
90s = grunge and angst
00s = happy and cool
Click to expand...

I'd like to get some proposals I can foist onto the generation I am currently corrupting in the classroom. They are, after all, our future.... (....scalped-ticket buyers).

10s = comatose and bilious?
or
10s = charleston and foxtrot?
or maybe
10s = anaphylactic allergy flipping-out?
 
LuxFerum said:
What did you drink in this show?
Click to expand...

Me? Lemonade. I was either chaperoning a social or deftly dodging the intoxicated grope (at Rockit) of the clearly-blind 23 year olds who didn't recognise me as their teacher back in Year 9....
 
LeFevre said:
It was SOAD dude, no disrespect but what do you expect? :p
Click to expand...

Even a wistful retro headbang would have been more appropriate.

Along with a ten minute discussion with fellow patrons about how the chiropractor ****ed up the treatment of the inital neck problems back in the day. :(
 
Kiless said:
Even a wistful retro headbang would have been more appropriate.
Click to expand...

Yeah. I guess the absurd contrast is what really stuck with me.

Although, I have to say, if the white boy dance to SOAD was by design, hats off to those kids for their humor.
 
Phil said:
Yeah. I guess the absurd contrast is what really stuck with me.

Although, I have to say, if the white boy dance to SOAD was by design, hats off to those kids for their humor.
Click to expand...

Heh. I've actually seen The Gay Gordons done to a Prodigy song. Someone hit the wrong switch, the couples all glanced at each other... and went for it with a bright cheery smile....

*Come play my game I’ll test ya! Psychosomatic addict, insane!!* :D
 
Come to Nottingham Rock City with me, you'll get all the SOAD moshing you want, in the smelliest sweatiest cesspool imaginable.

ROCK!
 
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