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Instrument destruction

January 11, 2023

The destruction of musical instruments is an act performed by a few pop, rock and other musicians during live performances, particularly at the end of the gig.

Early years

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 over his knee.[1] US country musician Ira Louvin was famous for smashing mandolins that he deemed out-of-tune.[2]

 
A broken guitar.

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] Several contemporary musicians, including Annea Lockwood, Yōsuke Yamashita, and Diego Stocco, have incorporated piano burning in their compositions.

Jazz musician Charles Mingus, known for his fiery temper, reportedly smashed his $20,000 bass onstage in response to audience hecklers at New York's Five Spot.[4]

Nam June Paik's "One for Violin Solo", performed on 16 June 1962, featured Paik very slowly and intently lifting a violin, then smashing it with one blow on a table.

In London, 1966, a group of artists from around the world came together to participate in the first Destruction in Art Symposium (DIAS). According to the event's press release, the principal objective of DIAS was "to focus attention on the element of destruction in Happenings and other art forms, and to relate this destruction in society." Two events were scheduled to occur throughout London. During the course of the symposium, Raphael Montañez Ortiz performed a series of seven public destruction events, including his piano destruction concerts, which were filmed by both American Broadcasting Company and the BBC. Two years later, New York City hosted the second Destruction in Art Symposium at Judson Church in Greenwich Village. The artists who gathered around this art movement and its development were opposed to the senseless destruction of human life and landscapes engendered by the Vietnam war.

During the Festival of Misfits in 1962, Fluxus-artist Robin Page performed his event named "Guitar Piece". Page threw his guitar off stage and kicked it out of the ICA’s front door and down Dover Street until it broke totally apart. This piece of performance art inspired guitarist Pete Townshend of the Who, who was the first guitar-smashing rock artist.[5] Rolling Stone Magazine included his smashing of a Rickenbacker guitar at the Railway Tavern in Harrow and Wealdstone in September 1964[6][7] in their list of "50 Moments That Changed Rock & Roll".[8] A student of Gustav Metzger, Townshend saw his guitar smashing as a kind of auto-destructive art.

Keith Moon, the Who's drummer and Townshend's bandmate, was also known for destroying his drum set. The most famous 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.[9] VH1 later placed this event at number ten on their list of the twenty Greatest Rock and Roll Moments on Television.[10]

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.[11] Jimi Hendrix was also known for destroying his guitars and amps. He famously burned two guitars at three shows, most notably the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival.[12] In an effort to out-do the Who's destruction of their instruments earlier at the same event, Hendrix poured lighter fluid over his guitar and set it on fire, even though "I'd just finished painting it that day" as he would later remark.[13] In 2004, Rolling Stone Magazine included this in their list of "50 Moments That Changed Rock & Roll" alongside Townshend's first guitar smashing in 1964.[13]

Instrument destruction has also featured in other musical genres than pop and rock music. 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 examples

In 1968, a piano was dropped from a helicopter near Seattle, Washington to publicize an outdoor concert. In 2019, the piano was exhumed by Jack Straw Cultural Center and displayed in a gallery. Several local composers and musicians performed on the recovered instrument.[14]

Ritchie Blackmore of Deep Purple and Rainbow smashed guitars in performance throughout the 1970s.[15]

Paul Simonon of the Clash famously destroyed his Fender Precision Bass only once at the side of the stage, out of frustration over the bouncers at the show not allowing the audience to stand up from their seats. A photograph taken by Pennie Smith of the event became the iconic cover to their London Calling album.[16]

In 1991, country artist Garth Brooks and then-band-member Ty England smashed their acoustic guitars at the end of "Friends In Low Places" at the Reunion Arena in Dallas, Texas.[17]

Kurt Cobain and the members of Nirvana also smashed guitars and other equipment at performances throughout the band's career, ranging from the late 1980s through the early 1990s.[18][19] Cobain's wife, Courtney Love, the frontwoman of Hole, also sometimes destroyed her guitars onstage,[20] as well as smashing microphones,[21] pushing over amplifier stacks, and dismantling drum kits.[22]

Nine Inch Nails were famous for destroying any instruments, and also sound equipment, that failed on stage, with their 1991 Lollapalooza tour having ten guitars smashed every concert,[23] as well as Trent Reznor either throwing Yamaha DX7 keyboards or using his boot to remove its keys.[24] A guitar technician on their Self Destruct Tour estimated 137 Gibson Les Pauls were wrecked during those concerts.[25]

Matthew Bellamy of Muse has the Guinness world record at breaking the most guitars in one tour, with 140.[26]

In the famous toga party scene in the movie National Lampoon's Animal House, John Belushi's character Bluto comes across a folk singer (portrayed by singer-songwriter Stephen Bishop, who is credited as "Charming Guy With Guitar") performing "The Riddle Song" for a group of college girls. Bluto abruptly takes the singer's acoustic guitar out of his hands and smashes it against the wall, then hands a splintered piece of it back, simply saying "Sorry."

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.[27]

In 2012, Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong destroyed his guitar and Mike Dirnt destroyed his bass at the end of a live performance of iHeartRadio music festival in Las Vegas out of frustration at not being given enough time for his performance.[28]

In 2021, Phoebe Bridgers smashed her Danelectro guitar against a stage wedge during her live performance of "I Know The End" on Saturday Night Live.[29]

See also

References

  1. ^ Rockwell, Rockin' Rocky (1956). "Hound Dog". The Lawrence Welk Show.[dead YouTube link]
  2. ^ Gardner, Lee (2012-02-01). . Baltimore City Paper. Archived from the original on 2012-02-14.
  3. ^ Fontenot, Robert. "Did Jerry Lee Lewis really set his pianos on fire onstage?". About.com.
  4. ^ Wynn, Ron (1994), "Jazz Venues", in Ron Wynn (ed.), All Music Guide to Jazz, M. Erlewine, V. Bogdanov, San Francisco: Miller Freeman, p. 717, ISBN 0-87930-308-5
  5. ^ Kraushaar W. (2014) Guitar Smashing: Gustav Metzger, the Idea of Auto-destructive Works of Art, and Its Influence on Rock Music. In: Brown T.S., Lison A. (eds) The Global Sixties in Sound and Vision. Palgrave Macmillan, New York.
  6. ^ Friedlander, Paul (1996). . Rock and Roll: A Social History. Westview Press. Archived from the original on 2011-09-27.
  7. ^ . The Marquee Club. Archived from the original on 2007-10-02.
  8. ^ "50 Moments That Changed Rock and Roll: Townshend Smashes It Up". Rolling Stone. 2004-06-24.
  9. ^ . Ready, Steady, Go!. Archived from the original on 2009-01-06.
  10. ^ VH1
  11. ^ Neill, Andy; Kent, Matt (2005). Anyway Anyhow Anywhere: The Complete Chronicle of the Who 1958-1978. Sterling Publishing. p. 66. ISBN 9781402728389.
  12. ^ "Hendrix's burnt guitar for sale". BBC News. 2007-08-25.
  13. ^ a b "50 Moments That Changed Rock and Roll: Otis and Jimi Burn it Up". Rolling Stone. 2004-06-24.
  14. ^ Schell, Michael (March 8, 2019). "Piano Drop at Jack Straw". Sequenza21.
  15. ^ "Gallery of Guitar Destruction". Parade. 2007. p. 4.
  16. ^ "Gallery of Guitar Destruction". Parade. 2007. p. 6.
  17. ^ Scapelliti, Christopher. "Guitar Smashers: The 11 Deadliest Ax Wielders of All Time". Guitar World. Future Publishing Limited Quay House, The Ambury, Bath BA1 1UA. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
  18. ^ Marin, Rick (1993-10-31). "The Ax Murders". The New York Times.
  19. ^ "Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain's smashed guitar sold for $100,000". NME. 2008-12-26.
  20. ^ Cromelin, Richard (December 19, 1991). "POP MUSIC REVIEW : Pumpkins, Hole Unleash Frustrations". Los Angeles Times. from the original on November 8, 2012. Retrieved September 15, 2011.
  21. ^ Kot, Greg (October 23, 1994). "Cobain was here". Chicago Tribune. p. 75 – via Newspapers.com.
  22. ^ "Courtney loves a rumble, Amsterdam club finds out". The Orlando Sentinel. April 25, 1995. p. 2 – via Newspapers.com.
  23. ^ And A Bang Of The Gear , NME
  24. ^ Nine Inch Nails synths
  25. ^ Nine Inch Nails Went Through Nearly 140 Gibson Les Paul’s On ‘The Downward Spiral’ Tour
  26. ^ . Archived from the original on September 27, 2013.
  27. ^ Modell, Josh (2007-03-14). . The A.V. Club. Archived from the original on 2008-06-19.
  28. ^ Gladwell, Amy (2012-09-23). "Newsbeat – Green Day lead singer smashes guitar on stage in Vegas". BBC. Retrieved 2013-02-02.
  29. ^ Fitzmaurice, Larry (February 7, 2021). "Phoebe Bridgers Talked About Smashing Her Guitar On "SNL"". BuzzFeed. Retrieved February 7, 2021.

January 11, 2023
instrument, destruction, destruction, musical, instruments, performed, rock, other, musicians, during, live, performances, particularly, contents, early, years, later, examples, also, referencesearly, years, editin, 1956, lawrence, welk, show, zoot, suited, pe. The destruction of musical instruments is an act performed by a few pop rock and other musicians during live performances particularly at the end of the gig Contents 1 Early years 2 Later examples 3 See also 4 ReferencesEarly years EditIn 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 over his knee 1 US country musician Ira Louvin was famous for smashing mandolins that he deemed out of tune 2 A broken guitar 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 Several contemporary musicians including Annea Lockwood Yōsuke Yamashita and Diego Stocco have incorporated piano burning in their compositions Jazz musician Charles Mingus known for his fiery temper reportedly smashed his 20 000 bass onstage in response to audience hecklers at New York s Five Spot 4 Nam June Paik s One for Violin Solo performed on 16 June 1962 featured Paik very slowly and intently lifting a violin then smashing it with one blow on a table In London 1966 a group of artists from around the world came together to participate in the first Destruction in Art Symposium DIAS According to the event s press release the principal objective of DIAS was to focus attention on the element of destruction in Happenings and other art forms and to relate this destruction in society Two events were scheduled to occur throughout London During the course of the symposium Raphael Montanez Ortiz performed a series of seven public destruction events including his piano destruction concerts which were filmed by both American Broadcasting Company and the BBC Two years later New York City hosted the second Destruction in Art Symposium at Judson Church in Greenwich Village The artists who gathered around this art movement and its development were opposed to the senseless destruction of human life and landscapes engendered by the Vietnam war During the Festival of Misfits in 1962 Fluxus artist Robin Page performed his event named Guitar Piece Page threw his guitar off stage and kicked it out of the ICA s front door and down Dover Street until it broke totally apart This piece of performance art inspired guitarist Pete Townshend of the Who who was the first guitar smashing rock artist 5 Rolling Stone Magazine included his smashing of a Rickenbacker guitar at the Railway Tavern in Harrow and Wealdstone in September 1964 6 7 in their list of 50 Moments That Changed Rock amp Roll 8 A student of Gustav Metzger Townshend saw his guitar smashing as a kind of auto destructive art Keith Moon the Who s drummer and Townshend s bandmate was also known for destroying his drum set The most famous 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 9 VH1 later placed this event at number ten on their list of the twenty Greatest Rock and Roll Moments on Television 10 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 11 Jimi Hendrix was also known for destroying his guitars and amps He famously burned two guitars at three shows most notably the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival 12 In an effort to out do the Who s destruction of their instruments earlier at the same event Hendrix poured lighter fluid over his guitar and set it on fire even though I d just finished painting it that day as he would later remark 13 In 2004 Rolling Stone Magazine included this in their list of 50 Moments That Changed Rock amp Roll alongside Townshend s first guitar smashing in 1964 13 Instrument destruction has also featured in other musical genres than pop and rock music 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 examples EditIn 1968 a piano was dropped from a helicopter near Seattle Washington to publicize an outdoor concert In 2019 the piano was exhumed by Jack Straw Cultural Center and displayed in a gallery Several local composers and musicians performed on the recovered instrument 14 Ritchie Blackmore of Deep Purple and Rainbow smashed guitars in performance throughout the 1970s 15 Paul Simonon of the Clash famously destroyed his Fender Precision Bass only once at the side of the stage out of frustration over the bouncers at the show not allowing the audience to stand up from their seats A photograph taken by Pennie Smith of the event became the iconic cover to their London Calling album 16 In 1991 country artist Garth Brooks and then band member Ty England smashed their acoustic guitars at the end of Friends In Low Places at the Reunion Arena in Dallas Texas 17 Kurt Cobain and the members of Nirvana also smashed guitars and other equipment at performances throughout the band s career ranging from the late 1980s through the early 1990s 18 19 Cobain s wife Courtney Love the frontwoman of Hole also sometimes destroyed her guitars onstage 20 as well as smashing microphones 21 pushing over amplifier stacks and dismantling drum kits 22 Nine Inch Nails were famous for destroying any instruments and also sound equipment that failed on stage with their 1991 Lollapalooza tour having ten guitars smashed every concert 23 as well as Trent Reznor either throwing Yamaha DX7 keyboards or using his boot to remove its keys 24 A guitar technician on their Self Destruct Tour estimated 137 Gibson Les Pauls were wrecked during those concerts 25 Matthew Bellamy of Muse has the Guinness world record at breaking the most guitars in one tour with 140 26 In the famous toga party scene in the movie National Lampoon s Animal House John Belushi s character Bluto comes across a folk singer portrayed by singer songwriter Stephen Bishop who is credited as Charming Guy With Guitar performing The Riddle Song for a group of college girls Bluto abruptly takes the singer s acoustic guitar out of his hands and smashes it against the wall then hands a splintered piece of it back simply saying Sorry 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 27 In 2012 Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong destroyed his guitar and Mike Dirnt destroyed his bass at the end of a live performance of iHeartRadio music festival in Las Vegas out of frustration at not being given enough time for his performance 28 In 2021 Phoebe Bridgers smashed her Danelectro guitar against a stage wedge during her live performance of I Know The End on Saturday Night Live 29 See also EditShock rock Piano burningReferences Edit Rockwell Rockin Rocky 1956 Hound Dog The Lawrence Welk Show dead YouTube link Gardner Lee 2012 02 01 Satan Is Real The Ballad of the Louvin Brothers Baltimore City Paper Archived from the original on 2012 02 14 Fontenot Robert Did Jerry Lee Lewis really set his pianos on fire onstage About com Wynn Ron 1994 Jazz Venues in Ron Wynn ed All Music Guide to Jazz M Erlewine V Bogdanov San Francisco Miller Freeman p 717 ISBN 0 87930 308 5 Kraushaar W 2014 Guitar Smashing Gustav Metzger the Idea of Auto destructive Works of Art and Its Influence on Rock Music In Brown T S Lison A eds The Global Sixties in Sound and Vision Palgrave Macmillan New York Friedlander Paul 1996 The Who People Try To Put Us Down Rock and Roll A Social History Westview Press Archived from the original on 2011 09 27 The Who Biography The Marquee Club Archived from the original on 2007 10 02 50 Moments That Changed Rock and Roll Townshend Smashes It Up Rolling Stone 2004 06 24 The Who Smothers Brothers 1967 Ready Steady Go Archived from the original on 2009 01 06 VH1 Neill Andy Kent Matt 2005 Anyway Anyhow Anywhere The Complete Chronicle of the Who 1958 1978 Sterling Publishing p 66 ISBN 9781402728389 Hendrix s burnt guitar for sale BBC News 2007 08 25 a b 50 Moments That Changed Rock and Roll Otis and Jimi Burn it Up Rolling Stone 2004 06 24 Schell Michael March 8 2019 Piano Drop at Jack Straw Sequenza21 Gallery of Guitar Destruction Parade 2007 p 4 Gallery of Guitar Destruction Parade 2007 p 6 Scapelliti Christopher Guitar Smashers The 11 Deadliest Ax Wielders of All Time Guitar World Future Publishing Limited Quay House The Ambury Bath BA1 1UA Retrieved 16 January 2019 Marin Rick 1993 10 31 The Ax Murders The New York Times Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain s smashed guitar sold for 100 000 NME 2008 12 26 Cromelin Richard December 19 1991 POP MUSIC REVIEW Pumpkins Hole Unleash Frustrations Los Angeles Times Archived from the original on November 8 2012 Retrieved September 15 2011 Kot Greg October 23 1994 Cobain was here Chicago Tribune p 75 via Newspapers com Courtney loves a rumble Amsterdam club finds out The Orlando Sentinel April 25 1995 p 2 via Newspapers com And A Bang Of The Gear NME Nine Inch Nails synths Nine Inch Nails Went Through Nearly 140 Gibson Les Paul s On The Downward Spiral Tour Most guitars smashed on tour Archived from the original on September 27 2013 Modell Josh 2007 03 14 Interview Win Butler of Arcade Fire The A V Club Archived from the original on 2008 06 19 Gladwell Amy 2012 09 23 Newsbeat Green Day lead singer smashes guitar on stage in Vegas BBC Retrieved 2013 02 02 Fitzmaurice Larry February 7 2021 Phoebe Bridgers Talked About Smashing Her Guitar On SNL BuzzFeed Retrieved February 7 2021 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Instrument destruction amp oldid 1125104280, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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