Mosh Pit Philosophy

I have officially run out of excuses, so today I started a major clean-up of my home office and studio. But, because I’m still not feeling very motivated (I was sick most of the month of march), I decided to start the process by browsing all my old computer files, CDs, etc. Surprisingly, some of it seemed worth sharing with you.

This first piece, when I read it today, struck me as oddly philosophical. Sent my mind off on an existential trek. Perhaps you’ll find it to be thought-provoking too.

One of the most eye-opening things I encountered when typing this up for you was how much times have changed. I had no idea this had gone out of fashion with the younger crowd. It was everywhere when I was growing up in L.A. I’ve used my own photos here, even though they’re not quite as illustrative as I’d like, simply because none of the stock image websites had any good ones either. I found exactly 2 at Pexels. The world has changed so much lately!

Anyway.

Here’s a throw-back piece of literature I had saved on my computer from, maybe, about 20 years ago. I have no idea where I got it or who authored it (not me) or how old it was at the time. So, if anyone recognizes it, let me know and I’ll gladly append this post with proper authorship attribution and a link to the entire document, if it still exists.

L

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From “The Beginners Guide to Moshing”

STAGE DIVING

This activity usually is performed by the more outgoing concert goers during times of lenient security. For a good stage dive you need a fairly large crowd, with preferably lots of your friends because this means you know there’s going to be someone out there to catch you. You’re probably more likely to be able to do a dive at smaller gigs, they usually have:

• Shorter stages which are easier to climb and are less of a brutal jump.
• More lenient security.
• No separator bar which adds an extra challenge to the dive.

HOW TO PULL OFF A SUCCESSFUL STAGE DIVE

Firstly you want to get as close as possible to the front. It’s probably a good idea to first check out what the crowd is like. If there has already been some dives then you know that the crowd is pretty okay with it, otherwise you will just have to use your judgment. You need to time your dive well. The best time to do a dive is probably during the chorus of a fast or heavy song. This will be when there is a quite dense mosh and you’ll stay up longer.

Now all you’ve got to do is to get up on stage; you want to find a place that’s close to the thickest part of the mosh and not near any of the band’s equipment. Once on stage you’ve got to be pretty quick so make up your mind beforehand that you’re going to dive.

You’re now ready to dive, and the thing you’ve got to bear in mind is to get plenty of height to try to position yourself on the top of everyone. It’s a good idea to spread your body out so more people can support you. I personally prefer to dive on my back, (it protects the softer areas of your body!) but you can also dive on your front. Hopefully you should be getting some nice air, so enjoy it. Try to let yourself be carried much like if you were at sea.

And if it all goes wrong…

There is a chance that when diving you can hurt yourself and/or others or even worse be shamed in front of your friends because of your inability to stage dive. The best thing to do when you fail is just to smile and shrug it off. In the case of falling to the floor all you can do is try to get up as quick as possible to avoid being stomped on, clenching your fingers to stop them from being crushed.

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