Into The Pit
Lessons Learned From The Mosh Pit
Growing up in a liberated household where you ideas and opinions can be voiced out, playing heavy metal tracks in the house does not actually bother anyone at all–except when people are sleeping, of course. Guttural voices and shrieking guitars fare just as normal as any song from the radio, and album covers with occult and gory details never really terrified them. Going to gigs and concerts are permitted as long as I go back home in one piece. However, my family isn’t really fond of seeing mosh pits whenever they see photos of events that I have just attended, saying that they’re too violent and that I could end up badly hurting myself.
They seem to be okay with everything and then, suddenly, they are singling out mosh pits. Why is that?
To outsiders (let alone closed-minded reactionaries), the mosh pit is a place where citizens of society’s skid rows come together and form a congregation of riffraff and losers. Disgruntled men and women dressed in funereal colors, banging their heads to the sound of heavily down-tuned guitars, slamming bodies at each other, running madly in circles, and screaming aggressive lyrics with the front-man as the cult leader–this is how the mosh pit is typically portrayed. This is nothing new, as demonizing fans of heavy metal has probably been older than Saturday Night Live.
However, what outsiders don’t realize is that the mosh pit is also a place to learn and discover new things about yourself, others, and even life itself. All it takes is intense passion for music, the sheer determination to survive the pit, and a pair of sturdy boots or sneakers.
It takes guts to enter the mosh pit
Everyone–outsiders and headbangers alike–knows for a fact that entering a mosh pit means getting physical: sweaty men and women trading arms and legs with each other in a blind rage brought by bands who are playing it loud and fast. More than the weariness brought by hours of head banging and slam dancing, you can also get bruised and wounded after getting elbowed in the face or kicked in the stomach. While the dangers of a mosh pit are evidently clear, countless people still storm in to get frenzied by bands like Slayer and Lamb of God. If people knew the consequence of getting into the pit, then why do they still go there where in fact, they can just stand at the back and bob their heads in peace?
One thing is for sure: It takes guts to get into a mosh pit.
You might get cold feet before you mosh with other people, but once you feel the groove inside your body, it comes out naturally. You are your own god inside the pit. Your pain receptors shut down and the only thing that matters is your connection to the band. Once the band’s set comes to an end, you go back to yourself. The certain high you’ve felt while dancing chaotically wanes down. You start to feel the pain.
After some time, you’ll feel depleted–tired, but extremely happy. It is probably brought by the endorphin that kicked in after seeing your favorite band on stage and getting physical with the rest of the audience. Also, there’s this feeling of success and satisfaction that you are able to brave through a crowd of ecstatic metal heads, knowing that you might get annihilated the moment you trade elbows and boots with fellow headbangers. Now, that’s an achievement!
The mosh pit is a dance floor
In one of the noontime variety shows in the Philippines, one vocalist-turned-host quipped that the reason why he joined a band was because he could not dance. Months before that statement, however, he was dancing to the tune of “Gangnam Style” with one of his co-hosts, who also happened to be a front-man for another band. Way back in high school, you are either with the minority of kids playing guitars and smashing cymbals, or you get a pair of Skechers and shake your ass to Daddy Yankee’s “Gasolina.”
“Enlightened” metal heads see dancing as a form of mindless conformity to temporal trends, while lovers of dance music see heavy metal as a culture that promotes violence and trains future mass murderers and self-destructive sociopaths.
There seems to be a rift as deep as the Marianas Trench between the two, and neither wants to send diplomats to build bridges between two genres (although some bands from the dawn of this decade tried to mix the two; pundits of both sides see it as utter heresy). In rare cases, people like me see the mosh pit as more than just a biomass wobbling in chaos. To metal heads born with two left feet, it is actually the place to get pumped up and dance your heart out.
It’s not that headbangers perform Crip Walk, or “krumping,” while their favorite bands take over the stage. Like any other dance routines, they take cues from the songs to perform certain “routines.” For instance, whenever Lamb of God starts playing the intro of “Black Label,” people will vacate the center of the mosh pit and form two “walls” on the left and right of the massive space. And when Lamb of God front-man Randy Blythe gives the signal, the two human walls will both charge towards the center and ram on each other. This certain mosh pit ritual is called the “Wall of Death.” It is now a common practice on metal festivals, especially when the bands are playing the fastest, loudest, and most aggressive songs in their arsenal. Unfortunately, there was a snake pit dividing the mosh when Lamb of God played here, making Wall of Death impossible to execute.
Aside from the Wall of Death, there are other ways metal heads “dance” to heavy metal. Pit front-liners usually just bang their heads to the rhythm of the song, making their hair spin like a circular saw ready to dismember anything in its path. Those in the middle of the pit madly rush in huge circles, surprisingly called a circle pits, during the fastest sections of a song.
In other cases, fans make these big downward head-banging motions whenever the band plays the part of the song called “breakdown,” a portion where the song slows down to pave way for brutal chugging of rhythmically organized palm-muted riffs, slow yet heavy touch of drumming with the occasional double kicks, and oft-repeated catchy lines roared by the front-man.
These are just some of the most common routines done by metal heads in the mosh pit. While some fans might disagree with the term dance, the fact that they move in patterns in accordance to the rhythm of the song makes it one. Fingers crossed (and horns raised, of course) that someday, dance academics will take the time to study moshing and see its concepts, attributes, and underlying processes.
Still not convinced? You should definitely watch the video for “Step Down” by NY hardcore legends Sick of It All:
There is order in chaos
Whenever your favorite metal bands are about to play in a local area, every person dying to get into the pit abides by these great equalizers: falling in serpentine queues to get tickets, paying the same amount per skull regardless how much you can actually pay. These degenerates might look like people who are against your views and opinions, but just like every functioning body in a society, they pay their dues and behave themselves accordingly–or else they get whooped in the ass.
Have you seen lawless elements waiting in line for more than two hours just to get into the gates of a music festival? Or what about agents of chaos working their asses off just to be able to attend a Children of Bodom concert? If you see these moshers as the bane of our society, then I have no idea how you should label dirty politicians and corrupt pigs!
From an outsider’s perspective, these concerts are nothing but chaos–the music, the people, and their appearance. However, what they do not know is that they are actually products of months of painstaking labor and intense planning. You need to sort out a ton of things, such as performers, venue, technicals, so much more. Every element must fall into place before, during, and after the show. A single splinter that goes beyond the organizer’s reach and everything falls apart.
Even the mosh pit, a seemingly Malebolgean event where people run around at the will of the pit lord, is a place to pick up virtue. Remember that boot camp scene in “Full Metal Jacket” when Joker pulled up Pyle when they were running through the mud? The same thing happens when you trip down during a circle pit. Acting like a jerk in the mosh pit? Prepare to get the beating of your life — or wait until the bouncers kick you out of the concert. I have more faith in bouncers than police officers because those hulking figures actually do their job in protecting people from hooligans instead of just standing there, waiting for their next prey before harassing them for money. Basically, a mosh pit is a society within a society, but way less fucked up.
As of writing, I realize that it has actually been a while since I’ve been to a mosh pit. While I may have branched out when it comes to music (my Spotify notification will definitely spell to you that I’m a big fan of Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Emotion”), I know that the wide-eyed 14-year old kid who first went to Pulp Summer Slam to see Valley of Chrome in the flesh and mosh to their songs is still alive and kicking. And given that my teenage heroes like Atreyu and I Killed the Prom Queen are coming back to life one by one, I will definitely be waiting for them to hit up Manila. When that time comes, I’ll be ready to go back into the pit and become a monster crazed by distorted guitars, blast beats, and guttural vocals.
The things we do not know scare us — afterlife, extraterrestrial beings, mosh pits — and it’s easy for us to dismiss these or make conclusions because they do not agree with our beliefs. The mosh pit may be a tough place on the outside, but once you fall in love with the music, the pain, the adrenaline rush, and the crazy culture that keeps the flame in all of us alive, you will leave the concert grounds looking for more. The moment you exit the pit, you’ll end up bruised…yet feeling more alive than ever.
If you have an inexplicable hate for heavy metal and mosh pits, I will reiterate the last words of Sam Dunn in “Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey:”
Since I was 12 years old, I’ve had to defend my love for heavy metal against those who say it’s a less valid form of music. My answer now is either you feel it or you don’t. If metal doesn’t give you that overwhelming surge of power and make the hair stand up on the back of your neck, you might never get it. And you know what, it’s okay … we’re doing just fine without you.
