UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA STUDENT WRITES GRADUATE THESIS ON… MOSHING?
A reader named Adam D. — although I’m reasonably certain it’s not the Adam D. — sent us a link to this article from the Edmonton Journal, which focuses on Gabby Riches, a 25 year-old masters student at the University of Alberta who ” is writing her thesis on mosh pits for a degree in recreation and leisure studies.” I had no idea there was such a thing as a degree in recreation and leisure studies, but then, my college hosted a porn film festival every year and there was some dude in one of my lit classes who was getting a degree in Wicca Studies, so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.
ANYWAY, some of Riches’ work seems to be a little silly — she says that “Circle pits are most common in Europe,” which strikes me as a little huh?, given that I went to three different concerts and saw three different circle pits just last week — but some of it I think is worth your attention… like her thoughts on mosh etiquette:
There are rules to moshing, like no spiked jewelry and no sexual contact. One of the most important ones is to help someone up if they fall.
“The worst is when you can’t get help up if you fall. You become conscious of pain rather than pleasure,” Riches said.
Moshing etiquette, Riches said, is an important part of the culture…
It seems like there’s a serious lack of mosh etiquette these days, at least here in the U.S.; I don’t really go into pits anymore because I’m old and a pussy, but I definitely had some experiences in my day where I fell down and not only did no one help me up, but in at least one instance they pushed me back down. And these karate chopping deathcore brats… well, the sooner we can put an end to that shit, the better. It’s a stark contrast with European crowds, who, as Vince and I saw at Download a few years back, are not only very diligent about helping one another up in the pit, but actually hug after every mosh. That’s what a mosh should be — a healthy and safe expression of aggression. Not an excuse to flail your limbs about as though you were having a seizure and hit strangers/non-moshers in the face.
Read the full article here. Hopefully Riches will follow this up by attaining her PhD in headbanging.
-AR
