Smashing Guitars - Why ?

[Franx]

got i link to that? i would love to see it:ROTF:

+1 Yeha!!

Check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwGydl5Q9E4

That story of "breaking a pen's nib = smashing the guitar, so a performance can not be repeated" sounds interesting !

On the other hand - I'm glad, I never witnessed the destruction of "wood, plastic & metal" live and I'm not sure, any of these perfomances are worth "being preserved, for not being repeated"

I agree on the fact, that it was something different 40 years ago !

[Newc]

Dunno about the validity of the Olden Days statement, but I did see an old black&white movie a few years ago about Paganini. He was playing at some tea party or other small function and broke a string as he was warming up.

Then he starts playing for real and broke another. He broke a 3rd one on purpose out of anger and did an entire technically brilliant piece on just the one string.

Of course, he couldn't understand why the people at the tea party were not in awe of his technical ability, but I guess then, as today, shredding was considered noise without direction or emotion.

How accurate that movie was, I dunno, but as I said it was an old movie - 40s or 50s maybe - so I doubt they were going for sensationalism.

That movie is also where I discovered that the "starving artist" myth was a creation of agents and managers. Paganini lived and died poor but his agent died rich.

[Robert Burns]

Pete Townshend:
"When I'm on the stage - let me try to explain - when I'm on the stage, I'm not in control of myself at all. I even don't know who I am. I'm not this rational person that can sit here and talk to you. If you walked on the stage in the middle of a concert for an interview, I'd probably come close to killing you - I HAVE come close to killing people that walked on the stage. Abbie Hofmann walked on the stage at Woodstock and I nearly killed him with me guitar. A cameraman walked... a, a, a policeman came on when the bloody building of the Fillmore in New York was burning down - and I kicked him in the balls and sent him off. It's not like being possessed, you know, it's just - I do my job, and I know that I have to get into a certain state of mind to do it."

I think The Who is one of the few artists who've got it right. I remember seeing the movie, The Kids Are Alright, and Pete saying something about kids{fans} not looking so much for quality at a live concert, but more so looking for sensationalism.
Something that wow's them. Bigger than life, as it were.

Seriously. Where else but in a rock concert situation can an artist strike a simple power chord or bend a single note, let it ring and feedback for 30 seconds and receive thunderous applause. Band equipment smashing is part of the whole rebellious appeal of rock. It's all about teenage angst and such.

Of course, most of us are older and wiser now. It was fun and it still is. We beat pillows and jog now!
G.

Seems he carried those same emotions over... into fighting child pornography too!

[El Chiguete]

Did the guitar got the head broken off??? It looks like that to me.

[El Chiguete]

Zakk really had no luck on this tour in Brazil, first breaking the neck of his rebel flag les paul custom in this video... and then (I don't know how) but got cut and had to do his guitar solo with his hand bleeding check it out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ad3Ei...eature=related