![]() As in “the first rock guitarist to smash his instrument”. Pete Townshend, as in “the lead guitarist of The Who”. There’s another interesting thing about Metzger which concerns our topic, besides pouring hydrochloric acid on industrial materials and writing about it – he was Pete Townshend’s teacher. It turned into a whole movement in art and logically, spread to music as well. His role in the whole instrument-bashing thing was developing the concept of Auto-Destructive Art. He was an artist and a political activist. Have you heard of Gustav Metzger? Well, you have now. The problem is that repeating a shocking gesture is not that shocking at all. When people do it nowadays, even if they are sometimes sincere, it’s usually out of a desire to be “cool”. It was an outrageous demonstration of the social intolerance versus the political and cultural dogma of the time, at least for the most part. When musicians first did it, it wasn’t just a stage trick to get more attention. Oh, man, the ’60s…īut WHY? Why do people do that? First, there’s a canyon of difference between “do” and “did”. The lights went up in the auditorium and that was it. What he did was basically create huge suspense in his audience by very slowly lifting a violin over his head (it took him, like, five minutes or so) and finally smashing it into a table, producing just this one sound of devastation. In 1962 violin virtuoso Nam June Paik performed what was called the “One for Violin Solo”. At the famous New York Five Spot Café, jazz legend Charles Mingus was so frustrated with some very annoying members of the audience that he slammed his $20,000 bass guitar into the stage – demonstrating both his hot temper and his net worth.Ĭlassical music got there pretty early as well – in the ‘60s, of course. Rock musicians were not the only ones to turn their poor instruments useless by smashing them onstage. Lewis who reportedly set fire to numerous pianos, scaring the living hell out of audiences around the US of A. Although people usually think of Jimi Hendrix when it comes to burning stuff on stage, in the 1950s it was Mr. Jerry Lee Lewis is widely thought to be the first rock musician to ever “officially” destroy an instrument during a live performance. Enjoyed your choices of video clips, too.Guitars normally get all the credit but the truth is pianos were most likely first. ![]() Kelley Marks (author) from Sacramento, California on July 08, 2014: Some other great CA bands, many of which I'd put on a top 10 list: Journey, Santana, The Doobie Brothers, Jefferson Airplane/Starship, Sammy Hagar/Montrose, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Eddie Money, Huey Lewis and the News. ![]() Your list could be endless, couldn't it? Later! Kelley Marks (author) from Sacramento, California on December 23, 2014: To list Motley Crue ahead of The Doors is mind boggling if not downright embarrassing. I you like one better than the other, good for you. Please keep in mind, the order of the list isn't real important. Kelley Marks (author) from Sacramento, California on January 31, 2016: What order is this in? Someone must be kdding I realize these are all from 60's and 70's but, really? If we're talking about "Best of all time" do you really wanna put Motley Crue ahead of bands like Jefferson Airplane, CCR, Santana, War, Steve Miller Band, etc. tho nothing wrong with the list here in the article for sure. That is the funky cali rock i love to groove to.
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