Please welcome new writer to the site, The Baby Killer. Also note that he doesn't actually kill babies (I hope), and if he does I might want to drop all contact with him. He's a cool dude and hater of hardcore dancing, much like you guys and myself, so give him a warm welcome.
Also, since a lot of new writers are gonna be joining, each of them is going to write a general post on their view of this trend. Take for example this, and Dingus' Take.
While I doubt that the gripes of one individual will have any effect whatsoever on the ever-expanding hive mentality that is the hardcore scene, I can no longer stand idly by and watch you idiots systematically ruin everything about metal that I have grown to love over the years. My problem isn't with hardcore/metalcore/deathcore/whatevercore music itself, nor is it with the fact that hardcore kids even exist in the first place. I personally have fallen off the hardcore bandwagon as of late, but there are still a few genuinely talented 'core bands out there. When you boil right down to it, it's all about personal preferences and tastes, and I have long since given up on crusading against any form of music that I don't like. If you like it you like it, and that's that. I can't stop you, nor do I want to. Every genre needs a fan base, and hardcore is no exception. The problem is, from a musical standpoint hardcore and metal are very closely related, especially in recent years, and more often than not hardcore kids and metalheads end up mingling at shows, and this is where the real problem starts.
It's a well-documented fact that moshing is awesome, but a metalhead's definition of moshing is astonishingly different than a hardcore kid's. When we mosh, we push and shove and smash into each other and run around in circles like the buffoons that we are. But when the br00tal hardcore kids "mosh", they start swinging their fists and kicking their feet like they're being attacked by a swarm of bees, and they intentionally get dangerously close to other people to, as far as I can tell, prove some pretentious, bullshit "look how tough and dangerous I am" alpha male complex that they've concocted in their simple minds. The metal scene is an aggressive one, yes, but not to the point of completely disregarding the safety and well-being of our fellow headbangers. When one of us falls down or gets hurt in the pit, someone rushes to their aid within seconds (often more than one person too) and makes sure that person is alright before resuming, whereas getting hurt in a hardcore dancing pit is akin to a badge of honor, and anyone who opposes that notion is considered a weakling.
When these two polar opposite ideals collide, it's a recipe for disaster. It's like clockwork: a hardcore band will take the stage at a show, and most if not all of the metalheads will move to the side, because they know the dancers will want to do their thing. Once a breakdown starts, the fists and feet go flying, and inevitably someone gets too close to someone else who wants nothing to do with it. That someone will firmly but (usually) politely push the dancer aside, sending a clear message of "Excuse me sir, I'm right here and I don't wish to be punched just now," but the dancer's myopic, tough guy brain processes that gesture as "I wish to enter into fisticuffs with this individual". The hardcore kid invariably gets in the other guy's face, spewing fuck you's and various threats, and the metalhead attempts in vain to reason that he was only moving him aside so he or his friends wouldn't get hurt. To make matters worse, since A) hardcore kids have a hive mentality and B) they're usually too small and scrawny to take on your average metalhead one on one, out of nowhere at least four or five more dancers join the fray. Riddle me this: if hardcore kids are actually as tough as they make themselves out to be, then why do they always feel the need to gang up on one single opponent when they fight? If you're so big and badass, I say prove it in a fair, man to man fight. And to make matters worse, not only are they pretentious, but they're also conceited. Hardcore kids act like no matter where they are, they own the place even if they're completely out of their element (i.e. the Dying Fetus/Arsis/Misery Index show I attended a few months ago). They harbor delusions of grandeur and entitlement that make them act like the cock of the walk wherever they go, and this has led to the plague that is FSU and PIN and various other off-shoot hardcore gangs.
These Neanderthals have transcended being cocky assholes and evolved (no pun intended) into legitimate murderers. On June 23rd, 2006, in Corona, California, two FSU members beat one Sean Thomas Gardhouse to death because they believed that he was associating with members of a rival gang. As if this wasn't bad enough, it turns out they were mistaken; an innocent young man was brutally murdered because of these violent, simplistic morons. Someone somewhere lost a son, a brother, or a friend, for no reason whatsoever. I hope you're proud of yourselves, hardcore kids. You can go do whatever you want, I won't stop you, but personally you disgust me, so do us all a favor and go stay in your corner, leave us the fuck out of it.
Couldn't have said it better myself. This here kids, is wisdom. Follow it, stop you're dancing, start moshing, or get the fuck out. Look for plenty of more posts from The Baby Killer in the future.
Way to generalise.
ReplyDeleteYour eloquently written article had a frew fatal flaws.
Yes, the hardcore pit is a very dangerous area where people do very frequently get hurt, and I can see your concern there. But, the pit is a place for these troubled kids to vent their anger, to let go and to feel free for a moment in their lives.
If you are so concerned for your safety simply move to a safe distance, do not stand around the edges of the pit and cry when a stray blow lands on you. You do not stand next to the targets in a shooting range and complain when someone accidently blows your face off.
Also, if moving to a further disrance is somehow unavoidable simply extend your arm and use it to deflect anything coming your way. This is common practice within the hardcore community and it seems to work for everybody.
A push, whether you think the way you are deliviring it is polite, is almost always an offensive gesture. In such an aggressive environment, your push is an indication that you want to join in and partake in the hardcore dancing, or as a sign of disrespect.
No matter how "politely" you do it, If you were to push someone on the street, at a party, in the mall or any other conceivable location, it would be taken as a sign of aggression and met with appropriate retaliation.
As for the example of the 4 to 5 guys ganging up and trying to fight a metalhead that is only attempting to reason, this example seems utterly ridiculous.
At all the concerts I have attended, I have never seen anything like this take place, and I'm wondering if you, personally, have?
Also, regarding your example involving the gangs
I sincerely feel for the kid who died, and hearing about such a senseless loss of human life saddens me. What those gang members did was unarguably wrong and unjustifiable by any means.
But to use something such as this in an argument against something so trivial such as the way some people dance?
I find that approach to also be saddening.
Those were some really fucked up people, and they did something really fucked up.
But to imply that this event to place because of them being hardcore or to even imply a relation between this murder and the hardcore scene is offensive.
These were two gang members, beating up someone that they thought was getting involved with a rival gang.
This was a very sad and unfortunate gang violence incident, it had nothing to do with the hardcore scene.
(Continued from before)
ReplyDeleteI know that for everyone on this blog, your intentions are only good.
To say that hardcore dancing is dangerous and dumb brings to the spotlight traditional metalhead moshing.
At first glance it would appear to be, a bunch of senseless guys pushing each other around, mercilessly shoving each other into a rumbling mass of human flesh.
It would then be easy to look at this behaviour, denounce it a stupid and utterly offensive, and attempt to stop this activity without even trying to understand.
And that's what the whole world does to us metalheads. It stereotypes us and generalises, saying we're all stupid and violent and dumb without even bothering to look twice.
I know that they only mean well, that they're just concerned about safety.
But this well meaning and concern is only making something we enjoy doing frowned upon.
And it's all because they've misunderstood us.
But I know better than that.
I know it's just a bunch of guys having fun and enjoying the music.
Maybe that's all that hardcore dancing really is, that's all it is to me when I do it.
And we also hate it when people want us to stop what we do without even looking at it from another perspective.
Writings like this will only cause more animosity between the two camps and create more unesscessary and harmful tension.
All of us, hardcore kids and metalheads alike just want to escape from reality and be happy when we can. More opression only sparks more resistance, phrases such as "violent, simplistic morons" only make a generation of angry kids angrier. So instead of generalising and writing hateful works, just try to be more understanding, try to keep your mind a little bit more open and try to find some common ground, you might be surprised.
Don't be so hateful and try to look at the situation from another person's eyes, you might find that you're both looking in the same direction.
I call bullshit on this:
ReplyDelete"troubled kids to vent their anger, to let go and to feel free for a moment in their lives"
Yeah right. The hardcore kids who are venting their anger are the ones who are up front screaming out the lyrics, not the fake posers doing all the martial arts bullshit. If you do that stupid arm swinging shite you are just wanting to show off and let everyone else see how cool you think you are, nothing more.
And they do it at bands where it's totally inappropriate as well. I saw Isis at a festival and people were doing that same martial arts crap there where it really wasn't wanted. The rest of the crowd got angry, started tripping people up and pushing them over and I thought there was going to be a fight, but the hardcore kids backed off and went somewhere else.
I don't like having to push people and do anything like that, but if I'm trying to watch a band like Isis and someone hits me in the face I'm not going to take it well. I would expect that kind of thing if it was Hatebreed playing, but Isis? Come on.
"But, the pit is a place for these troubled kids to vent their anger, to let go and to feel free for a moment in their lives."
ReplyDeleteBut you are not so smart.
The Misconception: Venting your anger is an effective way to reduce stress and prevent lashing out at friends and family.
The Truth: Venting increases aggressive behavior over time.
http://youarenotsosmart.com/2010/08/11/catharsis/
"The rest of the crowd got angry, started tripping people up and pushing them over and I thought there was going to be a fight, but the hardcore kids backed off and went somewhere else."
ReplyDeleteWho were the violent, simplistic morons here?
The hardcore kids that you portayed as so vile and reckless, were the ones who decided to be mature and back down?
These kids are just trying to dance for Christ sakes, then you trip them up, push them over and when they choose to be peaceful and back down from unescessary conflict, you think that they're the ones at fault?
From what I gathered the hardcore kids decided to be 'mature and back down' once they had already done enough damage to justify an ass beating. Some people need to understand there are consequences for their actions. For instance, swingin' your fucking fists around and repeatedly hitting people who are just trying to enjoy a show is going to make sure that someone fucking equalizes you. This isn't a mosh pit, where for the most part, when someone gets hurt, everyone stops what they're doing, helps the person up, and gets them the fuck out of there if they need to. The core kids just keep running rampant like 8 year olds high on sugar, destroying whatever lies in their way, giving fuck all about who they hit.
ReplyDeleteYou missed my point. They were doing martial arts dancing to fucking ISIS. A slow, atmospheric band that are in no way hardcore. They don't even have any fast parts.
ReplyDeleteThey were only doing that kind of dancing to show off and be assholes which is why people got so pissed off. Like I said, I would expect that at a Hatebreed etc show, but not at a slow doom type of band. There is a time and a place for that kind of dancing. Save it for your own bands and don't spoil ours.
The point of this is that hardcore dancing is fucking stupid. It needs to stop because it's stupid. End of story.
ReplyDelete"...if moving to a further distance is somehow unavoidable simply extend your arm and use it to deflect anything coming your way..."
I'd rather be watching the show than carefully looking out for you half-witted attention whores, thanks. Moshing and bumping into each other is one thing... getting punched in the head "on accident" is aggravating and you deserve to get heat for it if you ever do it to someone.
Seriously, keep this shit at the awful Suicide Silence shows it belongs at.