My favorite part of the iconic Hendrix performance is when he kisses his guitar before setting it on fire, almost as an apology for what he’s about to do.
Everyone who destroyed their instrument after Jimi (besides the Who) kinda missed the point of why he did it. It was performance theatre meant to usher in a new era of rock music
This is a bad take. Plenty of impoverished artists have taken to smashing their instruments during a performance. And nobody is killing for a guitar, if they really wanted a guitar that badly I’m sure they could walk into a guitar center and steal one, supposedly that’s how Motley Crue acquired their instruments.
@@lucianojocy I think guitar smashing is cool but personally I won’t do it. I love my guitars too much to do that Besides I just think that once money is no longer a problem you can just focus on the music, writing, touring, and performing. Rock n roll is supposed to be fun, fast, and loud and having a good time in general but you can’t be any of those things when rent is due a week and you only got 10 dollars to your name. And then you’ll spiral into drugs and alcohol and you know how that story goes
"Excess ain't rebellion. Are you drinking what they're selling? Self-destruction will not hurt them, your chaos won't convert them They're too happy to rebuild it. You can never really kill it"
It's honestly no wonder that London Calling has one of the most iconic album covers ever. Obviously The Clash weren't the first to smash guitars on stage; however, that guitar smash on the album art is like the perfect embodiment of late 70s punk rebellion, and I have no doubt that it inspired a legion of imitators in the process
Counterpoint - Artists always lean into certain visual cues to give a still photo a sense of motion. In this case, the motion indicated is supplied by your memory, and had there not been Townshend’s legacy of smashing guitars, the Clash cover wouldn’t have had the same impact.
The London Calling album cover also explicitly uses the same font-work as Elvis Presley's self-titled album. The album cover was meant to be a kind of fun-house mirror, with Elvis passionately strumming away on his guitar, mouth wide open, and Paul Simonon, holding his bass by the neck, about to ram it into the floor.
@@pensivepenguin3000 If anything it is a good representation of that shift, with the text on the album mimicking the first Elvis record. Both the image and the text work in concert to let the listener know "This is still punk, but we're going to try some new stuff". The Sex Pistols were dead, and the Clash needed to keep moving, experimenting with more genre's of music they enjoyed, like ska, reggae, and rockabilly.
I feel like there's something so self-destructive about smashing a guitar, almost like self-harming. Like it's the one companion you've had through thick and thin. It's literally the instrument you use to communicate your feelings and speak you inner dialogue through in a desperate attempt to be understood by anyone. And you symbolically strip yourself of that!!! How Pete Townshend explain it really strikes a cord; that no one seemed to see him, to see the frustration and sorrow he felt by losing something he held dear. That no one put the same devastating meaning into the situation... It probably could have been fixed. But while IN that moment, there's nothing els to do but to make a big, loud and violent scene out of it. Making sure everyone else sees the hurt you're going through. No matter how much you're simply hurting yourself in the process. Metaphorically leaving another cut open to spill your blood and heart out for anyone to notice and feel the traumatic devastation with you... I'm surprised that no one has captured an artist weeping over a broken instrument, but I suppose the genre of rock isn't exactly the vibe for that. At least not on stage.
A cursory internet search did show a few incidents of musicians morning a broken instrument during a show. E.g Frank Iero, of My Chemical Romance fame, seemingly having a pretty emotional reaction to breaking the headstock off his guitar. Sitting on the edge of the stage and ending it by swinging the guitar around above his head. Mirroring Pete Townshends reaction in a lot of ways... Got to sympathies with it, losing a "friend" like that.
I had a guitar that was no longer playable. I could have thrown it into the trash, but instead, I smashed it and put it into the bonfire as a sacrifice to Saint Jimi.
Townshend was an art student and a fan of Gustav Metzger's. To him the guitar smash was some kind of expressionist art performance and he started hating doing it, when it rather became a circus act after some time.
I heard in interviews that Nirvana was upset that the tour manager wouldn’t buy Dave a better set of drums that could stand up to the rigors of touring… so the lads in Nirvana decided to destroy all of their gear on stage so the managers would be forced to buy them new gear that wasn’t pure garbage. 😂 Kurt is quoted as saying the reason they smashed their guitars was to avoid an encore. No gear, no encore! 😂
@@CamInABand The specific story I saw was from a show at The Cabaret Metro in Chicago in Oct 12, 1991 when Nirvana was still playing clubs after Geffen had released “Nevermind” album and the music video was on MTV but the album hadn’t gone crazy with sales yet. The video is on UA-cam: “Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic Tell Old Nirvana Stories - Part 2”. The show date was pulled from the LiveNirvana site under the equipment guide. 😀
Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood smashed everything on stage at Anaheim stadium in the mid seventies. One of their equipment trucks had broken down, so they rented most of the stuff on stage. The sound kept cutting out during the first couple of songs. We could tell that Rod Stewart was getting really irritated, and at some point (I didn't really see this coming) he turned to Ronnie Wood and said something like, "You ready?" They started smashing EVERYTHING. Smashing guitars, stabbing amps with guitars, swinging mics on the cords and smashing them onto the stage. The best part was Ronnie Wood jumped up on the grand piano and started smashing the strings and mechanisms inside. If this was on film it would have gone down as one of the great guitar smashing moments in rock history. The stadium was packed, but I've never heard the story told by anyone else since then.
The only person that still to this day captures my attention is Pete Townshend. His physical delivery and expression always seemed so intense and incredibly raw. Anyone else who's attempted it just doesn't look and feel right. It was always a spontaneous combustion that was volcanic. Even watching him throw it in the air, twirling it, shaking it, using it as a machine gun was captivating.
I loved that him and Keith always moved around like animated cartoon characters and would make as much noise as possible while doing it, I really wish there was more footage
@@BobbysArchive I completely agree 110%. I loved the eye contact they made on stage... Pete would spontaneously do something spur of the moment and Keith would lock in with him as if Pete was jumping off a cliff and Keith held on. Great visual chemistry for sure.
@@decrox13 Gee, I didn't know My Generation sounded like the Beach Boys, good catch. (By the way, you could've picked I Can't Explain sounding like a Kinks song as a better example)
Kurt Cobain usually always smashed a Fender, because replacement necks were pretty easy to get. Kiss would use cheap Norlin era Gibson guitars for smashing, that era of Gibson produced a lot of guitars that were better off in the trash. Phoebe Bridgers was told by Danelectro: “Good luck, these are pretty strong” (the guitar was sold at auction, it was not really smashed that badly.)
@@thecosmicblueautie twin, you either DESTROY a guitar or you don't. Honestly the only other good alternative Ive seen is Alex Turner nonchalantly tossing his guitar behind him and walking off
I don’t think it’s about the smashing of the guitar but about the artistic intent. I think the criticism with her was that it was very staged, premeditated and contrived
@@pensivepenguin3000if you don’t think any of those guys took the stage with the intent of smashing their guitar at the end I’ve got a bridge for sale if you’re interested.
@@mojoblues66 Pete smashed Les Pauls... Strats cost over $2000 new during the 1960s when adjusted for inflation, it's certainly not cheap when you smash enough of them.
The great PS to Paul Simonon smashing his bass, was that he later said he smashed the wrong one. He had two Bass guitars, one he preferred more over the other, and in his fit of rage during that show, he didn't realize that the bass he was smashing was the good one. I have heard later, he would be playing his remaining bass guitar, and would lament that he should have destroyed it over the one he ultimately smashed on stage.
As someone who both plays the guitar and has customized a few. I cannot consider smashing one that has stories or a history attached. a guitar I customized with my dad, a guitar I wrote portions of some of my songs on,... If I had to do it, I'd smash a new factory one and hope to destroy the body so badly I can use broken parts of the body, a mold and some epoxy resin to turn one guitar body into two.
As an Italian, I can't help but point to a great local episode: when Placebo played as guests at the Festival di Sanremo, they were forced to lip sync their song, so they played along until the very end, then they smash the guitar: ua-cam.com/video/szU0ZR3Zm-w/v-deo.htmlsi=0v8rfjEe87YVpt0E it doesn't make any loud sound, because they weren't actually playing (again: against their will)
That Clash show was anything but quiet and demure! I was in the balcony, and the floor was a seething mass of pogoing black leather that was going absolutely apeshit! Anytime I stopped dancing, I could feel the balcony flexing up and down!
Thanks for compiling the video, awesome job! I've seen at least 11 (by my count) guitar smashings/destructions over the decades including Ritchie Blackmore, Wendy O Williams, Paul Stanley and a local gig where one took place. I've also destroyed a few scrap ones in my time for home made movies. Always the best part of the show! :)
Saw the Manic Street Preachers at Cardiff Castle. Before the last song, the guitar tech bought on cheap Strat, so I knew Bradfield was going to smash the thing. But cheap Stratocaster’s are not what they used to be, and at the end of the song, James dutifully wielding the machine like a literal axe in crashed it onto the deck. It was fine. So he tried again and again to no avail. There is nothing sadder than watching a 50-something punk rocker banging away at a monitor wedge with a guitar someone spent time building, not because he was angry or impassioned, but because that’s what the audience - by now mostly wandering towards the exits - expected. Still, I got to say hello to Charlotte Church while James was being an ineffectual rocker on stage.
I think it's be interesting to talk about what guitar smashing has morphed into in these recent years. First thing that comes to mind is Death Grips smashing the iMacs on stage.
im doing an informative speech on the who for my coms class because of you and now im gonna tell people that they were one of the first to popularize smashing guitars in rock shows
@@BrightLightsTonight "Oh it breaks my heart/To see those stars/Smashing a perfectly goood guitaaar"....My mom and uncle raised me on Hiatt's music :-) His daughter Lilly's pretty great, too!
Israeli rock legend (and one half of the duo "blackfield" with steven wilson) Aviv Geffen still breaks a lot of guitars on stage, it kinda became his thing.
From the holy text "The Clash: Before and After”, by Pennie Smith, with annotations: Paul don’t like Rotosound. - J.S. Meanwhile stage right: A girl (Coleen) ran towards me chased by a New York-style bouncer (behind Paul). Before he could reach her I stepped in and whisked her to safety - leaving the stage as the kit exploded into the orchestra pit. This all happened within the space of three minutes. The whole thing felt like a scene from a movie. - M.J.
I went to a Bill Frisell concert this week, and it made me think you’d probably really enjoy his music! He’s got a really cool Americana, folk, jazz, blues guitar style going on, and his trio of musicians were excellent!
Frisell is a powerhouse of pure taste, tone and musical brilliancy... I am pretty sure he would be the last guy to Smash his guitar though, he is the most calm and humble guy in existence... I kinda want to see it though
He’s done so many different things. I first got into him, about 25 years ago. He’s release stuff nearly every year, for over 40 years! Not even counting all of other people’s projects he worked on.
It surprised me that Nine Inch Nails wasn’t mentioned. Even to this day they still smash guitars sometimes, but back in the 90’s they went through tonnes
Interestingly--or perhaps ironically--The Who, in 1978, actually mentioned destroying one's guitar in one of their songs ("Guitar and Pen" on WHO ARE YOU)
I can't believe you would make a video about guitar destruction, and not touch on its proliferation to Professional Wrestling, and how performers like Jeff Jarrett are synonymous with someone getting a guitar wrapped around their head.
One of my favorite Nirvana destruction performances is definitely Live And Loud when they're done playing Endless Nameless. Or in 1990 at Bogarts when he destroyed his hand built Pink mustang and split the body clean in half
Perfectly Good Guitar John Hiatt he threw one down from the top of the stairs beautiful women were standing everywhere they all got wet when he smashed that thing but off in the dark you could hear somebody sing it breaks my heart to see those stars smashing a perfectly good guitar i don't know who they think they are smashing a perfectly good guitar it started back in 1963 his mama wouldn't buy him that new red harmony he settled for a sunburst with a crack but hes still trying to break his mamas back oh it breaks my heart to see those stars smashing a perfectly good guitar i don't know who they think they are smashing a perfectly good guitar how he loved that guitar just like a girlfriend but every good thing comes to an end now he just sits in his room all day whistling every note he ever played well there outta be a law with no bail smash a guitar and you go to jail with no chance for early parole you don't get out until you get some soul oh it breaks my heart to see those stars smashing a perfectly good guitar i don't know who they think they are smashing a perfectly good guitar late at night the end of the road he wishes he still had that old guitar to hold he'd rock it like a baby in his arms never let it come to any harm oh it breaks my heart to see those stars smashing a perfectly good guitar i don't know who they think they are smashing a perfectly good guitar
I know we are talking destruction, which honestly we as an audience have come to get used to. Prince’s solo at George Harrison’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction was a curious take. Prince made his guitar disappear, breaking the audience’s expectations of object permanence. He leaves with the impression of a master magician done and moving on while the audience tries to figure out what just happened
In all my years of gig going, I've actually only seen one person smash a guitar in actual (alchohol fueled) anger (Jason Reece of ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead), though I've seen a few where it was just all part of the show. It had probably run it's course for the most part by the 80s, though maybe it is due a comeback?
A friend in college was bassist in a band, they once had a few too many at a gig in this tiny basement bar and all 4 of the band members wound up smashing the drum kit… the hi-hat clutch almost whacked me in the head… and then someone else stole it. This was after BOTH strap buttons on the bass broke! (He played pretty hard, thankfully the gaffers tape they had held on for the rest of the set.)
Paul Stanley has special guitars setup just to be smashed. He has a large cut made at the neck pocket so they break easily. Sounds like an expensive habit? Paul and Gene both sell every guitar that they play on stage after every show. Even Paul’s smashed guitars will fetch a hefty price tag for some collectors.
I smashed mine at practice yesterday , the damn thing was cheap and was cutting out , my frustration got the better of me and next thing I knew my guitar was in two. I felt awful about afterwards wouldn’t recommend if you love your guitars but it does look cool
Great video, wonderful history lesson with much needed context to a practice that might mean little to nothing to young people. Seeing all those guitars destroyed did hurt me a bit on the inside, though.
The very first electric guitar i had was my Ibanez GSA 60, when i was 15. And i bought it for one hundred bucks, which was the cheapest piece of that model that i could afford. And it was actually worth every penny of it ‘cuz it was in the rather weak condition. The sides of the guitar neck had to be grinded ‘cuz the first time i was playin’ it, it cut me and my hand was bleedin’. Two year later, the humbucker was breakin’ a lot, which meant i had to invest more money in repairs. And on top of that, my input jack was actin’ up. In May 2023, after seven years of usin’ it, i got so pissed at the guitar that i smashed it in my backyard. Plus, i’ve always wanted to smash a guitar ever since i was a kid. I took the inspiration from Chester Bennington when i saw him smash Brad’s guitar in Live In Texas. And now i can say my dream of smashin’ a guitar was finally fulfilled in my early 20’s 😅
Can't believe you mentioned Wendy O. And the plasmatics God bless you. You are truly the best maker on UA-cam... keep up the amazing work... BTW a video on the plasmatics would be great.
I wondered whether they were just cheap breakaway guitars which were barely playable. I mean, you wouldn't want to break your best-sounding guitar, would you?
my favorite thing about the Phoebe Bridgers guitar smash on snl is that a few years later when boygenius had their snl debut, Julien Baker smashed her guitar, looked at Phoebe and they hugged. I felt like it was this sweet moment of solidarity after all the bullshit Phoebe caught for doing it herself.
i'd argue against the idea of piano smashing not being as gutteral as guitar smashing, as a ben folds fan the piano has such a long history of being a pompous/classy instrument (as its seen today) that when you throw a stool at it or kicking it like Tim Minchin, it's almost like humiliating it
The only instance that had actual flare and power to it was The Clash's as it came quite spontaneously. The rest just looked forced, out of place, and ironic coming from acts with relatively soft music and untroubled lives.
I'm not a violent man at all, but the mere idea of someone harming my guitar on purpose sparks a blood-lust beyond reason. I like Malcolm Young and Gretsch, not beaten up on purpose, but through decades of hard playing. He loved that guitar. I imagine the craftsman who made it was happy every time he saw it on yet another album-cover, while his boss bemoaned the fact that the company hasn't earned a penny from him all theses years.
Supposedly Ritchie Blackmore smashed his guitar in a rage over ELP taking the stage last at the concert. He was pissed because he thought Deep Purple should have been the last Act. Which is nonsense because ELP were the main headliners and we're absolutely huge then.😮
I love how you keep coming up with cool and unique topics for the channel. This was interesting and I can’t think of anyone else who has really covered it in depth. Seeing somebody take out a guitar in a fit of frenetic rage is definitely satisfying, but I can also understand how some people might see it as bratty and privileged
In my opinion, Keith Emerson is the king of destroying instruments. He didn’t just destroy his keyboards. He assaulted them. Not a guitarist but I just wanted to mention him.
I’m not so sure performative mock rage, signed off on by large companies, or preplanned with an expendable stand in instrument is *quite* the epitome of rock n roll. It mostly seems to be people smashing a guitar because that’s what they think they’re meant to do, more than any genuine feeling that may have started the trend
I'm generally against smashing a guitar in the current era unless it's actually done in an act of genuine fury. Other than that, it's been done, and even the cheap guitars don't deserve to be abused as part of a dumb stunt.
I think that Nirvana out of all great rock bands definitely had some of the most compelling destructive stage antics, Kurt's guitar smashing was very deliberate but there's a lot of times where he would just smack his guitar, or stab it into an amp in the middle of a performance, sometimes you'd see genuine anger being taken out on the instrument. I think Kurt captured the real essence of guitar smashing because it fit with his self-destructive and impulsive tendencies.
To me, Nine Inch Nails. Kiss had brought the destructive theatrics before it grew stale in the 80s. Beastie Boys would smash guitars with the appropriate energy. But NIN f*cked everything up. it was glorious to behold if you were there live. Just deranged aggression on stage, almost like a riot they were compelling you to participate in, shrapnel, bits of plastic and metal and hardware flying everywhere.
My favorite part of the iconic Hendrix performance is when he kisses his guitar before setting it on fire, almost as an apology for what he’s about to do.
Everyone who destroyed their instrument after Jimi (besides the Who) kinda missed the point of why he did it. It was performance theatre meant to usher in a new era of rock music
"I'm going to sacrifice something I really love"
Bipolar performances...
You know you’ve made it as a rock n roll star when you can easily smash a guitar that tons of people kill for just to own it
This is a bad take. Plenty of impoverished artists have taken to smashing their instruments during a performance. And nobody is killing for a guitar, if they really wanted a guitar that badly I’m sure they could walk into a guitar center and steal one, supposedly that’s how Motley Crue acquired their instruments.
Well considering I smashed the shit out of my Ibanez bass into my Fender amp, it’s worth it 😎
@@blackaciddevil chill it’s just a figure of speech (Reaching a level of success in which money is no object or concern for you) lmao
That's your bar? Becoming rich enough to afford being extravagant?
Doesn't sound "rock'n'roll to me.
@@lucianojocy
I think guitar smashing is cool but personally I won’t do it. I love my guitars too much to do that
Besides I just think that once money is no longer a problem you can just focus on the music, writing, touring, and performing. Rock n roll is supposed to be fun, fast, and loud and having a good time in general but you can’t be any of those things when rent is due a week and you only got 10 dollars to your name. And then you’ll spiral into drugs and alcohol and you know how that story goes
"We break stuff as protest against consumerism"
"Then what?
"We buy more stuff at supermarket and break it as protest against consumerism"
I thought the same thing 😂
"Excess ain't rebellion. Are you drinking what they're selling?
Self-destruction will not hurt them, your chaos won't convert them
They're too happy to rebuild it. You can never really kill it"
@@baileywatts1304cool quote, who said it?
@@alfonsalenius2482 It's from Cake's Rock 'n' Roll Lifestyle.
@@alfonsalenius2482 It's from CAKE's Rock and Roll Lifestyle
It's honestly no wonder that London Calling has one of the most iconic album covers ever. Obviously The Clash weren't the first to smash guitars on stage; however, that guitar smash on the album art is like the perfect embodiment of late 70s punk rebellion, and I have no doubt that it inspired a legion of imitators in the process
Counterpoint -
Artists always lean into certain visual cues to give a still photo a sense of motion. In this case, the motion indicated is supplied by your memory, and had there not been Townshend’s legacy of smashing guitars, the Clash cover wouldn’t have had the same impact.
The London Calling album cover also explicitly uses the same font-work as Elvis Presley's self-titled album. The album cover was meant to be a kind of fun-house mirror, with Elvis passionately strumming away on his guitar, mouth wide open, and Paul Simonon, holding his bass by the neck, about to ram it into the floor.
It also helps that it's the cover to one of the best punk albums of the 70s, if not of all time!
Great but kind of misleading album cover, as that album marked a shift away from their raw punk rock origins
@@pensivepenguin3000 If anything it is a good representation of that shift, with the text on the album mimicking the first Elvis record. Both the image and the text work in concert to let the listener know "This is still punk, but we're going to try some new stuff". The Sex Pistols were dead, and the Clash needed to keep moving, experimenting with more genre's of music they enjoyed, like ska, reggae, and rockabilly.
I feel like there's something so self-destructive about smashing a guitar, almost like self-harming. Like it's the one companion you've had through thick and thin. It's literally the instrument you use to communicate your feelings and speak you inner dialogue through in a desperate attempt to be understood by anyone. And you symbolically strip yourself of that!!! How Pete Townshend explain it really strikes a cord; that no one seemed to see him, to see the frustration and sorrow he felt by losing something he held dear. That no one put the same devastating meaning into the situation... It probably could have been fixed. But while IN that moment, there's nothing els to do but to make a big, loud and violent scene out of it. Making sure everyone else sees the hurt you're going through. No matter how much you're simply hurting yourself in the process. Metaphorically leaving another cut open to spill your blood and heart out for anyone to notice and feel the traumatic devastation with you... I'm surprised that no one has captured an artist weeping over a broken instrument, but I suppose the genre of rock isn't exactly the vibe for that. At least not on stage.
Great comment, love it
This is like the best comment on youtube
A cursory internet search did show a few incidents of musicians morning a broken instrument during a show. E.g Frank Iero, of My Chemical Romance fame, seemingly having a pretty emotional reaction to breaking the headstock off his guitar. Sitting on the edge of the stage and ending it by swinging the guitar around above his head. Mirroring Pete Townshends reaction in a lot of ways... Got to sympathies with it, losing a "friend" like that.
Krist novaselic throwing his bass in the air and it coming down on his head. 😮😂
Then getting a kick in the ass from Kurt who didn't know why Krist was running off stage. Ah, MTV iconic moments
I’m convinced that explains why he became a wacko right wing nut job later in life lol
Ouch
A Gibson Ripper too, not a lightweight bass...
I had a guitar that was no longer playable. I could have thrown it into the trash, but instead, I smashed it and put it into the bonfire as a sacrifice to Saint Jimi.
Based
Townshend was an art student and a fan of Gustav Metzger's. To him the guitar smash was some kind of expressionist art performance and he started hating doing it, when it rather became a circus act after some time.
I heard in interviews that Nirvana was upset that the tour manager wouldn’t buy Dave a better set of drums that could stand up to the rigors of touring… so the lads in Nirvana decided to destroy all of their gear on stage so the managers would be forced to buy them new gear that wasn’t pure garbage. 😂 Kurt is quoted as saying the reason they smashed their guitars was to avoid an encore. No gear, no encore! 😂
Was this the 1991 Rotterdam show?
@@CamInABand The specific story I saw was from a show at The Cabaret Metro in Chicago in Oct 12, 1991 when Nirvana was still playing clubs after Geffen had released “Nevermind” album and the music video was on MTV but the album hadn’t gone crazy with sales yet. The video is on UA-cam: “Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic Tell Old Nirvana Stories - Part 2”. The show date was pulled from the LiveNirvana site under the equipment guide. 😀
Trent Reznor breaking his keyboards was actually pretty cool. Skrillex breaking his macbook pro and accidentally slipping and falling was hilarious.
Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood smashed everything on stage at Anaheim stadium in the mid seventies. One of their equipment trucks had broken down, so they rented most of the stuff on stage. The sound kept cutting out during the first couple of songs. We could tell that Rod Stewart was getting really irritated, and at some point (I didn't really see this coming) he turned to Ronnie Wood and said something like, "You ready?" They started smashing EVERYTHING. Smashing guitars, stabbing amps with guitars, swinging mics on the cords and smashing them onto the stage. The best part was Ronnie Wood jumped up on the grand piano and started smashing the strings and mechanisms inside. If this was on film it would have gone down as one of the great guitar smashing moments in rock history. The stadium was packed, but I've never heard the story told by anyone else since then.
Wow.
The only person that still to this day captures my attention is Pete Townshend. His physical delivery and expression always seemed so intense and incredibly raw. Anyone else who's attempted it just doesn't look and feel right. It was always a spontaneous combustion that was volcanic. Even watching him throw it in the air, twirling it, shaking it, using it as a machine gun was captivating.
I loved that him and Keith always moved around like animated cartoon characters and would make as much noise as possible while doing it, I really wish there was more footage
@@BobbysArchive I completely agree 110%. I loved the eye contact they made on stage... Pete would spontaneously do something spur of the moment and Keith would lock in with him as if Pete was jumping off a cliff and Keith held on. Great visual chemistry for sure.
This is the most ridiculous BS I've ever heard. They suck. They're a Beach Boy knock off band.
@@decrox13 Gee, I didn't know My Generation sounded like the Beach Boys, good catch.
(By the way, you could've picked I Can't Explain sounding like a Kinks song as a better example)
Kurt Cobain usually always smashed a Fender, because replacement necks were pretty easy to get.
Kiss would use cheap Norlin era Gibson guitars for smashing, that era of Gibson produced a lot of guitars that were better off in the trash.
Phoebe Bridgers was told by Danelectro: “Good luck, these are pretty strong” (the guitar was sold at auction, it was not really smashed that badly.)
Pete Townsend: smashes guitar
Boomers: Hell yeah dude, rock and roll!
Phoebe Bridgers: smashes guitar
Boomers: oH mY gOd WhY sHe So AnGy?!?!?1
she wasnt angry tho was she? she looked bored and clumsy
Gotta come up with a new approach!
@@thecosmicblueautie twin, you either DESTROY a guitar or you don't. Honestly the only other good alternative Ive seen is Alex Turner nonchalantly tossing his guitar behind him and walking off
I don’t think it’s about the smashing of the guitar but about the artistic intent. I think the criticism with her was that it was very staged, premeditated and contrived
@@pensivepenguin3000if you don’t think any of those guys took the stage with the intent of smashing their guitar at the end I’ve got a bridge for sale if you’re interested.
All those beautiful, broken Strats and 335s make me sad.
At least you can glue Fenders/Squiers back together if you have all the pieces.
I agree on the 335s but Strats are cheap ass guitars. Nobody ever smashed a Les Paul.
@@mojoblues66 Pete smashed Les Pauls...
Strats cost over $2000 new during the 1960s when adjusted for inflation, it's certainly not cheap when you smash enough of them.
The great PS to Paul Simonon smashing his bass, was that he later said he smashed the wrong one. He had two Bass guitars, one he preferred more over the other, and in his fit of rage during that show, he didn't realize that the bass he was smashing was the good one. I have heard later, he would be playing his remaining bass guitar, and would lament that he should have destroyed it over the one he ultimately smashed on stage.
The rock gods needed a good sacrifice in exchange for one of the most iconic album covers in music.
He probably knew it was the good one since that was his main bass at the time, he just got caught up in the moment.
As someone who both plays the guitar and has customized a few. I cannot consider smashing one that has stories or a history attached. a guitar I customized with my dad, a guitar I wrote portions of some of my songs on,... If I had to do it, I'd smash a new factory one and hope to destroy the body so badly I can use broken parts of the body, a mold and some epoxy resin to turn one guitar body into two.
As an Italian, I can't help but point to a great local episode: when Placebo played as guests at the Festival di Sanremo, they were forced to lip sync their song, so they played along until the very end, then they smash the guitar: ua-cam.com/video/szU0ZR3Zm-w/v-deo.htmlsi=0v8rfjEe87YVpt0E
it doesn't make any loud sound, because they weren't actually playing (again: against their will)
The Jimi Hendrix Monterey pop one was classic
That Clash show was anything but quiet and demure! I was in the balcony, and the floor was a seething mass of pogoing black leather that was going absolutely apeshit! Anytime I stopped dancing, I could feel the balcony flexing up and down!
Thanks for compiling the video, awesome job! I've seen at least 11 (by my count) guitar smashings/destructions over the decades including Ritchie Blackmore, Wendy O Williams, Paul Stanley and a local gig where one took place. I've also destroyed a few scrap ones in my time for home made movies. Always the best part of the show! :)
Saw the Manic Street Preachers at Cardiff Castle. Before the last song, the guitar tech bought on cheap Strat, so I knew Bradfield was going to smash the thing. But cheap Stratocaster’s are not what they used to be, and at the end of the song, James dutifully wielding the machine like a literal axe in crashed it onto the deck. It was fine. So he tried again and again to no avail.
There is nothing sadder than watching a 50-something punk rocker banging away at a monitor wedge with a guitar someone spent time building, not because he was angry or impassioned, but because that’s what the audience - by now mostly wandering towards the exits - expected. Still, I got to say hello to Charlotte Church while James was being an ineffectual rocker on stage.
I think it's be interesting to talk about what guitar smashing has morphed into in these recent years. First thing that comes to mind is Death Grips smashing the iMacs on stage.
Smashing an iMac is so unbelievably lame 🤣💀
@@ultimadum7785 ok
@@ultimadum7785 ok
I was not expecting the Louvin Brothers to be mentioned in a Polyphonic video. Neat!
i often find myself crying from a feeling of wonder and longing to be a part of this culture, thank you for making these videos
New Polyphonic just dropped! 🗣🗣
Richie Blackmore told the camera guy not to get in his face during the show, the camera guy didn't listen and Richie smashed his stat into the camera
im doing an informative speech on the who for my coms class because of you and now im gonna tell people that they were one of the first to popularize smashing guitars in rock shows
Always an enigmatic ritual. Thanks for your unapologetic illumination on this subject. Love your videos sir :)
No mention of John Hiatt’s Perfectly Good Guitar?? Missed opportunity!
I. WAS. WONDERING. about the lack of mention of this as the aging reaction.
@@BrightLightsTonight "Oh it breaks my heart/To see those stars/Smashing a perfectly goood guitaaar"....My mom and uncle raised me on Hiatt's music :-) His daughter Lilly's pretty great, too!
"It breaks my hart to see those stars smashing perfectly good guitars" J.H.
Yoshiki from X-Japan was famous for his drum kit destruction bits on live concerts too.
Only Kurt Cobain could make a song out of smashing a guitar.
Israeli rock legend (and one half of the duo "blackfield" with steven wilson) Aviv Geffen still breaks a lot of guitars on stage, it kinda became his thing.
Always makes me anxious. 😮
From the holy text "The Clash: Before and After”, by Pennie Smith, with annotations:
Paul don’t like Rotosound.
- J.S.
Meanwhile stage right: A girl (Coleen) ran towards me chased by a New York-style bouncer (behind Paul). Before he could reach her I stepped in and whisked her to safety - leaving the stage as the kit exploded into the orchestra pit. This all happened within the space of three minutes. The whole thing felt like a scene from a movie.
- M.J.
I went to a Bill Frisell concert this week, and it made me think you’d probably really enjoy his music! He’s got a really cool Americana, folk, jazz, blues guitar style going on, and his trio of musicians were excellent!
Frisell is a powerhouse of pure taste, tone and musical brilliancy... I am pretty sure he would be the last guy to Smash his guitar though, he is the most calm and humble guy in existence... I kinda want to see it though
He’s done so many different things. I first got into him, about 25 years ago.
He’s release stuff nearly every year, for over 40 years!
Not even counting all of other people’s projects he worked on.
It surprised me that Nine Inch Nails wasn’t mentioned. Even to this day they still smash guitars sometimes, but back in the 90’s they went through tonnes
also Keith Emerson abused his hammond organs and stabbed them with knives
I think he also burned an old Mellotron at one point.
@@insertnamehere1258 damn
@@insertnamehere1258 that's Rick Wakeman
@@2dan4me97 oops
Then he simulated masturbating with a synthesize and flames spurt out of it like an orgasm. crude theatrics but at least it was rude.
Interestingly--or perhaps ironically--The Who, in 1978, actually mentioned destroying one's guitar in one of their songs ("Guitar and Pen" on WHO ARE YOU)
That Phoebe Bridgers staged “smashing” was the lamest thing in RnR. It was the equivalent of soap opera RnR.
I can't believe you would make a video about guitar destruction, and not touch on its proliferation to Professional Wrestling, and how performers like Jeff Jarrett are synonymous with someone getting a guitar wrapped around their head.
Piano scene from "Reefer Madness" FTW!
I am surprised you did not mention y John Hiatt's smashing a perfectly good guitar
One of my favorite Nirvana destruction performances is definitely Live And Loud when they're done playing Endless Nameless. Or in 1990 at Bogarts when he destroyed his hand built Pink mustang and split the body clean in half
I wished you mentioned Charles Mingus destroying his bass or Nine Inch Nails smashing keyboards and guitars.
3:51 Keith Moon: *Hold My Sticks*
Jimi Hendrix: *You ain't seen nothing yet...*
And as a counterpoint is John Haitt's "Perfectly Good Guitar."
That song always comes to mind when i see a guitar being destroyed. As a guitarist myself i would never be able to smash one
Oh, it breaks my heart to see those stars
Smashing a perfectly good guitar
I was looking to see if this comment had been made 😅
Good tune, and a good message. Love that song.
@@jaccoverhaaf666 The song that always comes to my mind when I see a guitar smash is How Do You Afford Your Rock And Roll Lifestyle
Perfectly Good Guitar
John Hiatt
he threw one down from the top of the stairs
beautiful women were standing everywhere
they all got wet when he smashed that thing
but off in the dark you could hear somebody sing
it breaks my heart to see those stars
smashing a perfectly good guitar
i don't know who they think they are
smashing a perfectly good guitar
it started back in 1963
his mama wouldn't buy him that new red harmony
he settled for a sunburst with a crack
but hes still trying to break his mamas back
oh it breaks my heart to see those stars
smashing a perfectly good guitar
i don't know who they think they are
smashing a perfectly good guitar
how he loved that guitar just like a girlfriend
but every good thing comes to an end
now he just sits in his room all day
whistling every note he ever played
well there outta be a law with no bail
smash a guitar and you go to jail
with no chance for early parole
you don't get out until you get some soul
oh it breaks my heart to see those stars
smashing a perfectly good guitar
i don't know who they think they are
smashing a perfectly good guitar
late at night the end of the road
he wishes he still had that old guitar to hold
he'd rock it like a baby in his arms
never let it come to any harm
oh it breaks my heart to see those stars
smashing a perfectly good guitar
i don't know who they think they are
smashing a perfectly good guitar
I know we are talking destruction, which honestly we as an audience have come to get used to. Prince’s solo at George Harrison’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction was a curious take. Prince made his guitar disappear, breaking the audience’s expectations of object permanence. He leaves with the impression of a master magician done and moving on while the audience tries to figure out what just happened
1:14 Ironically or I guess not surprisingly, Roger Daltrey of The Who played Liszt in Ken Russell's biopic Listzomania.
In all my years of gig going, I've actually only seen one person smash a guitar in actual (alchohol fueled) anger (Jason Reece of ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead), though I've seen a few where it was just all part of the show. It had probably run it's course for the most part by the 80s, though maybe it is due a comeback?
A friend in college was bassist in a band, they once had a few too many at a gig in this tiny basement bar and all 4 of the band members wound up smashing the drum kit… the hi-hat clutch almost whacked me in the head… and then someone else stole it. This was after BOTH strap buttons on the bass broke! (He played pretty hard, thankfully the gaffers tape they had held on for the rest of the set.)
What a fantastic video have a wonderful weekend ❤😊
Paul Stanley has special guitars setup just to be smashed. He has a large cut made at the neck pocket so they break easily. Sounds like an expensive habit? Paul and Gene both sell every guitar that they play on stage after every show. Even Paul’s smashed guitars will fetch a hefty price tag for some collectors.
7:33 hey, that's Mickey Dolenz in the crowd there!
I smashed mine at practice yesterday , the damn thing was cheap and was cutting out , my frustration got the better of me and next thing I knew my guitar was in two. I felt awful about afterwards wouldn’t recommend if you love your guitars but it does look cool
There's a slow-motion smash of a Fender-style bass guitar in the final scene of 1996's cult classic Frische Liebesgrotten.
Love it, I only formed a band to smash guitars in my young days.
Great video, wonderful history lesson with much needed context to a practice that might mean little to nothing to young people. Seeing all those guitars destroyed did hurt me a bit on the inside, though.
I'm a young person and I think it's cool.
The very first electric guitar i had was my Ibanez GSA 60, when i was 15. And i bought it for one hundred bucks, which was the cheapest piece of that model that i could afford. And it was actually worth every penny of it ‘cuz it was in the rather weak condition. The sides of the guitar neck had to be grinded ‘cuz the first time i was playin’ it, it cut me and my hand was bleedin’. Two year later, the humbucker was breakin’ a lot, which meant i had to invest more money in repairs. And on top of that, my input jack was actin’ up. In May 2023, after seven years of usin’ it, i got so pissed at the guitar that i smashed it in my backyard. Plus, i’ve always wanted to smash a guitar ever since i was a kid. I took the inspiration from Chester Bennington when i saw him smash Brad’s guitar in Live In Texas. And now i can say my dream of smashin’ a guitar was finally fulfilled in my early 20’s 😅
It breaks my heart to see those stars smashing a perfectly good guitar.
9:40 one of my favorite videos that you’ve done. I rewatch periodically when I’m stuck in an artistic rut 🤘
Thank you.
You forgot that Blackmore also blew up his Marshall stack at CalJam ‘74.
Have you covered Cake yet?
It's amazing to see how Boomers hace grown: first smashing guitars, then the economy, and now the principles of democracy. Such a glow up!
Hendrix upstaged The Who by the mangers (who managed both acts) letting Jimi bring his own gear, as compared to The Who using rental units.
No guitar smashers list is complete without Mike McCready :D
Can't believe you mentioned Wendy O. And the plasmatics God bless you. You are truly the best maker on UA-cam... keep up the amazing work... BTW a video on the plasmatics would be great.
smashing guitars sounds like a new wave band name, hope it comes to reality one day
hi polyphonic!! 👋🏻👋🏻
Paul Simonon has stated he regretted smashing that P-bass, as it was his favourite.
Guilty of destroying a few over the years in anger.
I wondered whether they were just cheap breakaway guitars which were barely playable. I mean, you wouldn't want to break your best-sounding guitar, would you?
my favorite thing about the Phoebe Bridgers guitar smash on snl is that a few years later when boygenius had their snl debut, Julien Baker smashed her guitar, looked at Phoebe and they hugged. I felt like it was this sweet moment of solidarity after all the bullshit Phoebe caught for doing it herself.
This might be the first video I saw on something so ubiquitous
This must be a Richie Blackmore documentary . . . .
i'd argue against the idea of piano smashing not being as gutteral as guitar smashing, as a ben folds fan
the piano has such a long history of being a pompous/classy instrument (as its seen today) that when you throw a stool at it or kicking it like Tim Minchin, it's almost like humiliating it
The only instance that had actual flare and power to it was The Clash's as it came quite spontaneously. The rest just looked forced, out of place, and ironic coming from acts with relatively soft music and untroubled lives.
ngl Phoebe did look a bit awkward there... I see the vision, she just needed sum more emotion.
I knew that was a photo of Link Wray before the video zoomed out to show his face!
I kinda have a feeling that John Hiatt may not entirely agree... ;)
I'm not a violent man at all, but the mere idea of someone harming my guitar on purpose sparks a blood-lust beyond reason.
I like Malcolm Young and Gretsch, not beaten up on purpose, but through decades of hard playing. He loved that guitar. I imagine the craftsman who made it was happy every time he saw it on yet another album-cover, while his boss bemoaned the fact that the company hasn't earned a penny from him all theses years.
Paul Westerberg put it best when asked why he destroyed one of his Gibson ES335’s, “you cherish the things you love. Me? I destroy ‘em.”
Hanatarash went a step farther and smashed the venue XD
Supposedly Ritchie Blackmore smashed his guitar in a rage over ELP taking the stage last at the concert. He was pissed because he thought Deep Purple should have been the last Act. Which is nonsense because ELP were the main headliners and we're absolutely huge then.😮
Thats just pain when my stepsister says, destroy your guitar like a hippie, when im done playing guitar.
I love how you keep coming up with cool and unique topics for the channel. This was interesting and I can’t think of anyone else who has really covered it in depth. Seeing somebody take out a guitar in a fit of frenetic rage is definitely satisfying, but I can also understand how some people might see it as bratty and privileged
In my opinion, Keith Emerson is the king of destroying instruments. He didn’t just destroy his keyboards. He assaulted them. Not a guitarist but I just wanted to mention him.
All I know is that John Hiatt is not a fan 😂
THE WHO REFERNCED‼‼‼‼WHAT THE FUCK IS A ROCK OPERAAAAAAA🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
I knew matt was going to be in there somewhere
I’m not so sure performative mock rage, signed off on by large companies, or preplanned with an expendable stand in instrument is *quite* the epitome of rock n roll.
It mostly seems to be people smashing a guitar because that’s what they think they’re meant to do, more than any genuine feeling that may have started the trend
Talking about fans as hysterical and showing a photo of women. Sexism in the first minute, a new record..
that dude in bright eyes smashed his trumpet on letterman Hhaha
Phoebe Bridgers makes lowkey and depressing music idk why yall expect her to be like the London Calling cover
Can't believe he didn't give a mention to A Place To Bury Strangers ;(
I once deleted a VST plugin, live on stage.
I'm generally against smashing a guitar in the current era unless it's actually done in an act of genuine fury. Other than that, it's been done, and even the cheap guitars don't deserve to be abused as part of a dumb stunt.
I think that Nirvana out of all great rock bands definitely had some of the most compelling destructive stage antics, Kurt's guitar smashing was very deliberate but there's a lot of times where he would just smack his guitar, or stab it into an amp in the middle of a performance, sometimes you'd see genuine anger being taken out on the instrument.
I think Kurt captured the real essence of guitar smashing because it fit with his
self-destructive and impulsive tendencies.
To me, Nine Inch Nails. Kiss had brought the destructive theatrics before it grew stale in the 80s. Beastie Boys would smash guitars with the appropriate energy. But NIN f*cked everything up. it was glorious to behold if you were there live. Just deranged aggression on stage, almost like a riot they were compelling you to participate in, shrapnel, bits of plastic and metal and hardware flying everywhere.