Life on the rock. A Habhater's tale.

I enjoy moshing. I had opportunity to think about this phenomenon at Creation this past year and this is what i came up with:
There are many kinds of moshers. Read through these and figure out where you belong.

Extreme Moshers: These are the true breed. You find them forming moshing circles somewhere in the crowd at concerts. One by one these people throw their bodies into the circle and let loose allowing their bodies to be smashed repeatedly until they eventually fall out of the circle. I tried this once and after knocking several people to the ground I determined that it was not safe for me to ever be in this category.

Close Proximity Moshers: These are the people that try and let loose while they are packed in like sardines in the middle of a mosh pit. Another name for some of these people is "jerk moshers" They tend to be jerks but not necessarily. Jerk Moshers are the ones that try to push the crowd over or purposely try to include other non close proximity moshers in their reindeer games. I am a close proximity mosher a lot but I try to avoid the "jerk" tendancies.

Prop Moshers: These are people that bring things into the pit for the enjoyment of everyone. I like moshing while wearing my tellatubby hats. Other props I've seen include inflatable lobsters, beach balls, mascot heads, dismembered stuffed animals, glow sticks, wooden legs, 6 feet tall cereal boxes, and pudding.

Pansy Moshers: These are the people who are the up and down type. No side to side. They also tend to get upset when they end up getting shoved from side to side. These people need to realize they are in a mosh pit and they belong on the fringe of the pit. I like pansy moshers that don't mind being shoved a bit and actually like having them around me in the pit. It makes for a comfortable and fun experience.

Tarp Moshers: These people prefer moshing only with people they know so they get in their group and mosh together usually in a designated area like a tarp. This is a safe way to get into moshing but for me some of the best parts of the mosh experience are meeting new people and making them laugh.

Tarp People: These are the people that will never experience the joy of moshing because they can't get over the sweat, smells and violence of a good pit. They tend to sit in chairs on tarps or jump up and down by themselves. There is nothing wrong with this if you are 65 or older, pregnant or just a wuss.

A good mosh pit is a place where everyone is having fun. The long waits between concerts become times for these people to bond. The longer the wait the better. My sure fire line that gets people on my side in the pit is to wait until I'm pressed by people on every side and then I scream "somebody's touching me" This always gets a laugh. Chanting Zed Zed Top also gets people going. When I'm in the U.S. I enjoy controlling the pit by starting the American National Anthem and knowing that I caused a thousand people to spontaneously start singing. Also regaling people with stories of my sled dog "Licky" that got his tongue stuck to a flag pole and I had to pull on him for 15 minutes before the tongue snapped off tends to get the attention of the pit. Good Times.

The More you know.