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The destruction of musical instruments is a ritual performed by a few pop, rock and other musicians during live performances, particularly at the end of the gig.

Contents 1 Early years 2 Later instrument destruction 3 See also 4 Notes

[edit] Early years

Jerry Lee Lewis may be the first rock artist to destroy his equipment on stage, with several, possibly erroneous, stories of him destroying and burning pianos in the 1950s.^[1]

In the mid 1960s, guitarist Pete Townshend of The Who was the first guitar-smashing rock artist. Rolling Stone magazine included his smashing of a Rickenbacker guitar at the Railway Hotel in September 1964^[2][3] in their list of the "50 Moments That Changed the History of Rock & Roll".^[4] A student of Gustav Metzger, Townshend saw his guitar smashing as a kind of auto-destructive art.

Keith Moon, The Who's drummer, was also known for destroying his drum set. The most spectacular episode of this occurred during The Who's debut on U.S. television on the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour in 1967. Moon overloaded his bass drum with explosive charges which were detonated during the finale of the song, "My Generation." The explosion caused guest Bette Davis to faint, set Pete Townshend's hair on fire and, according to legend, contributed to his later partial deafness and tinnitus. Moon was also injured in the explosion when shrapnel from the cymbals cut his arm.^[5] VH1 later placed this event in the top ten of their list of the 100 Greatest Rock and Roll Moments on Television.^[6]

Jeff Beck, then a member of the Yardbirds, reluctantly destroyed a guitar in the 1966 film Blowup after being told to emulate The Who by director Michelangelo Antonioni.^[7] Jimi Hendrix is also famous for burning two guitars at three shows, most notably the Monterey Pop Festival.^[8]

Instrument Destruction has also featured in other musical genres. Towards the end of Peter Maxwell Davies's monodrama Eight Songs for a Mad King, first performed in 1969, the vocalist seizes the violin from one of the musicians and smashes it.

[edit] Later instrument destruction

Ritchie Blackmore of Deep Purple and Rainbow smashed guitars in performance through the seventies.^[9]

Paul Simonon of The Clash famously destroyed his bass on stage, with a photograph of the event becoming the iconic cover to their London Calling album.^[10]

Nikki Sixx of Motley Crue set his Gibson Thunderbird on fire during their early performances. Occasionally during the Cruefest Tours he would smash a Squier P Bass

Kurt Cobain and members of Nirvana smashed guitars and other equipment at performances throughout the band's career.^[11][12]

Win Butler of Arcade Fire destroyed an acoustic guitar at the end of a live performance on Saturday Night Live, after a string had broken during the performance^[13]

Tre Cool of Green Day was known for setting his drum kit on fire at the end of shows on the tour for the album Warning.^[14]

[edit] See also

• Leo Gallagher
• Shock rock

[edit] Notes