Product Description

In a Seattle moshpit a woman gets a boot in the head and spends the night hooked up to a heart monitor. At Woodstock 1999 there are allegedly four rapes in the moshpit. A 19-year-old girl dies at a Hole gig in Sweden. Nine die at a Pearl Jam concert in Denmark. Injuries are part of the deal. Kids go into the pit to risk life and limb. They're part of a global underworld with complex attitudes and beliefs. Their heroes (Marilyn Manson, Korn, Slipknot) preach bleak messages: we're here to suffer and die. We work for the destruction of society. What is a moshpit? A cesspool of teenage rage and violence or, as the kids in the pit would have it, a unity of peers, an extension of modern alternative youth and music culture? A little of both according to author Joe Ambrose, who has spent five years in the pit talking to the fans and the bands. In this shocking investigation of contemporary rock culture, Ambrose aims to reveal a world of appalling violence and remarkable tenderness. He reports on the full scale riots and near death experiences which are part and parcel of live music in the 21st century. He says moshing is a unique interaction between artists and fans. He acclaimed the spirit of fraternity which makes sense of the moshpit and explains its fatal attraction.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #84654 in Books
• Published on: 2001-08-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 248 pages

About the Author
Joe Ambrose has published two books 'Serious Time' and 'Too Much Too Soon'. He is a musician and producer and has worked with artists including John Cale, Anita Pallenberg, Richard Hill and Bill Laswell.

Customer Reviews

Im afraid to say it aint that good
I have not been going to concerts for a great deal of time (93 i saw U2 but my first metal gig was Sepultura in 96) but this book beared no relevance to any experience I have had at any concert.

The author of this book seems to try and create a fantasy about the mosh pit and trying to make it into something it is most definately not. Although there is ussually a good atmosphere in the mosh pit (except for those idiot who think it is funny to try to punch and kick as many people as they can) it is nowhere near how it explained in this book.

How many concerts have you been to that you seem to know half the audience yet have never spoken to them, well the author thinks he has.

This author I think would be better suited to writing fiction, lets face it he's made a start already.

An authentic and moving record of life in the pit.
When I first saw this book I thought it would just be a cash-in on the punk and metal scenes but I thought I would give it a go.

It turned out to be a very strong account of the people and experiences slamming and diving around the pit. The writer loves the scene and wants to share it with it's contradictions and flaws intact.

I especially found the pictures painted of the scene in Berlin in the 90's and the underground mosh scene in New York rewarding.

Coming from an authentic left-field stance has enabled the writer to see the conformity of the the scene full of rednecks as it is at the moment - as well as the varied and incompatible people that mix it in the pit at the best of times.

His experience of life and the pit shows - someting I share and understand.

But why oh why, after documenting the tackiness of Woodstock '99 and the broadcasting of topless women on the big screen, is there a photograph of topless women at Woodstock in the book? Publishers pressure?

That small thing aside, this book is honest and uncompromising in it's own way and it really does get you inside the head and baseball boots of the culture. Thanks.

And it is good to see Minor Threat namechecked so much!

excellent study of the people and music around 'the pit' .
The title is doesn't really cover the depth of the contents nor the knowlegeble (sub-culture / music) fan the author comes across as...
it is very well written...as are Joe's other books.
As one of the "30-something fat gut types" the thread from old skool punk to straight edge to indie to nu-metal was a great nostalgic journey. The descriptions of the surrounding cultural influence to all the music genres is spot on. highly recommended for any lover of live music... in the pit or not.

also sports an excelent set of well placed interviews.

/neil