Jump to content
Gibson Brands Forums

guitar abuse


j45nick

Recommended Posts

Agree - I don't even want to see that video again. Smashing the instruments was a mad and blind alley for The Who.

Guess they had a revolting point to prove.

 

In fact Townshend said that he never related to the guitars as other than tools.

'Xcept for 1 acoustic, which by accident collapsed between his hands during a studio-session : A burst J-200 !

You Nick, if any, know the 60's as a time of experimental border-crossing. Think we better put these demolitions on the list.

 

There is a first-70's clip of Presley dropping his acoustic on the floor on purpose under a rehearsal. Not nice either, , , and strangely enough also a (blonde) , , , , J-200.

 

The great guitar-lords will make him a glue-man when he arrives in heaven, , , or hell. Wood - glue - wood - glue - wood, , , till he gets his sh.. together. .

 

But he made some damn good rock'n'roll, didn't he.

(just ask Zomb)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's always struck me that these folks never destroy their race cars, mansions, yachts or Rolexes. Does he destroy his amps or his mikes? Only their guitars.

I think it's a 'control' thing. An arrogant way of saying - "I am superior to this guitar."

" It is nothing without me. Wood, splinters, twisted wire.... My fans MUST recognize that I am a god. Period. Not a 'guitar god' - a god. I do not respect my tools. They are nothing without me."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't really understand it. Is it the ultimate mic drop, saying "you can't top this", such that "this guitar has given everything it can possibly give?"

 

I'm not sure most of these guys are that thoughtful. Most professionals I know, whatever their field, have respect for the tools they use to make their living.

 

Part of the problem is that I don't see guitars as inanimate objects. To me they have souls, and to deliberately destroy one speaks of a lack of respect for what that guitar can say and do.

 

It's marvelous to me every time I pick up a guitar that as clumsy and unskilled as I am, I can pull snippets of beauty out of it. Destroying something that can do that just about makes me sick.

 

The fact that you can plunk down a few thousand dollars and buy another one that may be just as good is sort of irrelevant. You have purposely killed something beautiful and wonderful that can bring--and has brought--joy to people, including you.

 

It doesn't take a superman to destroy a guitar. Their existence is fragile enough, as anyone who has ever knocked one over or bashed into something with a guitar can testify.

 

Maybe, as fortyyears says, it's a control thing. "this guitar isn't making that wonderful sound: I am."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hendrix did the same thing to his Fenders. I could never understand The Who’s or Hendrix’ rationale for the barbaric-like ritual at the time or now for that matter, despite the explanations here (which by the way are the first explanations I have even ever read.). I gave up trying to figure it out in the late 60s and decided then as still now...it was just supposed to be shock entertainment. Much like Alice Cooper later allegedly would bite a live chicken’s head off. Certainly, strange and shock entertainment having nothing to do with music, but more to do with ticket sales tied to excess and destructive behaviors...which basically has hurt rock music and rock artists over the long run.

 

Life can be strange.

 

QM aka Jazzman Jeff

Link to comment
Share on other sites

To quote myself from 2013:

 

Posted 09 March 2013 - 02:41 PM

 

He didn't like doing that but was convinced to for charity. He was told that if he smashed the J200 on the show, the remains would be auctioned off and be worth more to charity smashed than if he simply played it. He later said he regretted the decision even if it was for charity.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't really understand it. Is it the ultimate mic drop, saying "you can't top this", such that "this guitar has given everything it can possibly give?"

 

I'm not sure most of these guys are that thoughtful. Most professionals I know, whatever their field, have respect for the tools they use to make their living.

 

Part of the problem is that I don't see guitars as inanimate objects. To me they have souls, and to deliberately destroy one speaks of a lack of respect for what that guitar can say and do.

 

It's marvelous to me every time I pick up a guitar that as clumsy and unskilled as I am, I can pull snippets of beauty out of it. Destroying something that can do that just about makes me sick.

 

The fact that you can plunk down a few thousand dollars and buy another one that may be just as good is sort of irrelevant. You have purposely killed something beautiful and wonderful that can bring--and has brought--joy to people, including you.

 

It doesn't take a superman to destroy a guitar. Their existence is fragile enough, as anyone who has ever knocked one over or bashed into something with a guitar can testify.

 

Maybe, as fortyyears says, it's a control thing. "this guitar isn't making that wonderful sound: I am."

 

The concept was 'invented' in a rebellious time.

I think it's necessary to understand that the act was meant to ram a log through sentimental and conventional mind-sets like the one above (which I share).

I follow your perception, but try to see the guitar and the traditional way of treating it as a picture of the narrow-minded bourgeois establishment -

and the smashing as a rebellious activism against exactly that.

 

It's always struck me that these folks never destroy their race cars, mansions, yachts or Rolexes. Does he destroy his amps or his mikes? Only their guitars.

I think it's a 'control' thing. An arrogant way of saying - "I am superior to this guitar."

" It is nothing without me. Wood, splinters, twisted wire.... My fans MUST recognize that I am a god. Period. Not a 'guitar god' - a god. I do not respect my tools. They are nothing without me."

Quite interesting psychological angle opposed to my social/political just delivered.

 

You say the destruction meant :

I'm now a master of not only the guitar, which I financially as skill-wise laid under for so long, but also the power to determine its fate.

I have become the absolute superior half of this relation. No longer am I the wishing slave long-fully staring through the music-store windows.

I rose above that - I'm free !

And the answer would be :

Yes, Pete, you're free, , , but you lost something valuable while breaking the chains. And it'll take time and discipline for you to work that back.

 

In fact a classic dilemma right there. .

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

To quote myself from 2013:

 

Posted 09 March 2013 - 02:41 PM

 

He didn't like doing that but was convinced to for charity. He was told that if he smashed the J200 on the show, the remains would be auctioned off and be worth more to charity smashed than if he simply played it. He later said he regretted the decision even if it was for charity.

 

 

Thanks for that clarification. There is always danger in reaching conclusions without context.

 

I've certainly done plenty of things my life that I regret, including some that are worse than smashing a guitar. Causing pain to other people is at the top of my list of regrets. But I never smashed a guitar.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I’ve seen this before...leaves me utterly cold, as it did then. I can’t stand the destruction of anything that brings people joy, whether for charity or not. It’s senseless and is absolutely against every instinct I have in me.

 

I don’t like Pete Townshend one bit. Great songwriter, great guitarist but a deeply questionable character.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Some things strike me as simply wrong. And, because of that, there are some things that a person simply does not do. Willful destruction of that kind is about half a step from abusing innocent people, animals, and the natural environment - generally entities with no idea why they are suffering by your hand. Serial abusers aren't entertaining, they're scum.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I’ve seen this before...leaves me utterly cold, as it did then. I can’t stand the destruction of anything that brings people joy, whether for charity or not. It’s senseless and is absolutely against every instinct I have in me.

 

I don’t like Pete Townshend one bit. Great songwriter, great guitarist but a deeply questionable character.

 

 

Can agree that he wrote some good songs, but he wouldn't make my top 10, (or maybe even 50) list talent wise. Never was much of a Who fan, and I'm old enough to say that I was there when they started out. and this smashing guitars thing, just turns me off completely. Like I said b4,, he's an A-hole..

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1526956980[/url]' post='1936543']

To quote myself from 2013:

 

Posted 09 March 2013 - 02:41 PM

 

He didn't like doing that but was convinced to for charity. He was told that if he smashed the J200 on the show, the remains would be auctioned off and be worth more to charity smashed than if he simply played it. He later said he regretted the decision even if it was for charity.

 

I don't know where this rationale lies, between truth and fiction, but he could have gotten a lot more $ for the charity if he'd sanctioned and signed the guitar and let it be auctioned off as an instrument from his concert and collection and not debris. Or he could have given the charity ten grand. Or he could have simply said "No". Like many insanely talented artists, he's convinced he's a superior being.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Pete smashed it good. That thing flew apart. Pete is a professional and knows how to make a guitar his be-I -itch. You notice he doesn't smash Martin's.

 

Probably because Martin knew enough not to let Pete near his guitar.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ugh. Like so many posted before me, I too hate the destruction of something that someone put their best efforts into making. Not to mention that guitar wood as a whole isn't an endless commodity.

 

Too bad that beautiful guitar never got the chance to age well and bring someone else joy.

 

I hate that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...