Smashing Guitars

[Martin Spaans]

Sometimes musicians smash their guitars into several pieces by brute force during their performance.
I allways get a little angry with that, you can better throw it in the public or give it away to a fan.
Is this habitt only done by some professional guitarists or are some of you doing it also and why?
Maybe we can make a top ten of famous guitar smashers.
I know a few:
Jimmy Hendrix
Pete Townsend

[zepp_rules]

i always thought it was pretty cool, but i never could figure out why someone would waste a guitar like that, anyways i've seen pete townshend toss his guitar out to his fans before

[Raskolnikov]

I myself haven't got the heart (or lack there of) to smash a guitar.

[justinsane666]

I COULDN'T DO IT MYSELF... LOVE MY GUITAR TOO MUCH! BUT IT IS DAMN COOL TO WITNESS!:)

GOT ONE FOR THE TOP 10 LIST... KURT COBAIN. NOT ONLY DID THE GUITAR GOTO HELL, BUT EVERY ****ING PEICE OF EQUIPMENT ON STAGE WENT ALONG FOR THE RIDE TOO!!

THINK ABOUT IT...
LATER!

[Christoph]

I've gotta agree with Martin up there. As cool as it may look, it pisses me off to see a lot of good equipment wasted in that way. I would be a lot more impressed if they gave their stuff away to their fans instead of burning it, smashing it, whatever.

[Bardsley]

I remeber Hendrix talking about it. He said guitar was like his soul (as we all feel at some point), and that burning his guitar was like making a sacrifice, to the god of music. He was possibly on acid at the time. Nice comment though.

[Joseph]

Originally posted by Martin Spaans
Sometimes musicians smash their guitars into several pieces by brute force during their performance.
I allways get a little angry with that, you can better throw it in the public or give it away to a fan.
Is this habitt only done by some professional guitarists or are some of you doing it also and why?
Maybe we can make a top ten of famous guitar smashers.
I know a few:
Jimmy Hendrix
Pete Townsend


Well, yeah it frustrates me too. For the most part, Ive always believed that every guitar has a soul, :D. I think that there are too many musicians who who feel the need to destroy their set due to the lack of energy on the fans part. I guess in a way they feel that if the music couldn't get the job done, they want to give the fans something to talk about the next time they come around town..[i] I could never destroy a guitar, I'm too self conscious about stuff like that...Sometimes its fun to watch, but after a while, once you analyze it, its really dumb...

-Joseph