You know you’ve made it as a rock n roll star when you can easily smash a guitar that tons of people kill for just to own it

@blackaciddevil

15 күн бұрын

This is a bad take. Plenty of impoverished artists have taken to smashing their instruments during a performance. And nobody is killing for a guitar, if they really wanted a guitar that badly I’m sure they could walk into a guitar center and steal one, supposedly that’s how Motley Crue acquired their instruments.

@evandylan

14 күн бұрын

Well considering I smashed the shit out of my Ibanez bass into my Fender amp, it’s worth it 😎

@puncturedbicycle7264

14 күн бұрын

@@blackaciddevil chill it’s just a figure of speech (Reaching a level of success in which money is no object or concern for you) lmao

@lucianojocy

14 күн бұрын

That's your bar? Becoming rich enough to afford being extravagant? Doesn't sound "rock'n'roll to me.

@puncturedbicycle7264

13 күн бұрын

@@lucianojocy I think guitar smashing is cool but personally I won’t do it. I love my guitars too much to do that Besides I just think that once money is no longer a problem you can just focus on the music, writing, touring, and performing. Rock n roll is supposed to be fun, fast, and loud and having a good time in general but you can’t be any of those things when rent is due a week and you only got 10 dollars to your name. And then you’ll spiral into drugs and alcohol and you know how that story goes

My favorite part of the iconic Hendrix performance is when he kisses his guitar before setting it on fire, almost as an apology for what he’s about to do.

@hansolo9585

9 күн бұрын

Everyone who destroyed their instrument after Jimi (besides the Who) kinda missed the point of why he did it. It was performance theatre meant to usher in a new era of rock music

"We break stuff as protest against consumerism" "Then what? "We buy more stuff at supermarket and break it as protest against consumerism"

@madatlas3806

15 күн бұрын

I thought the same thing 😂

@baileywatts1304

14 күн бұрын

"Excess ain't rebellion. Are you drinking what they're selling? Self-destruction will not hurt them, your chaos won't convert them They're too happy to rebuild it. You can never really kill it"

@alfonsalenius2482

14 күн бұрын

​@@baileywatts1304cool quote, who said it?

@kostibulished

14 күн бұрын

@@alfonsalenius2482 It's from Cake's Rock 'n' Roll Lifestyle.

@baileywatts1304

14 күн бұрын

@@alfonsalenius2482 It's from CAKE's Rock and Roll Lifestyle

I had a guitar that was no longer playable. I could have thrown it into the trash, but instead, I smashed it and put it into the bonfire as a sacrifice to Saint Jimi.

@Donyourmom

13 күн бұрын

Based

Krist novaselic throwing his bass in the air and it coming down on his head. 😮😂

@spooley

15 күн бұрын

Then getting a kick in the ass from Kurt who didn't know why Krist was running off stage. Ah, MTV iconic moments

@EchoMountain47

14 күн бұрын

I’m convinced that explains why he became a wacko right wing nut job later in life lol

@ecurewitz

14 күн бұрын

Ouch

It's honestly no wonder that London Calling has one of the most iconic album covers ever. Obviously The Clash weren't the first to smash guitars on stage; however, that guitar smash on the album art is like the perfect embodiment of late 70s punk rebellion, and I have no doubt that it inspired a legion of imitators in the process

@ikepigott

15 күн бұрын

Counterpoint - Artists always lean into certain visual cues to give a still photo a sense of motion. In this case, the motion indicated is supplied by your memory, and had there not been Townshend’s legacy of smashing guitars, the Clash cover wouldn’t have had the same impact.

@Jaspertine

15 күн бұрын

The London Calling album cover also explicitly uses the same font-work as Elvis Presley's self-titled album. The album cover was meant to be a kind of fun-house mirror, with Elvis passionately strumming away on his guitar, mouth wide open, and Paul Simonon, holding his bass by the neck, about to ram it into the floor.

@LuxuryPossum

15 күн бұрын

It also helps that it's the cover to one of the best punk albums of the 70s, if not of all time!

@EchoMountain47

14 күн бұрын

Great but kind of misleading album cover, as that album marked a shift away from their raw punk rock origins

@LuxuryPossum

14 күн бұрын

@@EchoMountain47 If anything it is a good representation of that shift, with the text on the album mimicking the first Elvis record. Both the image and the text work in concert to let the listener know "This is still punk, but we're going to try some new stuff". The Sex Pistols were dead, and the Clash needed to keep moving, experimenting with more genre's of music they enjoyed, like ska, reggae, and rockabilly.

I feel like there's something so self-destructive about smashing a guitar, almost like self-harming. Like it's the one companion you've had through thick and thin. It's literally the instrument you use to communicate your feelings and speak you inner dialogue through in a desperate attempt to be understood by anyone. And you symbolically strip yourself of that!!! How Pete Townshend explain it really strikes a cord; that no one seemed to see him, to see the frustration and sorrow he felt by losing something he held dear. That no one put the same devastating meaning into the situation... It probably could have been fixed. But while IN that moment, there's nothing els to do but to make a big, loud and violent scene out of it. Making sure everyone else sees the hurt you're going through. No matter how much you're simply hurting yourself in the process. Metaphorically leaving another cut open to spill your blood and heart out for anyone to notice and feel the traumatic devastation with you... I'm surprised that no one has captured an artist weeping over a broken instrument, but I suppose the genre of rock isn't exactly the vibe for that. At least not on stage.

@doctorrobert1339

15 күн бұрын

Great comment, love it

@delaneymcdermed2399

14 күн бұрын

This is like the best comment on youtube

@AlienToppedPancakes

13 күн бұрын

A cursory internet search did show a few incidents of musicians morning a broken instrument during a show. E.g Frank Iero, of My Chemical Romance fame, seemingly having a pretty emotional reaction to breaking the headstock off his guitar. Sitting on the edge of the stage and ending it by swinging the guitar around above his head. Mirroring Pete Townshends reaction in a lot of ways... Got to sympathies with it, losing a "friend" like that.

I heard in interviews that Nirvana was upset that the tour manager wouldn’t buy Dave a better set of drums that could stand up to the rigors of touring… so the lads in Nirvana decided to destroy all of their gear on stage so the managers would be forced to buy them new gear that wasn’t pure garbage. 😂 Kurt is quoted as saying the reason they smashed their guitars was to avoid an encore. No gear, no encore! 😂

@CamInABand

5 күн бұрын

Was this the 1991 Rotterdam show?

@WilliamHaisch

5 күн бұрын

@@CamInABand The specific story I saw was from a show at The Cabaret Metro in Chicago in Oct 12, 1991 when Nirvana was still playing clubs after Geffen had released “Nevermind” album and the music video was on MTV but the album hadn’t gone crazy with sales yet. The video is on KZread: “Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic Tell Old Nirvana Stories - Part 2”. The show date was pulled from the LiveNirvana site under the equipment guide. 😀

The great PS to Paul Simonon smashing his bass, was that he later said he smashed the wrong one. He had two Bass guitars, one he preferred more over the other, and in his fit of rage during that show, he didn't realize that the bass he was smashing was the good one. I have heard later, he would be playing his remaining bass guitar, and would lament that he should have destroyed it over the one he ultimately smashed on stage.

@ian_does_things6586

14 күн бұрын

The rock gods needed a good sacrifice in exchange for one of the most iconic album covers in music.

Townshend was an art student and a fan of Gustav Metzger's. To him the guitar smash was some kind of expressionist art performance and he started hating doing it, when it rather became a circus act after some time.

Pete Townsend: smashes guitar Boomers: Hell yeah dude, rock and roll! Phoebe Bridgers: smashes guitar Boomers: oH mY gOd WhY sHe So AnGy?!?!?1

@bobsbigboy_

15 күн бұрын

she wasnt angry tho was she? she looked bored and clumsy

@thecosmicblueautie

15 күн бұрын

Gotta come up with a new approach!

@bobsbigboy_

15 күн бұрын

@@thecosmicblueautie twin, you either DESTROY a guitar or you don't. Honestly the only other good alternative Ive seen is Alex Turner nonchalantly tossing his guitar behind him and walking off

@EchoMountain47

14 күн бұрын

I don’t think it’s about the smashing of the guitar but about the artistic intent. I think the criticism with her was that it was very staged, premeditated and contrived

@lee32476

14 күн бұрын

@@EchoMountain47if you don’t think any of those guys took the stage with the intent of smashing their guitar at the end I’ve got a bridge for sale if you’re interested.

Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood smashed everything on stage at Anaheim stadium in the mid seventies. One of their equipment trucks had broken down, so they rented most of the stuff on stage. The sound kept cutting out during the first couple of songs. We could tell that Rod Stewart was getting really irritated, and at some point (I didn't really see this coming) he turned to Ronnie Wood and said something like, "You ready?" They started smashing EVERYTHING. Smashing guitars, stabbing amps with guitars, swinging mics on the cords and smashing them onto the stage. The best part was Ronnie Wood jumped up on the grand piano and started smashing the strings and mechanisms inside. If this was on film it would have gone down as one of the great guitar smashing moments in rock history. The stadium was packed, but I've never heard the story told by anyone else since then.

All those beautiful, broken Strats and 335s make me sad.

@mr_bassman6685

12 күн бұрын

At least you can glue Fenders/Squiers back together if you have all the pieces.

Trent Reznor breaking his keyboards was actually pretty cool. Skrillex breaking his macbook pro and accidentally slipping and falling was hilarious.

The only person that still to this day captures my attention is Pete Townshend. His physical delivery and expression always seemed so intense and incredibly raw. Anyone else who's attempted it just doesn't look and feel right. It was always a spontaneous combustion that was volcanic. Even watching him throw it in the air, twirling it, shaking it, using it as a machine gun was captivating.

@BobbysArchive

14 күн бұрын

I loved that him and Keith always moved around like animated cartoon characters and would make as much noise as possible while doing it, I really wish there was more footage

@ConglomerationCat

14 күн бұрын

@@BobbysArchive I completely agree 110%. I loved the eye contact they made on stage... Pete would spontaneously do something spur of the moment and Keith would lock in with him as if Pete was jumping off a cliff and Keith held on. Great visual chemistry for sure.

@decrox13

4 күн бұрын

This is the most ridiculous BS I've ever heard. They suck. They're a Beach Boy knock off band.

@BobbysArchive

4 күн бұрын

@@decrox13 I personally wouldn’t call the band that popularized/invented the marshall stack and round wound bass strings a Beach Boys knock off band. There’s a lot of The Who that sounds like proto-metal/punk, the only thing that is similar about The Beach Boys and The Who was that they were both great at vocal harmonies.

Kurt Cobain usually always smashed a Fender, because replacement necks were pretty easy to get. Kiss would use cheap Norlin era Gibson guitars for smashing, that era of Gibson produced a lot of guitars that were better off in the trash. Phoebe Bridgers was told by Danelectro: “Good luck, these are pretty strong” (the guitar was sold at auction, it was not really smashed that badly.)

The Jimi Hendrix Monterey pop one was classic

As an Italian, I can't help but point to a great local episode: when Placebo played as guests at the Festival di Sanremo, they were forced to lip sync their song, so they played along until the very end, then they smash the guitar: kzread.info/dash/bejne/pa6JkryLY73TXdo.htmlsi=0v8rfjEe87YVpt0E it doesn't make any loud sound, because they weren't actually playing (again: against their will)

As someone who both plays the guitar and has customized a few. I cannot consider smashing one that has stories or a history attached. a guitar I customized with my dad, a guitar I wrote portions of some of my songs on,... If I had to do it, I'd smash a new factory one and hope to destroy the body so badly I can use broken parts of the body, a mold and some epoxy resin to turn one guitar body into two.

That Clash show was anything but quiet and demure! I was in the balcony, and the floor was a seething mass of pogoing black leather that was going absolutely apeshit! Anytime I stopped dancing, I could feel the balcony flexing up and down!

New Polyphonic just dropped! 🗣🗣

I was not expecting the Louvin Brothers to be mentioned in a Polyphonic video. Neat!

I think it's be interesting to talk about what guitar smashing has morphed into in these recent years. First thing that comes to mind is Death Grips smashing the iMacs on stage.

@ultimadum7785

8 күн бұрын

Smashing an iMac is so unbelievably lame 🤣💀

@spartenz14

8 күн бұрын

@@ultimadum7785 ok

No mention of John Hiatt’s Perfectly Good Guitar?? Missed opportunity!

@BrightLightsTonight

14 күн бұрын

I. WAS. WONDERING. about the lack of mention of this as the aging reaction.

Saw the Manic Street Preachers at Cardiff Castle. Before the last song, the guitar tech bought on cheap Strat, so I knew Bradfield was going to smash the thing. But cheap Stratocaster’s are not what they used to be, and at the end of the song, James dutifully wielding the machine like a literal axe in crashed it onto the deck. It was fine. So he tried again and again to no avail. There is nothing sadder than watching a 50-something punk rocker banging away at a monitor wedge with a guitar someone spent time building, not because he was angry or impassioned, but because that’s what the audience - by now mostly wandering towards the exits - expected. Still, I got to say hello to Charlotte Church while James was being an ineffectual rocker on stage.

i often find myself crying from a feeling of wonder and longing to be a part of this culture, thank you for making these videos

Yoshiki from X-Japan was famous for his drum kit destruction bits on live concerts too.

"It breaks my hart to see those stars smashing perfectly good guitars" J.H.

also Keith Emerson abused his hammond organs and stabbed them with knives

@insertnamehere1258

12 күн бұрын

I think he also burned an old Mellotron at one point.

@bobsbigboy_

12 күн бұрын

@@insertnamehere1258 damn

@2dan4me97

11 күн бұрын

@@insertnamehere1258 that's Rick Wakeman

@insertnamehere1258

11 күн бұрын

@@2dan4me97 oops

@MrDogonjon

8 күн бұрын

Then he simulated masturbating with a synthesize and flames spurt out of it like an orgasm. crude theatrics but at least it was rude.

im doing an informative speech on the who for my coms class because of you and now im gonna tell people that they were one of the first to popularize smashing guitars in rock shows

Piano scene from "Reefer Madness" FTW!

Always an enigmatic ritual. Thanks for your unapologetic illumination on this subject. Love your videos sir :)

I went to a Bill Frisell concert this week, and it made me think you’d probably really enjoy his music! He’s got a really cool Americana, folk, jazz, blues guitar style going on, and his trio of musicians were excellent!

@thomaspetersen5522

15 күн бұрын

Frisell is a powerhouse of pure taste, tone and musical brilliancy... I am pretty sure he would be the last guy to Smash his guitar though, he is the most calm and humble guy in existence... I kinda want to see it though

@CorbCorbin

15 күн бұрын

He’s done so many different things. I first got into him, about 25 years ago. He’s release stuff nearly every year, for over 40 years! Not even counting all of other people’s projects he worked on.

Always makes me anxious. 😮

I can't believe you would make a video about guitar destruction, and not touch on its proliferation to Professional Wrestling, and how performers like Jeff Jarrett are synonymous with someone getting a guitar wrapped around their head.

From the holy text "The Clash: Before and After”, by Pennie Smith, with annotations: Paul don’t like Rotosound. - J.S. Meanwhile stage right: A girl (Coleen) ran towards me chased by a New York-style bouncer (behind Paul). Before he could reach her I stepped in and whisked her to safety - leaving the stage as the kit exploded into the orchestra pit. This all happened within the space of three minutes. The whole thing felt like a scene from a movie. - M.J.

I am surprised you did not mention y John Hiatt's smashing a perfectly good guitar

I wished you mentioned Charles Mingus destroying his bass or Nine Inch Nails smashing keyboards and guitars.

Richie Blackmore told the camera guy not to get in his face during the show, the camera guy didn't listen and Richie smashed his stat into the camera

And as a counterpoint is John Haitt's "Perfectly Good Guitar."

@jaccoverhaaf666

15 күн бұрын

That song always comes to mind when i see a guitar being destroyed. As a guitarist myself i would never be able to smash one

@spooley

15 күн бұрын

Oh, it breaks my heart to see those stars Smashing a perfectly good guitar

@Lolzosaurus

15 күн бұрын

I was looking to see if this comment had been made 😅

@madatlas3806

15 күн бұрын

Good tune, and a good message. Love that song.

@baileywatts1304

14 күн бұрын

@@jaccoverhaaf666 The song that always comes to my mind when I see a guitar smash is How Do You Afford Your Rock And Roll Lifestyle

Interestingly--or perhaps ironically--The Who, in 1978, actually mentioned destroying one's guitar in one of their songs ("Guitar and Pen" on WHO ARE YOU)

One of my favorite Nirvana destruction performances is definitely Live And Loud when they're done playing Endless Nameless. Or in 1990 at Bogarts when he destroyed his hand built Pink mustang and split the body clean in half

7:33 hey, that's Mickey Dolenz in the crowd there!

Only Kurt Cobain could make a song out of smashing a guitar.

Israeli rock legend (and one half of the duo "blackfield" with steven wilson) Aviv Geffen still breaks a lot of guitars on stage, it kinda became his thing.

Perfectly Good Guitar John Hiatt he threw one down from the top of the stairs beautiful women were standing everywhere they all got wet when he smashed that thing but off in the dark you could hear somebody sing it breaks my heart to see those stars smashing a perfectly good guitar i don't know who they think they are smashing a perfectly good guitar it started back in 1963 his mama wouldn't buy him that new red harmony he settled for a sunburst with a crack but hes still trying to break his mamas back oh it breaks my heart to see those stars smashing a perfectly good guitar i don't know who they think they are smashing a perfectly good guitar how he loved that guitar just like a girlfriend but every good thing comes to an end now he just sits in his room all day whistling every note he ever played well there outta be a law with no bail smash a guitar and you go to jail with no chance for early parole you don't get out until you get some soul oh it breaks my heart to see those stars smashing a perfectly good guitar i don't know who they think they are smashing a perfectly good guitar late at night the end of the road he wishes he still had that old guitar to hold he'd rock it like a baby in his arms never let it come to any harm oh it breaks my heart to see those stars smashing a perfectly good guitar i don't know who they think they are smashing a perfectly good guitar

3:51 Keith Moon: *Hold My Sticks* Jimi Hendrix: *You ain't seen nothing yet...*

It surprised me that Nine Inch Nails wasn’t mentioned. Even to this day they still smash guitars sometimes, but back in the 90’s they went through tonnes

You forgot that Blackmore also blew up his Marshall stack at CalJam ‘74.

This must be a Richie Blackmore documentary . . . .

That Phoebe Bridgers staged “smashing” was the lamest thing in RnR. It was the equivalent of soap opera RnR.

What a fantastic video have a wonderful weekend ❤😊

Thank you.

smashing guitars sounds like a new wave band name, hope it comes to reality one day

There's a slow-motion smash of a Fender-style bass guitar in the final scene of 1996's cult classic Frische Liebesgrotten.

In all my years of gig going, I've actually only seen one person smash a guitar in actual (alchohol fueled) anger (Jason Reece of ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead), though I've seen a few where it was just all part of the show. It had probably run it's course for the most part by the 80s, though maybe it is due a comeback?

@joermnyc

14 күн бұрын

A friend in college was bassist in a band, they once had a few too many at a gig in this tiny basement bar and all 4 of the band members wound up smashing the drum kit… the hi-hat clutch almost whacked me in the head… and then someone else stole it. This was after BOTH strap buttons on the bass broke! (He played pretty hard, thankfully the gaffers tape they had held on for the rest of the set.)

I wondered whether they were just cheap breakaway guitars which were barely playable. I mean, you wouldn't want to break your best-sounding guitar, would you?

1:14 Ironically or I guess not surprisingly, Roger Daltrey of The Who played Liszt in Ken Russell's biopic Listzomania.

Epic!

Paul Westerberg put it best when asked why he destroyed one of his Gibson ES335’s, “you cherish the things you love. Me? I destroy ‘em.”

Thats just pain when my stepsister says, destroy your guitar like a hippie, when im done playing guitar.

I kinda have a feeling that John Hiatt may not entirely agree... ;)

ngl Phoebe did look a bit awkward there... I see the vision, she just needed sum more emotion.

Can't believe you mentioned Wendy O. And the plasmatics God bless you. You are truly the best maker on KZread... keep up the amazing work... BTW a video on the plasmatics would be great.

This might be the first video I saw on something so ubiquitous

Phoebe Bridgers makes lowkey and depressing music idk why yall expect her to be like the London Calling cover

Great video, wonderful history lesson with much needed context to a practice that might mean little to nothing to young people. Seeing all those guitars destroyed did hurt me a bit on the inside, though.

@KamenSentaiMetalHero

14 күн бұрын

I'm a young person and I think it's cool.

hi polyphonic!! 👋🏻👋🏻

Guilty of destroying a few over the years in anger.

Can't believe he didn't give a mention to A Place To Bury Strangers ;(

Hanatarash went a step farther and smashed the venue XD

I'm not a violent man at all, but the mere idea of someone harming my guitar on purpose sparks a blood-lust beyond reason. I like Malcolm Young and Gretsch, not beaten up on purpose, but through decades of hard playing. He loved that guitar. I imagine the craftsman who made it was happy every time he saw it on yet another album-cover, while his boss bemoaned the fact that the company hasn't earned a penny from him all theses years.

I smashed mine at practice yesterday , the damn thing was cheap and was cutting out , my frustration got the better of me and next thing I knew my guitar was in two. I felt awful about afterwards wouldn’t recommend if you love your guitars but it does look cool

Great vid as usual, but you completely missed the opportunity to mention the end of Spongebob's "The Campfire Song Song"

i'd argue against the idea of piano smashing not being as gutteral as guitar smashing, as a ben folds fan the piano has such a long history of being a pompous/classy instrument (as its seen today) that when you throw a stool at it or kicking it like Tim Minchin, it's almost like humiliating it

that dude in bright eyes smashed his trumpet on letterman Hhaha

All I know is that John Hiatt is not a fan 😂

While I was In Japan I went to see many many shows from tool to zebrahead. Well I went to a mindless self indulgence show there which was a crowd of maybe 20 Japanese people and then me and by buddy being the only Americans there. At the end of the show which was amazing the guitarist “steve, right?” smashed his guitar into two pieces and gave the pieces to two people in the audience. Their bassist then invited my friend and I along with our gfs at the time backstage. We all hung out a while and got pics and autographed drum sticks and all

I knew that was a photo of Link Wray before the video zoomed out to show his face!

I love guitars, I'd rather destroy them with my ferocious playing.

Have you covered Cake yet?

The only instance that had actual flare and power to it was The Clash's as it came quite spontaneously. The rest just looked forced, out of place, and ironic coming from acts with relatively soft music and untroubled lives.

9:40 one of my favorite videos that you’ve done. I rewatch periodically when I’m stuck in an artistic rut 🤘

It's amazing to see how Boomers hace grown: first smashing guitars, then the economy, and now the principles of democracy. Such a glow up!

Nirvana guitar technician used the same guitars and rebuild them a number of times until they couldn't be rebuild anymore.

THE WHO REFERNCED‼‼‼‼WHAT THE FUCK IS A ROCK OPERAAAAAAA🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

Nice 👍🏿

Liszt! Correct.

It's very sad for all the people who would love to have an electric guitar but can''t afford it

Lots of iconic moments but you missed the one at the IHeartRadio festival where Billie Joe Armstrong got mad at a timer and smashed his guitar after going on a rant.

@alexallen6286

14 күн бұрын

ONE FUCKIN MINUTE

I knew matt was going to be in there somewhere

@Polyphonic; John Hiatt said it best - kzread.info/dash/bejne/lmmWx8mBg9K3YdY.htmlsi=tcIGoRChVIwIkMeu

Cake said it best: How much did you pay For the chunk of his guitar The one he ruthlessly smashed at the end of the show? And how much will he pay For a brand-new guitar One which he'll ruthlessly smash at the end of another show?

The Who were also known to smash cheap guitars like Danelectros.

All this guitar talk and no one mentions Keith Moon blowing up his kit on the Smothers Brothers show. That explosion is what damaged Pete's ear. Pull up the video and watch what happens.

@TBoneProductionsVB

13 күн бұрын

4:26 ?

I can see why someone would want to smash an out-of-tune mandolin... Have you ever tried to tune a mandolin? 🤣 Seriously though, I did get to smash a guitar on stage once. It was fun. I think maybe 2 people even noticed I did it.

I’m not so sure performative mock rage, signed off on by large companies, or preplanned with an expendable stand in instrument is *quite* the epitome of rock n roll. It mostly seems to be people smashing a guitar because that’s what they think they’re meant to do, more than any genuine feeling that may have started the trend

Green day's outrage on IHeartRadio Iconic one

I’m a repair tech and luthier and I want to get like a shitty squier and smash it at random shows

Cool video but as a aide note Iit might be off the subject but Keith Emerson useed to knife his piano and keyboard