Smashing guitars
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In Rock & Roll music, there is a long, storied tradition of the destruction of instruments onstage during a performance. The most famous of these acts is smashing your guitar.
[edit] Early Years
It is rumored that Charles Mingus was the father of the practice of guitar smashing. Mingus, a great jazz bassist and composer, once destroyed his $800 bass in a moment of intense frustration with his band. In the audience that night were members of the rock band The Animals who re-created the instrument destruction in their own sets.
In the mid 60s, guitarist Peter Townshend of The Who was perhaps the most famous guitar smashing artist. He saw his guitar smashing as a kind of Auto-destructive art. Jeff Beck, then a member of the Yardbirds, also became famous for destroying his guitars onstage around the same time. Jimi Hendrix is also famous for guitar destruction, namely for setting guitars on fire at a number of different shows. Most notably the Monterey Pop Festival.
[edit] Late Guitar Smashing
Kurt Cobain would frequently smash guitars at the end of Nirvana shows, but they were often cheap Japanese Stratocasters that were brought onstage, simply for the purpose of destruction.[citation needed]
Paul Stanley, the lead guitarist from KISS would frequently smash his signature Silvertone guitars, at the end throwing the halves into the crowd.[citation needed]
Nikki Sixx, bassist of Mötley Crüe also smashes basses at the end of concerts, usually a Precision copy, but sometimes a Gibson Thunderbird.[citation needed]
