[Porcell with Youth Of Today, Photo: Ken Salerno]
Porcelly wrote this a few years back on the True Till Death board. Since that site went the way of the dinosaurs not too long after this was posted, we figured it was worth a new publication. We also thought it would be cool to match up the stories with the faces, so we grabbed what photos we could to go along with each. RESPECT.
-DCXX
Ok, a subject that I can get into, here's my list...
-First and foremost, John Watson, first singer of Agnostic Front and Cro Mags roadie. The guy invented the circle pit for God's sake! (or at least was the first to do it in NYC). Seriously, he was one of the first people to "mosh" instead of slam, and his style is pretty much the blueprint for what became NYHC style pitting.
[John Watson with Agnostic front, 1982, Photo: Savage Pink]
[Eric Cassanova and Harley, Photo: unknown]
-Carl Mosh, singer for the Icemen and (briefly) Underdog. The guy took moshing to the next level, making it almost an art form. For just pure style, he was actually the best (hence the name), he just looked so damn cool when he was out there. Also pretty much invented all the stereotypical mosh moves -- picking up change, Thor's hammer, lawnmower, etc. Always imitated, never duplicated.
[Carl with The Icemen in DC, Photo: Ken Salerno]
Honorable mention has to go to:
-Womp'm, the guy that drew all those cool old NYHC flyers. Real hard looking dude who danced as hard as he looked. Once he broke his nose in the pit at a Youth Brigade show, went into the bathroom, straightened it out with his hands (I heard it crunch) and then went right back out to the dancefloor.
[Although not the actual guy "Womp'm", Russ's bass strap says it all, Photo: Boiling Point]
Jay with Krakdown at CB's, Photo: Boiling Point]
-Mike Judge. Didn't really do much, just basically stood in the middle of the pit, looking menacing. Invented the face rake, hands on top of the head, look of anguish thing. The guy was just freakin' hard.
Gotta love moshing...Porcell
This blog is the best thing ever to read at work. It should be updated by the hour...
ReplyDeleteMy friend David Jones (40, Los Angeles) is writing a book about the early LA scene, and has the following to say about circle pitting out here:
ReplyDelete"The old floor on the Starwood for example would just erupt with violence and slamming – no circle, just the whole floor. Not much later it started to develop into the circular thing. At my first show at the Civic for X in October ‘80 it was still random sections of dance floor. By my first hardcore show at Devonshire Downs May ‘80 with Adolescents/TSOL/Chiefs/Stains/Wasted Youth it was still not exactly a circle. But by late ‘81, early ‘82 I think at the big shows it started to become the circle. Palladium TSOL/Social D/Adolescents in ‘82 I definitely remember the circular pit."
Two NYer's that Porcell left out:
ReplyDeleteMark Ryan...pretty sure the "helicopter" was a Mark Ryan original (from the original Death Before Dishonor and then Supertouch
Alexa: She could handle the pit as well as any guy could, low center of gravity, mean left hook and a great stage diver
WHAT ABOUT CHAKA FROM BURN/ORANGE 9MM??? that dude at least deserves an honorable mention. he did a lot of the spinkick shit and the style moshing. and when it came to stage dives, he could sing, do a full-flip stage dive into the crowd, and then get back on the stage to sing without ever touching the actual floor. he would just bicycle kick across peoples' heads. that dude made it look cool.
ReplyDelete