International Guitar Month: The Art of Guitar Destruction
Hey readers,
In honor of International Guitar Month, a glorious month dedicated to celebrating the existence of guitars, we're kicking it off with a force of destruction. Taking a look at some of the not so fortunate incidents that have occured to our precious instrument throughout the years.
As Western as Quentin Tarantino's 'The Hateful Eight' is, there are some rock 'n' roll vibes scattered throughout as well. Perhaps one of the most memorable scenes is where Kurt Russell's character smashes a guitar. Not just any guitar though, turns out the guitar he destroyed was an authentic 1870s antique Martin guitar loaned by the Martin Guitar Museum. The guitar was supposed to be replaced in the smashing scene for a copy but some poor fellow forgot to make the switch. Hey, at least Tarantino got a genuine reaction out of the performance.
Accidental guitar smashing isn't just for Tarantino films. The culture of violently destroying guitars on stage stemmed from Pete Townshend, guitarist of The Who. In a 1986 interview with Rolling Stone magazine Townshend revealed that he was playing with The Who at a club in west London when his guitar accidentally hit the ceiling and broke.
“I was expecting everybody to go, 'wow, he's broken his guitar,'” he said. “But nobody did anything which made me a kind of angry in a way and determined to get this precious event noticed by the audience.”
He then proceeded to break the guitar, smashing it on stage and throwing the bits around as if he meant to. By 1966 guitar smashing became a Townshend trademark and a major part of the The Who's performances.
“I had no idea what the first smashing of my guitar would lead to, but I had a good idea where it all came from...” he said.
Over the course of his career, Townshend has smashed everything from glorious Fender Stratocasters to highly sought out Gibson Specials and many others. Which begs the question, why destroy a perfectly good instrument?
"I think, with guitar smashing, just like performance itself, it's a performance, it's an act, it's an instant and it really is meaningless," Townshend said.
Townshend has revealed when he couldn't play as a musician he would make up for in his performance visually. He would incorporate things like banging his guitar and allowing it to get feedback, scrapping and rubbing it against the microphone or throwing it on the floor.
"In fact, I forgot all about the guitar because my visual thing was more my music than the actual guitar," he said.
Then one day his guitar just accidentally broke. Fueled by the hype from the audience, he took his visual performance a step further. Now, the Martin Guitar Museum sure wasn't thrilled when their antique was shattered to pieces and after that incident even stopped loaning out their guitars for prop use. But in Townshends case, his ability to continue on with visually pleasing the audience, in the event of unexpectedness, holds him highly not only as a guitarist but as a visual artist. If it wasn't for Townshends quick reaction to utilize the moment in an act of visual preformance, the audience would have been horrified that he broke his guitar.
Townshend found his niche in visually pleasing his crowds. The art of guitar destruction came naturally to him and aided him as a preformer. Some of us might cringe when we see a perfectly good guitar being destroyed while others can appreciate the added affect it can bring to top off an already mesmorizing performance. It all depends on the musician.
But Townshend is not the only guitar legend out there to include guitar smashing as a part of his performance. Although he might have started the brigade, a series of wood flying and string snapping were to follow as a way to make a concert legendary.
Here are five other guitarists who also engage in the art of guitar destruction:
Ritchie Blackmore, Deep Purple and Rainbow
Ah no one smashes a guitar quite like Ritchie. His shining moment can be remembered back in 1987 when he broke his finger in the process of destroying one of his axes during a show.
Paul Stanley, Kiss
Smashin’ since 1975, Stanley knows how to end a killer performance with an ultimate beating to his guitar.
Eddie Van Halen, Van Halen
Not a regular when it comes to destruction but he had a killer smash session during the band’s summer 2004 tour in Tucson, Arizona.
Yngwie Malmsteen
Perfecting the art of destruction, one smash at a time this Swedish guitarist really took his time to wowing the audience with this guitar execution.
Kurt Cobain, Nirvana
The runner up in guitar destruction went as far as in destroying amps, speakers and cabinets at the end of his performances.
What do you think? Is there an art to guitar destruction or is it just a spur of the moment rush to crush your instrument? Share your thought and comments, we're always happy to hear from you guys.
Happy International Guitar Month and play it fucking loud.