Why do artists smash their guitars on stage?
Just a few hours ago, Phoebe Bridgers visited the set of 'Saturday Night Live' where, after finishing the two songs she performed in her typical Halloween costume, she ended up smashing the guitar several times against one of the set monitors. By the way, something that Win Butler (Arcade Fire) already did in the same late show back in 2007. Many media have echoed today such a thing, although to me personally the scene seemed a bit ridiculous and certainly not very credible (spoiler alert, the guitar did not really break). And it's nothing personal with Phoebe but breaking instruments has never seemed very appealing to me.
Nevertheless, long before Phoebe it was Pete Townshend (The Who), who inspired by an art performance of the time would popularize such an act after destroying his Rickenbacker guitar for the first time at the 'Railway Tavern' in September 1964. A moment that later Rolling Stone magazine would include in its list of moments that changed rock history. The Who's guitarist would soon be followed by the band drummer, the eccentric and self-destructive Keith Moon who began to destroy drums at the end of the concerts too. And although Pete is known to be the pioneer in destroying instruments, already in the 50s Jerry Lee Lewis used to set his pianos on fire.
Jimi Hendrix also left some moments for the history of rock. He was known for destroying his guitars and amps and he famously burned a guitar in 1967 at the iconic ‘Monterey Pop Festival’. A few years later, Paul Simonon would leave another of those images that have gone down in history. I wonder if there is anyone who has not seen his famous snapshot (cover in addition to the famous album 'London Calling') destroying his bass Fender out of frustration over the bouncers at the show not allowing the audience to stand up from their seats.
It would be in the 90s when Kurt Cobain and the other members of Nirvana would end up popularizing an act that would be repeated many years after by many artists. Some, as Phoebe did last night in some sort of orchestrated and mainstream way, others as an act of disobedience and rebellion as happened in the past, and some others as Tom Simonon did, as a consequence of frustration. As an example of this last thing, two curious anecdotes below.
The first occurred in 2011 during the extinct Scottish festival 'T in the Park', when Caleb Followill (Kings Of Leon), angry after many sound problems, destroyed his Gibson from 1972. Something that obviously he regretted shortly after because he asked the audience to return the pieces and had the guitar put back together by the Gibson's restoration department (Nowadays Followill continues to play the same guitar). The second anecdote occurred one year after in Las Vegas during the ‘iHeartRadio’ festival when an irritated Billie Joe Armstrong (Green Day) went crazy on stage after not being given enough time for their performance.
And as a final curiosity, it is of course the megalomaniac Matt Bellamy (Muse) who holds the record for breaking the most guitars in one tour, with 140 during the 'Origin of Symmetry' tour in 2001.
Cover photograph by Pennie Smith
