Moshing

Moshing (also known as slam dancing or simply slamming) is a style of dancing in which participants push or slam into each other. Taking place in an area called the mosh pit (often simply the pit), it is typically performed to aggressive styles of live music such as punk rock and heavy metal.

The dance style originated in the southern California hardcore punk scene, particularly Huntington Beach and Long Beach around 1978. Through the 1980s it spread to the hardcore scenes of Washington, D.C., Boston and New York where it developed local variants. In New York, the crossover between the city's hardcore scene and its metal scene led to moshing incorporating itself into metal beginning around 1985. In the 1990s, the success of grunge music led to moshing entering mainstream understanding and soon being incorporated into genres like electronic dance music and hip-hop.

Due to its violence, moshing has been subject to controversy, with a number of concert venues banning the practice, and some musicians being arrested for encouraging it and concertgoers for participating.

Etymology

The name "mosh" originates from the word "mash". While performing their song "Banned in D.C." in either 1979 or 1980, H.R., vocalist of Washington D.C. hardcore band the Bad Brains, shouted "mash it—mash down Babylon!" Because of his Jamaican accent, some audience members heard this as "mosh it—mosh down Babylon". Beginning around 1983, metalheads began to refer to the slower sections of hardcore songs as "mosh parts", while hardcore musicians had called them "skank parts".