According to Steven Blush's book American Hardcore: A Tribal History (2001), there is a common belief amongst those involved in this scene that the dance was invented by former US army marine Mike Marine in 1978. Participants in slam dancing at this time modified the pogo by bringing additional physical contact to those around them by pushing and running, as well introducing the idea of a recognised area where it takes place called a 'pit'. Īs a prominent punk rock scene in Southern California began to form in the late 1970s and early 1980s with early hardcore punk groups like Fear and Black Flag, moshing as it is understood today began to develop, originally termed 'slam dancing'. According to The Filth and the Fury, it was invented by Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious in 1976. The direct predecessor to moshing was the pogo, a style of dance done in the 1970s English punk rock scene, in which crowds members would jump up and down while holding their arms beside them. History Origins and early developments (1970s–1980s) Crowd surfing over a mosh pit The term was then further popularised by Anthrax's 1987 song ' Caught in a Mosh'. Once Stormtroopers of Death released their debut album Speak English or Die in 1985, which included the track 'Milano Mosh', the term began being applied to the style of dance. 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'. hardcore band the Bad Brains, shouted 'mash it - mash down Babylon!' Because of his faux Jamaican accent, some audience members heard this as 'mosh it - mosh down Babylon'.

While performing their song 'Banned in D.C.' in either 1979 or 1980, H.R., vocalist of Washington D.C. The name 'mosh' originates from the word 'mash'. 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.ĭue 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. 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. Through the 1980s it spread to the hardcore scenes of Washington, D.C., Boston and New York where it developed local variants. The dance style originated in the southern California hardcore punk scene, particularly Huntington Beach and Long Beach around 1978. Taking place in an area called the mosh pit (or simply the pit), it is typically performed to aggressive styles of live music such as punk rock and heavy metal. Moshing (also known as slam dancing or simply slamming) is an extreme style of dancing in which participants push or slam into each other. Late 1970s, Huntington Beach and Long Beach, California, United States

Audience members moshing to American thrash metal band Toxic Holocaust

Folk metal mosh pit