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If shows got too rough sometimes women were invited to sit on the stage away from the chaos. Women would get onstage to call out violence, abuse or harassment they had witnessed or were being subjected to. It also allowed the bands to play directly to the women the songs were written for. The term ‘girls to the front’ was created by riot grrrl bands that asked men to make room for the women in the audience to readdress the balance. The woman-centric riot grrrl movement of the early 90s was born partly out a frustration about the hyper masculinity on display at punk shows and the need to create a ‘safe space’ for women. The intense violence at shows can be cited as one of many reasons why swathes of women left a visible side of the punk scene in the 80s / 90s. The band took a public stance against moshing and warned crowds against moshing at gigs. In 1996, a teenage girl was crushed to death by a moshing crowd at a Smashing Pumpkins gig in Dublin, Ireland. The dangers of moshing are well known injuries are common place and fatalities have also been known to occur. “I remember looking round and asking ‘why are all these girls standing there holding these jackets’ and I remember overhearing another person say ‘those are the coathangers’.” In Don’t Need You- The Herstory of Riot Grrrl, Madigan Shive, musician in riot grrrl band Tattle Tale, describes a both typical and disturbing scene at punk shows in the 80s / 90s: “There would be girls standing all around the corners holding these jackets and then there would be the boys with their shirt off playing hardcore music. Women were pushed further and further to the sides and eventually, if they got tired of the negative atmosphere, out of the scene. The scenes that spawned slam dancing were generally male dominated, where a particular brand of hyper masculinity thrived.

It became an ongoing joke that guys would limber up before a gig and practice moves designed to impact as many people as possible. Moshing, or slam dancing, began in the 80s hardcore scene when crowds started to engage in more aggressive dance moves to release energy. That, alas I know, is just my view (I’d also ban headbanging) but there are more reasons to dislike moshing other than an obvious disrespect to music.

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As someone who loves to feel the undulating rhythms in a song I could never understand why you would choose to flail your limbs aimlessly and career yourself into random strangers akin to performing an interpretive dance to a particularly wild piece of free jazz. I personally could happily see the end of all mosh pits. Moshing and aggressive behaviour at gigs has forever been a frustration in the alternative scene, but how should it be dealt with? Does it need any confrontation at all or should everyone just ‘get used to it’? Can more be done other than a few peaceful words and well meaning signs. The signs seemed like a mere joke afterwards but the good intention was certainly there. Left with the only option to monitor the crowd, McArdle kept a close eye on the pit her voice filled with emotion and determination, her face steely and focused. JG’s lead singer, Alanna McArdle, made several attempts to calm the crowd but to no avail.

#BEST MOSH PIT SONGS FULL#

Stage front at the Shacklewell Arms all dayer, despite a great atmosphere, signs promoting ‘Girls to the Front’ and a host of brilliant but un-mosh-inducing bands, by the time US hardcore band Perfect Pussy and noise pop favourites Joanna Gruesome came on, the crowd was in full throbbing mode. Uniform in motion and occasionally in style, the gentle dance that occurs in the pit can be a mesmerising experience, that is until a hurricane of hyper aggression cuts through the room displacing the good time and good people.

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