Danelectro actually gave Phoebe Bridgers their blessing to smash the guitar on SNL, you nerds
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After being one of the most talked-about artists in the past year, Phoebe Bridgers finally made her Saturday Night Live debut last night. She brought much-needed excitement to a very “meh” episode, ending her performance of “I Know The End” by smashing her guitar. Cue some older Gen X-ers, boomers, and gearheads on Twitter who are very confused as to why she had to ruin a perfectly nice guitar.
After Jason Isbell tweeted in her defense—“That was like an 85 dollar guitar she smashed come on guys”—Bridgers cleared up this very dumb controversy by saying she actually got Danelectro’s blessing. The only thing Danelectro were concerned about was that the guitar is pretty damn hard to break. That’s why it took forever for it to get damaged (big selling point in case anyone wants to buy a Danelectro).
When fellow musician Kathleen Edwards tweeted half-jokingly in response saying it was the monitor what she was upset about because it’s “so nice,” Bridgers also revealed that Danelectro made her a fake monitor to break.
So yes, the monitor’s fake, Danelectro’s happy with their guitar becoming the Twitter topic of the day, and Phoebe Bridgers is now even more famous. And if you’re still pissed over Bridgers’ guitar-smashing, wait till you see what Bright Eyes did on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson back in 2005.
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170 Comments
Boomers and older Gen-Xers: “Kids these days.”
*adjusts bifocals*
“…harumph, so unladylike!”*no offence to any bifocal wearers, i wear them myself.
I kind of appreciated it in a weird way because rock has lost so much relevance with the kids of today that I was happy to see one of the kids of today remember that smashing guitars used to be a thing
If kids these days wanna rebel, they outa smash their iPhones.
Or post memes about it
Or she could rebel against indie rock but writing one song that doesn’t suck
Who wastes a perfectly good guitar?!
I read a story about Jimi a while back and what really struck me was that it didn’t fucking matter what guitar he had in his hands. He sounded like Jimi Hendrix and a god. I compare that with all my gearhead amateur friends and even some professionals with their endless tweaks and benchmark tests and tiny differences between this or building the perfect rack mount. Tone is the bone, man.
Probably because he was left-handed, but played on a right-handed guitar. Wonder what he’d sound like playing a left-handed guitar?
The earliest axe Hendrix built his rep as a pro guitarist was a Danelectro too!
I genuinely thought people were joking when they said they were upset about this. Smashing a guitar at the end of the performance is such an long-running and cliché act of rock “rebellion” that it almost loops back around to being tame.
not gonna lie, i used to get really pissed when rock dudes would trash their guitars, mostly because they were really nice guitars..
and then there were bands like pearl jam, who would smash les pauls and stuff, and then turn around and be like ‘save the trees!’but yeh, danelectros are tanks.
yeah i just thought it was corny i wasn’t worried about the guitar’s well-being.
Yeah is there a reason people are talking about the guitar smashing instead of the actual musical performance on this week’s SNL?
Right? I actually thought her first performance was a bit boring. I was thinking, is she really like that live? I like her music but when you actually see a musician live, hearing their music and seeing them live are like two different experiences. And then her second performance I thought was going to go the same route till she started screaming and then smashing the guitar. Which I found to be humorous cuz at first it didn’t look like that guitar was even getting damaged. I was like, “smash that shit girl! Pretend it’s an ex’s face who did you wrong!”
People getting the vapors over guitar smashing is truly baffling, considering how common it was when these old people were younger. What happens to old people that makes them like that? Is it some societal thing, or do their brains change? Help me, I’m over thirty and I want to know before it happens to me.
The backlash to this says more about SNL’s viewership than anything else.
Honestly, the discourse turned me from thinking that smashing guitars was passé to believing that Bridgers should’ve smashed more. Maybe flattened them with a big ol’ truck.
Just go straight from the musical performance into a full-on Gallagher sledge-o-matic routine.
Hm, Danelectro guitar vs. a watermelon? I think the guitar might break before the watermelon does.
Gen Xer here. To be honest I was put off by the fact that the whole thing seemed so staged and phony (and those tweets proved it definitely was). When Trent Reznor or Kurt Cobain smashed a guitar or a synthesizer, you could tell it was motivated by genuine emotion.
Do we need an actual reason to smash stuff? It’s just fun to do
Hey guys, Fred Durst is on this thread!
It always bothered me more when punk acts did it, because it felt like a petulant, decadent dad rock thing. Like, if you don’t want it, chuck it to the ground, someone will give it a good home.
It’s one of those things that’s contextual: it depends on who is doing it, where they’re doing it and why for me.
Which is why it felt cringey to me. Love Phoebe but it felt a little try hard considering song and artist.
You’re literally the person this post is making fun of lol
yeh, if i had an endorsement with some instrument company and got them for free, i’d totally give them away after the gig.
Paul Simonon regrets that P-bass getting smashed that’s on the cover of London Calling, because it was his favorite that he smashed on the spur of the moment because he was mad at the venue for how the bouncers were treating the audience.
I’ve always loved that album cover. You can feel the “FUCK THIS SHIT” attitude practically pouring from that photograph.
Didn’t Kurt Cobain really fuck up smashing a guitar at one point? I forget the details but I heard he really hurt himself in a really embarrassing manner.
Are you thinking of this time Krist knocked himself in the head with his bass?
Oh ok, I guess that’s what I heard about.
I haven’t seen this in years. Awesome. I will never got a kick out of how fucking tall and gangly novaselic is. And he plays the damn bass as low as he possibly can.
The messages of support for Trump make sense now.
Wait, what? Man he was an actual Democrat a while back… Like hot into politics…
A friend of mind did legit fuck his face up. He bought a cheap pawn shop for a show. He smashed it string-side up and the entire bridge flew up and caught him in the face, requiring a visit to the er for the blood and stiches. 🤣🤣🤣Lesson: smash string side DOWN!
Yeah he should’ve just done the Hendrix thing and light it on fire.
Rock n’ Fucking Roll!
But I can’t resist: He bought a pawn shop for one show?
🤣🤣🤣🤣 ded
Take strings off of prop guitars.
Nah he played it all show..
Krist decided it would be a great idea to throw his bass up into the sky and catch it with his forehead.Which now that I think about it, may have been the reason for all that Trump support.
It seemed like a good idea at the time.
Krist Novacelic threw his bass in the air and then it clocked him in the head.
I think you’re thinking of Krist Novoselic, who threw his bass up in the air and it came down on his head, maybe?EDIT: Sorry. Poor Kinja threading and I didn’t see that others already responded, with video and all.
I know Krist Novoselic knocked himself a good one on the head when he threw his bass in the air and failed to properly catch it. Pretty sure that happened at one of the MTV Music Awards.
Kurt used to get cheap guitars specifically to smash at his gigs so he wouldn’t fuck up his more expensive mustangs.
yeh, their trashing was quite deliberate.
I mean, the members of Nirvana are on tape saying they did it so they didn’t have to pack up after the show, so that blows your theory out the water.And everything is performance with Reznor, to assume the boys do it for some lofty high art reason is more than a bit silly.
I like how you pointlessly gendered the conversation.
Just like the original commentor, who failed to mention a single female led punk act that did what his little boys club did.
Yeah, I’m a woman just FYI.
That doesn’t absolve you from anything, I’m gay what does that make me bulletproof against?
And I wasn’t saying it does. But you seemed to be assuming I was a man, so thought I’d clear that up.
“Everything is performance” shouldn’t exclude lofty high art reasons. If anything, “everything is performance” should make it more likely to be lofty high art reasons.
Yeah, but Nirvana didn’t do it for “lofty high art reasons”, so it makes the original comment moot.
I thought Reznor did it because he was drunk.
Smashing your instruments so you don’t have to pack up after the show is way more rockstar than having a fake amp made specifically so you can smash it on SNL. No one said anything about “the boys” doing it for loftier reasons. I could’ve easily thrown Bikini Kill or Hole into that mix. I’m simply saying when those artists did it, you could feel there was emotion behind it. When Phoebe did it, it felt like, “Am I doing this right?”
How so?Seriously, explain to me how one is more rockstar than the other?You could have included those acts, you chose not to.
NIN and Nirvana are the bands that spring to my mind when I think of smashing instruments. Implying that there was sexism in the fact that I didn’t mention any female artists is reaching a bit, don’t you think?Having a prop amp made so you can smash it on SNL comes off as incredibly phony. Smashing your instruments so you don’t have to be bothered with packing them up belies an “I don’t give a fuck” attitude, which is definitely more rock n’ roll.
Phony like Nirvana miming on TV?
Agreed. Permission from the manufacturer? Fake monitor? LAME.
“When Trent Reznor or Kurt Cobain smashed a guitar or a synthesizer, you could tell it was motivated by genuine emotion.”
Uh huh, sure.
Gen Xer here. Smashing synthesizers should be motivated by “FUCK SYNTHESIZERS!”
Yeah, this is a publicity stunt, not a fucking act of expression. That’s what makes it shit. “WHOO, YEAH, DANELECTRO CALLED MY AGENT AND MY AGENT TALKED TO SNL AND THEY CLEARED WITH THE PROPS GUYS WHO PUT THE FACK FOLDBACK UP AND PUT AN ‘X’ IN MASKING TAPE ON THE FRONT SO I KNEW WHICH ONE TO SMASH AND THEY GAVE A FACTORY SECONDS GUITAR THAT DIDN’T ACTUALLY WORK AND THEN MY AGENT TOLD ME I WAS GONNA SMASH THIS GUITAR AND SO I HAD TO GO IN EARLY TO REHEARSE AND CLEAR IT WITH HEALTH AND SAFETY WHOO ROCK AND ROLL!!!”
You sure you’re genX? I figured we knew it was a put on but we just enjoyed the put on. Because everytime anyone destroyed a guitar it always just felt like a “move”. Especially someone like Cobain, who was basically just aping his heroes anyway.
Reznor had a stockpile of those synths specifically to smash, it was a gimmick. Just done better.
Kurt Cobain always switched to a cheap Squier Stratocaster for the final song to smash it. It wasn’t any less fake. C’mon.
Oh yesss, THIS.
I feel you, brother. Men’s emotions & motivations are reliable & genuine. Daddy gets to smash & mommy should be nice.
Plus her skellington cotume was bullshit, the whole band has skin
Nowhere did I say that Trent Reznor or Kurt Cobain displayed more genuine emotion onstage than female artists. Just this particular one. Shirley Manson kicks more ass onstage and off than practically anyone, male or female.And I happen to be a woman just FYI.
What you classify genuine emotion, i see as upper body strengthWTF did trent, kurt & shirley even have to be angry about? Multi millionaires all. Bridgers probably lucky to make a 10th of what these platinum selling 90s artist raked in
And by “genuine emotion”, you mean drugs, right?
I think those complainers have always been like that, but nowadays they’re just not getting the same amount of narcissistic supply that they used to “back in the day”. If you don’t think the world revolves around you now, chances are you’ll do alright when you’re older. At least that’s what I hope for, being in my late twenties.
Gen Xers 100% do not (as a group, there may be individuals) think the world revolves around them. We get forgotten most of the time (or lumped in with Boomers, who are mostly our parents) and we were the original latchkey kids, left on our own for much of our childhoods.But, Boomers, I’ll agree. I see this in my parents. I have a theory. They are such a large generation (in population, not necessarily in individual size) that for most of their lives, they were catered to. All the entertainment was aimed at them. All the ads and toys and whatever else was aimed at them. Their music was used in everything. There were so.many.movies about them. Now that there are three more generations after them and they are all starting to die off, stuff isn’t aimed at them anymore and they are baffled. Like a rich, spoiled kid who suddenly gets thrown into the world with nothing and can’t figure out why people don’t defer to them all the time and they can’t have everything they want.It can be exhausting.
It’s a friggin’ guitar. It’s not like she’s smashing baby seals or covid vaccines.One could make an argument that Phoebe occasionally borders on a little too precious and the guitar smashing felt out of place and a little too precious but complaining about the cost of a guitar and the waste of money is flat out stupid and dumb
Yeah, I’m truly gobsmacked about this. I was a big-time grunger and I distinctly remember hoping for instrumental destruction at the end of every show I ever attended.The closest I ever got was Kim Thayil using his guitar to hump his Marshall stack for about five minutes, just reveling in the feedback.
There were people in the SNL post here mad about it lol
kill yourself
Bridgers is always irritating the sensitivities of classic rock butt babies. She caught a good bit of shit last year for calling Eric Clapton mediocre.
Clapton’s onstage outbursts led to the formation of Rock Against Racism and the best she can do is “mediocre”?
I am quickly becoming a fan!
They always told me when I got older, I would become more conservative. I feel more anarchist, angry, and punk rock at 40 than I ever did in my 20s. ;)Also to your point I can’t believe wieners are complaining about a guitar smashing. And a semi-novelty brand like danelectro which I largely know based on their “our pedals look like they were made as accents to fifties diners” deco and ads, and sucked. If anything I WISH she smashed a Gibson because that company is entirely dependent on boomers with too much money for their wincing attempts at recapturing their lost youth in the basement of their beautiful home. Kids today are barely buying guitars much less obscenely overpriced Gibsons that that cost thousands but are made with all the care and quality of a tap-dancing bear juggling chainsaws. Coasting on name only like Harley Davidson.
The Danelectro 7 band EQ pedal was surprisingly good for the price when they used to only be $30. I got two for $9 each on Ebay a couple years ago and they’re great for just having around in case I need to cut or nudge a certain frequency range while recording.
Ooooh was that the black coffee? Or a different one. I’m sure one of my gear head friends actually swore by it. I’m mostly joshing danelectro for the gimmicky nature of their ads and deco. I had a few pedals they were fine albeit you got what you paid for in terms of build and sound. Mind I’ll also suggest that the “leaders” like BOSS are overpriced as hell these days. I get most of my pedals used cos guitar nerds are always reselling. Not even gonna lie, the knowledge that their guitars are tanks is appealing to me… 🤣
It was called the Fish & Chips. The Black Coffee was Danelectro’s three knob version of the Boss Metal Zone. Old Danelectros are hit or miss in terms of intonation because they didn’t start using truss rods in all of their models until the mid 60s, but the good ones are so good. The newer ones are a lot more reliable and super fun if you like the surfy jangle. They sound kind of like if a Fender Jaguar didn’t have all of the bullshit knobs and switches.
Now I want to buy a boss metal zone just out of tribute to 19 year olds like I was everywhere. Sunds like danelectro isn’t my sound, but that’s fun. 🙂
Wait until you encounter one of the lunatics who have started claiming the Metal Zone is a good pedal.
The Tuna Melt Tremolo is still the shit.
I think I still have that one.
And Pepperoni Phaser.
my first delay was a pb&j. i loved that thing.i also had a danelectro baritone *mwah*
My first distortion was their Grilled Cheese pedal. It sucked, but it was a minority in that line. Most sounded great. Bridgers makes such good use of her Dano baritone!
Says you! I bought a Les Paul when I was 22 even though it used about half of savings at the time. At 38 I’m in a much better financial position and fretted a lot more over the used Mexican Tele I bought last month.
Man made in Mexico fenders are terrific. How’s the tele?Those$3000 Gibsons at the store aren’t exactly as sought after by the kids as they once were. 🙂
Overall I like it, the guitar has everything I was looking to add. I bought it online, it’s a 2020 and was a floor model at a store, so not really all that used. My one complaint is that the fret ends are a little bit sharp. I’m debating on whether I try to file them on my own, or pay a tech to do it.
funny thing is, while guitar sales are down, more women are buying instruments. which, of course, no cares about because…women.
I’m admittedly not as in the loop on “music industry news” but that’s the first I’ve heard. I’ve seen dozens of GUITAR SALES ARE DROPPING/GIBSON IS IN TROUBLE stories but *to your point*……. Glad to hear but *to your point*🤦
oh yes, gibson has been in freefall for a while, no doubt. and guitar sales are down, it’s just a shift in demographics about who’s buying them.but i always chuckle at the rock world cognoscenti who wail about the death of rock when it has really just become more female and queer.i mean, if jack white had busted up his evh guitar a few weeks ago, everyone would have vomited praise over him… ‘ badass rocker paying tribute to the legends!!!’ and fainted with pride.
Probably playing them while getting those masters degrees.
I’d think no one cares about it because sales are still down and it’s completely irrelevant?
You. I like you.
When Pete Towshend could no longer shock people by smashing his guitar he started hitting people with his guitar. When that no longer shocked them he got into kiddie-porn.
I just turned 40 and it only got an eye roll from me. Like seriously, was that supposed to be a throwback? Yawn
Ohhh, you’re so cool!
people appear to be excited in old age at the prospect of rebelling against their own youthful rebellion, possibly by entertaining the idea that everything they thought was cool is actually wrong
I was kind of shocked just because it has been so long since I’ve seen someone smash a guitar. Guess the fact that it raised so much ire is indicative of the repression relapse this country is in
I was thinking the same thing, “Why would any Gen X and especially Boomer be upset by that? We [I’m Gen X] watched musicians do that a lot back in the day.” I mean, if it was a super nice guitar, I could see a musician being upset by it, but I doubt any of the musicians who have done this in the past used their nice guitars to do that.
What I find baffling is that all 30 year olds apparently think all ‘old people’ were guitar smashers. It wasn’t common; it was shocking for a reason.
She can smash me over a monitor whenever she wants.Or literally just stomp on my face.
It’s typical generational divide nonsense. Eventually you have to make peace with the idea that you’ve aged out of the demographic that is driving new music.
?Smashing guitars has been a thing since the 60’s. It’s not anything new, just seemed out of place for the song. Eh, whatever.
“It’s not anything new, just seemed out of place for the song.”
You didn’t think the song where she literally SCREAMS into the air for twenty seconds was the right song to smash a guitar at the end of?
OK, sad sack. Have you ever been fun?
The song she was playing should have come out 30 years ago. She’s not “driving new music”.
Just wait ‘til John Hiatt hears about this.
Remembering a time when people were put off that Nirvana smashed their guitars because “the Who already did it”
“Cue some older Gen X-ers, boomers, and gearheads on Twitter…”No mention of the younger dorks clutching their pearls over the “privilege” of smashing a guitar, and declaring that she “should’ve donated the guitar to charity instead”? Somehow this stunt brought out the idiocy of the old and young alike.
kill yourself
This is a Golden Age of being offended by something.
And to think, people thought that ‘kid canceling’ bit on Weekend Update was silly….
Hmn. Better listen to the performance before I say anything… [5:08 passes]Mercy killing.
Yeah is there a reason everyone’s talking about the guitar smashing rather than the actual musical performance?
I have no idea. She was fantastic as always.
She should have used it on some of the undead around her. Skeletons take extra damage from bashing weapons.Giving the company a heads-up before doing it doesn’t seem very rebellious. Then struggling to smash it, failing to do so, and walking off seems even goofier.Can’t wait for it to show up on eBay: “Screen-used Danelectro guitar. Signed by Phoebe Bridgers. Minor cosmetic damage.”
Apparently, the Daneletco 56 is worth about 10 times $85 …https://www.google.com/shopping/product/3870245587734525852?q=danelectro+56&bih=438&biw=911&rlz=1C1AVFC_enAU859AU859&hl=en&prds=epd:4374838429982149152,prmr:1&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwipjdvM9tjuAhVizjgGHbHnBpMQ8gIIgQY… It ain’t no Strat, but how do they cope in such an otherwise rational world?
They retail at under $500 brand new, googling shows a fair amount of used for 2-300
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/56U2BK—danelectro-56-u2-black
If it’s a reissue, it’s worth about 4 times $85.
https://reverb.com/item/38455134-danelectro-u2-reissue-2000-mustard-pale-yellow?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=6481185772&utm_content=campaignid=6481185772_adgroupid=80652879027_productpartitionid=341503708968=merchantid=220045270_productid=38455134_keyword=_device=c_adposition=_matchtype=_creative=391635704398&gclid=Cj0KCQiAvP6ABhCjARIsAH37rbR6-4j6WIWH1UwmvZmG9HNQEuJXYxrFdE5Fp9KspvkVnl87t8oxaIoaAsSVEALw_wcB
Even if it was an $85 guitar (which I doubt), it brings up other questions. How much actual guitar playing was done by Bridgers? How good does a guitar have to sound if you are running it through good amps/mixers/etc.? If an $85 guitar is good enough for an SNL, performance, why would you spend thousands?I’ve always been in the camp of I’d rather have a good guitar than a good amp.
Playbility is one major factor. A more expensive guitar is just easier to play. If you’re going to do a song or two, a cheap guitar played through distortion/chorus/delay/etc won’t stand out too much, but if you were to do a whole concert with one, you’ll spend a lot of time tuning, and buy will your hand be tired!
Seriously, what is the big deal about it? I don’t remember people making a fuss when Win Butler of Arcade Fire smashed his on the same stage…Have we really changed so much in 14 years? We can’t do something just a little bit destructive and anarchic anymore?
What a wonderful and fully spontaneous artistic statement, original.
Brian May built his Red Special out of a fireplace. Just imagine if it ended its life as firewood…
Have these people ever heard of an obscure British band called The Who, that were also known to engage in these kind of antics?
Or Hendrix, Cobain, Slayer…pretty sure every major rock guitarist has done this at some point in their career.
They didn’t ask for permission first or have a stage hand mock up a monitor for them
to the point of actually seriously injuring themselves
Love how Entwhistle’s like “get the fuck away from me with that bullshit”.
I always think of the film Blow-Up, where they tried to get The Who to play, but after they declined, they recruited the (Beck-and-Page version of the) Yardbirds to play instead. Beck tried to act like The Who and smash his guitar, but just looked awkward and uncomfortable doing it.
I survived everything the past five years of earth dished out and apparently this is the bridge too far 🤣🤣🤣🤣Boomers and twats: That was so disrespectful/wasteful/immature tsk tsk tsk somebody worked hard on that guitar where are my pearls to clutchWell, it was a nice planet we had there, for a while. 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Not to mention most of the “twats” were Gen Z bemoaning the lack of gifting it to charity.
When boomers and gen z are both up in arms over something so patently innocuous…
These are two of my favorites. She’s making the dads and olds angry. Bridgers is rock n roll AF.
As an owner of several Danelectro guitars, they’re fucking IKEA furniture. Literally hollow and made of pressboard. NOBODY put hard work into that guitar.
I can’t upvote this enough.
Simply being made of plywood does not mean a guitar is not well made. The Gibson ES series is plywood, and while one could argue they are overpriced, they are certainly quality instruments.
Gibson? Quality? What decade do you think this is?
You are just paying for the pickups they patented last century.
Don’t forget the cost of American labor, as all Gibsons are still made in the US. I don’t own an ES, but I do own a Les Paul. Some might call them overpriced, but I enjoy the guitar and that’s all that matters to me.
Mate of mine’s a luthier and said the thing that pissed him off about this is that she didn’t smash more Danelectros.
Rock music has been dead for a thousand years and it hasn’t been rebellious for twice as long. It’s the soundtrack of old people and the establishment. The idea that’s totally a rebel for that throwback stunt is ridiculous. Anything will piss somebody off, it means nothing.
So I’m assuming she has a corporate sponsorship with Danelectro, otherwise why would she call them to get permission and have them make a fake monitor to smash. All I’m saying is… I want a corporate sponsorship.
That was just embarrassing. The fact she asked for permission beforehand makes it even worse
I love Phoebe Bridgers, I love Jason Isbell, and I love Kathleen Edwards. If Joe Pernice shows up, I might cum.
It really didn’t seem that she was ever successful at destroying the guitar at all. Instead her time was up and she gave up and dropped it.
But but but she’s a girl!!I was reading this over the weekend trying to figure it out – musician breaks instruments and a certain group of people need to have a lie down over it, weird.I was really hoping back when I bought tickets to see Bright Eyes play in the UK (in the before time), that Bridgers would be the support act, but since buying them and having the show pushed back twice it feels like she’s too famous to be their support for a European tour, which is a damn shame.
This is another “red Starbucks cup/black stormtrooper” thing, where a million Twitter users rant (and a dozen Kinja sites post clicky articles) about All These People who are suuuuuuper mad about some silly thing they shouldn’t be mad about. But if you actually look it up yourself you can barely find the initial “outrage” through the geyser of counter-backlash, if you can find it at all.
Possibly my favorite of all these was the “Conservatives Just Figured Out That Rage Against The Machine Is Political” one, where the “Conservatives” was literally just one rando whiner with about 200 followers who subsequently deleted his account.
Anyway, this is all distracting from the fact of how hilariously ineffectual she actually looks while attempting to “smash” the guitar. Like Mr Burns level.
Pfft. The Boomers were the first to destroy guitars and pianos. Gen X kept up the tradition. The difference was, it was spontaneous… Not some contrived “aren’t I precious,” try-hard, choreography.
They called her and said
“Sure, g’head and smash one of our Masonite guitars. We can actually manufacture ten more in the time it’ll take you to swing it over your head.”
Man I can’t believe I missed this nonsense. First of all Danelectro are crap. But unless she’s smashing a 57 Gibson LP I still see no issue with this. Somewhere, Paul Simonon is laughing.
I’m much more upset about the intonation. Ugh.
Seems to be more Boomers getting the vapors over her smashing her guitar.Real X-ers are complaining about her stealing Rocket From The Crypt’s skeleton stagewear…ARGLESNARGLERAZZENFRAZZITS!!!!
Oh, actually this isn’t a story. It’s just like two tweets. Easy mistake.
You’re supposed to use some sleight-of-hand and switch to a breakaway guitar.But certainly do NOT try to break the unbreakable guitar. On live TV.One more hint: try breaking it at the neck, across the thinnest (weakest) side. Not across the strong side of body. Learn some Physics!!
The only thing that makes this story all the better is the Instagram response from Bridgers:
“Got some really great feedback from my performance ! next time I’ll just burn it and it will be more expensive.”Concern trolls gotta watch out when they come for the troll queen.
I don’t understand guitar bashing.
Is it to show how wealthy American musicians are?
Does it mean something in particular when one does it like a pejorative?
Is it like breaking dishes at Greek weddings meaning a new beginning for the artist?
I think it means “I have arrived. Take that if you don’t believe me” – smash.
Watch her breaking that guitar looked like she was doing whack-a-mole. I mean she didn’t look like she even was trying to smash or break it. I was like, “break that damn guitar like it’s your ex’s Legos!!”
I kept thinking of Cake’s “Rock ‘n’ Roll Lifestyle,” particularly this verse:
How much did you pay for the chunk of his guitar,
The one he ruthlessly smashed at the end of the show?And how much will he pay for a brand new guitar,
One which he’ll ruthlessly smash at the end of another show?The tonal shift at the end of the second song was certainly climactic, but I didn’t see anything about Bridgers’ performance to get my dander up. It definitely brought back good memories from about 10-15 years ago when I was regularly listening to CBC Radio 3 and BBC Radio 6 Music. I’ll probably seek out more from Bridgers soon.
Just watched the clip. I think the biggest sin is that the guitar wasn’t really smashed. It was more like ‘bonked’. She gave it a good bonking.