Headwalking

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The headwalking (from English head 'head' and to walk = to go, run) is a show by music fans at hardcore punk concerts. It comes from the USA and is similar to stage diving , but is not yet that widespread in Central Europe. Earliest media reports for the time window from 1989 to 1993 are referenced in the relevant Urban Dictionaries.

procedure

The headwalker tries to “walk” from the stage as the starting point over the audience, using the heads, shoulders and hands of the other concert-goers as a step. However, this is only possible if the mosh pit is further back in the audience and there are at least 4–5 rows of people in front of the stage. The aim is to get as far beyond the audience into the concert hall as possible until the headwalker sinks to the floor through a gap in the crowd.

rating

In the hardcore scene, headwalking is just as controversial as violent dancing , as this form of self-expression carries a high risk of injury for everyone involved. The reason for this is that the headwalk usually takes place without any noticeable announcement and the audience rarely has the opportunity to react accordingly. In addition to possible injuries to the headwalker itself (such as torn ligaments ), the affected spectators often experience bruises , abrasions or even fractures in the face area as well as neck and spine trauma.

The lifestyle and youth magazine Vice received mixed responses in a mood survey among musicians . With the rhetorical question of whether the best and only way to show affection for a band is to jump on the head of other concertgoers or literally beat them up while doing violent dancing , Norman Brannon of Texas Is the Reason verbalized his rejection. Against this background, his band would have interrupted their songs during concerts in the 1990s and asked the audience to behave in a more civilized manner. A contrary attitude showed Chris Barker of Anti-Flag . The concert would only be interrupted in the event of incidents that were contrary to the band's ideals, such as sexism , racism or homophobia . Otherwise, concert goers should be free to enjoy the best possible time at such an event. StageDiven would explicitly belong and it amused him that bands like Tigers Jaw , Title Fight and Joyce Manor "a complete new generation of Head walkers had incited" ( English a whole new generation of "head walker" ).

Even Vice themselves squeezed two years after this poll a positive attitude of: If there are no injuries and the singer a randomly flying in his direction beer traps, empties the last remnants and the cup then casually on the heads of the behind and below him standing fans drops, he is celebrated for this action as part of the headwalking.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ross Haenfler: Straight Edge: Clean-living Youth, Hardcore Punk, and Social Change . Ruttgers University Press, 2006, ISBN 978-0-8135-3852-5 ( full text / preview in Google Book Search).
  2. ↑ Tom Dalzell, Terry Victor (ed.): The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English - Volume I, A-I . Routledge, 2006, ISBN 978-1-317-37251-6 ( full text / preview in Google book search).
  3. ↑ Tom Dalzell (Ed.): The Routledge Dictionary of Modern American Slang and Unconventional English . Routledge, 2009, ISBN 978-0-415-37182-7 ( full text / preview in Google book search).
  4. ↑ Dan Ozzi, Jonah Bayer: Is Jumping on Someone's Head OK? Musicians Weigh In on the Great Stagedive Debate. In: vice.com. October 2, 2014, accessed November 14, 2017 .
  5. ↑ Emma Garland: Check out this punk singer catching a flying beer while crowd surfing. In: vice.com. June 16, 2016, accessed November 14, 2017 .