Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Right now on VH-1 is a show with some interview clips with Pete Townshend. Behind him is a glass case on the wall with one of his smashed Ricks.

One name that popped out in the rolling credits at the end of this show was Ben Hall!

I too saw that, Jeff!

That takes some ********, doesn't it? Smashing up a Rick... and Pete understands the value of these instruments, too, the True value, not just monetary. He smashes them anyway. Barmy git.

Not to "bash" the guys who bash guitars (I love THe Who) but if you go see Yes in concert, you will see Steve Howe and Chris Squire playing their original Gibson and Rickenbackers guitars that they bought in 1964. I'm sure there were times in their careers when they felt like smashing them, but had too much respect for the instruments that they forged a reputation on.

I read an interview with PT a long time ago where he stated that the whole guitar smashing thing started accidently, while playing in a club with a low ceiling, he hit his head during one of his famous jumps. In anger, he threw the guitar down and it broke. The next night, according to Pete, the club was filled with people waiting to see this guy who smashes guitars onstage. I guess you give your audience what they want!

I always disliked the destruction of fine instruments (****** instruments are another story)...but if they don't want them they should give them to me! haha.

I liked that story he was telling about a concert they did in Germany. He was smashing an SG and a Cop put a gun to Pete's head and told him to stop.

I love Gibsons but even I don't mind when someone smashes an SG. Just can't warm up to them.

About a year ago there was a lonnng thread about Pete and smashing of guitars.

I saw Tom Petty a few years back (when I was 15, so it's been a decade) and he had a Ric up above his head twirling it around like a lasso, and a lot of people around us, (including my mother, who had at least some idea of how important guitars were, if not how important Rics are above others) and they were all saying "He's gonna smash it!" and screaming "Brake it Tom! Smash it!" and I told her "He's not going to smash it. He loves that guitar." and the lady on the other side of me said "How do you know?: and I said "Because it's a Rickenbacker." And that's been my feeling on Rics forever, and how I sum it up to people ever since.

He didn't smash it either. He just swung it around and then put it down on a stand. He's got that Rickenbacker infection, just like the rest of us.

I liked that story he was telling about a concert they did in Germany. He was smashing an SG and a Cop put a gun to Pete's head and told him to stop.

Well hurrah! for the cop, say I! Breaking up a valuable musical instrument ought to be a felony. And that goes double for a RIC.

JimK

One of the times I saw ELP, Greg Lake was having problems with tuning.

After a song a tech came to the side of the stage to bring him another guitar and take the one he was playing, which Lake violently at the feet of the tech.

Yes, tuning can be a frustrating thing, especially when your guitar's strings are too old or the guitar is out of adjustment. But throwing a guitar down like that is a bit childish, I'd say.

JimK

Jim, you don't much care for the smashing of guitars onstage do you?