History Main / RockersSmashGuitars

* Music/LinkinPark once did this during their "Live in Texas" concert. After the song "A Place for My Head", guitarist Brad Delson [[https://youtu.be/7Mxg4VkkRRI?t=3672 threw his guitar down onto the stage]]. Lead singer Chester Bennington then picked up the guitar Delson had just thrown and smashed it down twice on the stage before throwing it aside. After their final song "One Step Closer", Joe Hahn also smashed his sound mixer and turntables on the stage.

* Invoked by the Hard Rock Cafe, which has a tradition of smashing a guitar during the grand opening of every new location.

* Music/PhoebeBridgers attracted controversy after smashing her guitar at the end of her performance on ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' in 2021.

* [[Music/EmersonLakeAndPalmer Keith Emerson]] just loved to stab, slam, step on and swing around his [[http:// Hammond L-100 organ]]. Remarkably, it held up for years, but its scars were often covered with metal patches.

* Happens in the movie ''Film/TopSecret''. At the end of Nick Rivers' rendition of the song ''[[Music/LittleRichard Tutti Frutti]]'', an octogenarian orchestra player smashes his electric guitar.

* In the early days of Music/{{Oasis}}, former Music/TheSmiths guitarist Johnny Marr lent Noel his nice, shiny Les Paul—the one he'd written "Panic" on, in fact. Naturally, a few months later he got a panicky phone call after Noel had used it to clock a stage-invading fan over the head, wrecking it irreparably.

* In a hilarious inversion, a reviewer from the ''NME'' once went to a gig by an obscure '80s rock band called Lightning Strikes who swaggered all over the stage and generally played up the sticking-it-to-the-man rebelliousness -- and at the end, not only did they not smash their guitars, they carefully placed them back on their stands, and then ''[[EpicFail unplugged their guitar jacks from their distortion pedals so as not to waste the batteries]]''. (Although see the page description; a ''real'' ThreeChordsAndTheTruth outfit wouldn't treat their [[CrackIsCheaper very expensive]] kit badly because they can always buy a new one, right?)

* In ''Series/FamilyTies'' episode "Have Gun, Will Unravel," the Keatons return home after watching ''Film/AHardDaysNight'' out at a movie theater. The kids are unimpressed by ''Music/TheBeatles''.
-->'''Jennifer:''' I can't believe you guys used to listen to that music. It was so boring. They didn't even break any guitars.
-->'''Steven:''' Hey, is that how you judge music today? By how many guitars get broken?
-->'''Jennifer:''' No, that's how you know when the song is over.

* The UrExample is probably Music/JerryLeeLewis, who would set his ''piano'' on fire from time to time for shock value.
* Music/TheWho popularised the trope. This originated from a performance where Pete Townshend accidentally smashed the headstock of his guitar against a low ceiling during a gig at a club. He then smashed up the rest of the guitar in frustration before continuing the show with a replacement guitar. They found that the audience had actually [[AllPartOfTheShow found it quite entertaining]]. After Townshend began to regularly destroy his guitars, Keith Moon soon got into the act by [[EverythingExplodesEnding blowing up his drums]].
** Inverted by John Entwistle. In an interview with Conan O'Brien, Entwistle said he once tried to smash his bass, only for it to bounce back and hit him in the face.
* Music/JimiHendrix: Famously put his guitar on fire. In early '67, having accidentally cracked his guitar during a European tour, he smashed it and repeated this occasionally. At the Finsbury Park Astoria in London later that year, he and rock writer Keith Altham had the idea that he should play "Let Me Stand Next To Your Fire" and light it. He did, upstaging the headline act and somewhat burning his hands. He repeated this stunt at the Film/MontereyPop festival, also in 1967.

* Music/ThePlasmatics: This infamous punk band did not only smash their guitars but cut them in half with a chainsaw as well!
* Music/{{Nirvana}}: They too enjoyed smashing their instruments after shows, and you can hear Kurt Cobain destroy his guitar midway through "Endless, Nameless" on ''Music/{{Nevermind}}''. Another example would be their performance of the aforementioned song at the Paramount Theatre in 1991, where Kurt just goes psychotic and smashes microphones down and even a cooling fan with his guitar, breaking the guitar in half and leaving bassist Krist Novoselic to play 'baseball' with the parts using his bass. Viewers of ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' and in the UK, the Jonathan Ross Show, both got to see this trope in action when they played "Territorial Pissings" as musical guests.
** On the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards, Krist Novoselic threw his bass guitar up in the air instead of smashing it, and when it came down it hit him in the head. Stunned, he wandered off stage, only to have Kurt Cobain kick him in the ass for leaving early -- he hadn't seen the accident.
* In the early days of Oasis, former Music/TheSmiths guitarist Johnny Marr lent Noel his nice, shiny Les Paul—the one he'd written Panic on, in fact. Naturally, a few months later he got a panicky phone call after Noel had used it to clock a stage-invading fan over the head, wrecking it irreparably.

* ''[[Music/{{Vocaloid}} Vocaloid's]]'' Rin Kagamine begins her live performance of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9vBfHaVWLI "The Lost One's Weeping"]] by smashing her guitar and tossing it aside alongside the microphone stand. At the end of the song, she tosses the mic as well. Her theatrics carry over into the ''[[VideoGame/HatsuneMikuProjectDiva Project Diva X]]'' version of the song.
* Music/{{Rammstein}}: Perhaps surprisingly, given their penchant for explosions and destruction during their stage shows, the guitars pretty much stay intact (albeit occasionally with some charring from the pyrotechnics). That said, Flake will occasionally go to town on his keyboard, and Till usually smashes a mic stand at least once a show.
* Music/SufjanStevens has smashed banjos in concert.

* Midnight was guestlisting people on the 2017 Decibel Tour in exchange for being provided with shitty old guitars to smash onstage.

* Music/LinkinPark once did this during their "Live in Texas" concert. After the song "A Place for My Head", guitarist Brad Delson [[https://youtu.be/7Mxg4VkkRRI?t=3672 threw his guitar down onto the stage]]. Lead singer Chester Bennington then picked up the guitar Delson had just thrown and smashed it down twice on the stage before throwing it aside. After their final song "One Step Closer", Joe Hahn also smashed his sound mixer and turntables on the stage.
* Music/PhoebeBridgers attracted controversy after smashing her guitar at the end of her performance on ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' in 2021.

* In Music/WeirdAlYankovic's "Eat It" video, Jim West's guitar explodes at the end of the solo([[TheInvisibleBand which was actually performed by Rick Derringer on the recording]]).

** One story has it that the band were playing on a stage with a low ceiling and Pete Townshend unthinkingly raised his guitar whilst playing, driving the headstock into the ceiling and snapping it off. He proceeded to destroy the rest of the guitar, Keith Moon followed suit with the drums, and the audience liked it so much that the band started regularly smashing their gear -- even when it got to the point where [[EpicFail the damage they did totaled to more than they were being paid]]. It eventually got to a point where they didn't have a choice but to smash. Townshend once stated in an interview that if he tried to finish a show without destroying his guitar, fans would get irate.

* Music/{{Nirvana}} were well known for this. Cobain would actually have a stash of cheaply made, low-quality guitars for this purpose. When you saw him switch to the cheap Stratocaster copy, you could tell that instrument wasn't going to make it to the end of the show.
* The John Hiatt song "Perfectly Good Guitar" (see Music, above) was inspired by an incident at the MTV Music Awards, where Krist Novoselic tried to do this... only to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8oT9ag631Q accidentally hit himself over the head with his bass guitar instead]].

* Possibly parodied in Music/WeirdAlYankovic's video for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKjRs9O36g4 "You Don't Love Me Anymore"]], where the (filled with LyricalDissonance) ballad ends with Al smashing his acoustic guitar to pieces (and [[http://www.avclub.com/articles/weird-al-yankovic,58244/ apparently]] [[ShootTheMoney not only it was an expensive instrument]], [[MadeOfIron but it was also hard to break]]). He does this in concerts after singing "You Don't Love Me Anymore" as well. Additionally, the opening of ''The Compleat Al'' shows Al destroying his accordion with fire ''a la'' Jimi Hendrix.

* Music/{{Prince}} did this during a 2013 appearance on ''Series/LateNight with Creator/JimmyFallon''. [[http://www.spin.com/articles/prince-smashed-someone-elses-guitar-fallon/ To a guitar he'd borrowed from Captain Kirk Douglas of The Roots]]. Without Douglas' permission. After Douglas had asked Prince to autograph said guitar -- a rare '61 Epiphone Crestwood -- and Prince had refused. [[JerkAss Prince]], ladies and gentlemen.

* Happens on ''WesternAnimation/JimmyTwoShoes'', when Jimmy is having a dream of being a rocker.
* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'':
** In "Naughty Nautical Neighbors", [=SpongeBob=] smashes a double bass.
** In "The Camping Episode", [=SpongeBob=] smashes his guitar at the end of "The Campfire Song Song". Then for good measure, Patrick smashes the drums that he had been playing over [=SpongeBob=]'s head.

* [[Franchise/ScoobyDoo Scooby and Shaggy]] do this at the end of an episode of ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooMysteryIncorporated''.
* Johnny and Dukey in the opening titles of ''WesternAnimation/JohnnyTest''.

* ''WesternAnimation/MyDadTheRockStar'': In one episode, the Zillas visit the college Rock attended. There, he smashed a guitar he left behind back when he was a student.
* ''WesternAnimation/RegularShow'': In "Guitar of Rock" Mr. Maellard does this to an autographed guitar that Mordecai, Rigby, and Benson almost died trying to replace.
* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'' has DW going to see a Yo-Yo Ma concert, and she asks whether he "jumps around and smash his instrument." When grandma tells her that he doesn't, she says "And he calls himself a musician!" She ends up liking the concert, though.

* Subverted in the ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' episode [[Recap/PhineasAndFerbTheBaljeatles "The Baljeatles"]]; at the end of Baljeet's rock number, it looks like he's about to smash his guitar, but instead he just neatly throws it back into its case.

* There was an incident on the set of ''Film/TheHatefulEight'' where a century-old antique guitar was mistaken for a smashable instrument.

* John Hiatt's "Perfectly Good Guitar" is about the singer's reaction to seeing this.

** It goes on like this and then he buys a blonde guitar to replace it, which leads to a twist ending that I won't reveal here.

** In a game of "Props", Colin and Ryan's props were two large lollipop shaped props. One scene they act out is them pretending to be rock stars using the props as guitars. They then proceed to bang their "guitars" against the floor and Ryan actually breaks his by accident.

* Phil from ''Series/PhilOfTheFuture'' once described a legendary rock show where the lead guitarist not only smashed his guitar, but apparently mixed the pieces into cake, which he then fed to the hungry as an act of charity. Granted, the story might have become exaggerated over time....

* Music/{{Rammstein}}: Perhaps surprisingly, given their penchant for explosions and destruction during their stage shows, the guitars pretty much stay intact (albeit occasionally with some charring from the pyrotechnics). That said, Flake will occasionally go to town on his keyboard and Till usually smashes a mic stand at least once a show.

* Music/LinkinPark once did this during their "Live in Texas" concert. After the song "A Place for My Head", guitarist Brad Delson [[https://youtu.be/7Mxg4VkkRRI?t=3672 threw his guitar down onto the stage]]. Lead singer Chester Bennington then picked up the guitar Delson had just thrown, and smashed it down twice on the stage before throwing it aside. After their final song "One Step Closer", Joe Hahn also smashed his sound mixer and turntables on the stage.

* Happens off-screen before the game proper in ''VideoGame/BrutalLegend'''s intro cutscene. The lead guitarist for wannabe metal band, Kabbage Boy, says he's "sorry" for smashing Eddie's guitar, [[ICallItVera Clementine]], then after receiving it fixed up like new, he says he won't smash it "so much" this time.

* In ''VideoGame/PokemonSwordAndShield'', the [[MakeMyMonsterGrow Gigantamax]] version of Toxtricity, the [[PoisonousPerson Poison]]/[[ShockAndAwe Electric]] PunkRock salamander Pokémon, does this in one of it's attack animations, generating a guitar made of lightning just to smash it.

** Their musical destruction probably reached its apotheosis during a 1967 appearance on ''Series/TheSmothersBrothersComedyHour'', in which Moon's bass drum was rigged with explosives in order to [[StuffBlowingUp blow up at]] [[EverythingExplodesEnding the end of the set]]. During rehearsal, the effect was unimpressive, so Moon bribed a stagehand to load in a much bigger charge without telling anyone. During the actual take, the explosion knocked Moon off his drum riser, left him with shrapnel wounds to one arm, singed Townshend's hair and permanently damaged his hearing, destroyed a camera and a studio monitor, and scared the daylights out of everyone. Just after the explosion, the practice was spoofed when Tommy Smothers, carrying a guitar, walked over to the band. Townshend took Smothers' guitar (actually a breakaway prop) and smashed it to pieces. Cue Tommy asking Dick if he could borrow his bass for a moment.

** One particularly infamous example was during the 2012 [=iHeart=] Radio Music Festival: When the band's setlist was unexpectedly cut short, Billie Joe interrupted their set in the middle of a song and went on a drunken rant that cumulated in him angerly smashing his Les Paul Junior. Mike Dirnt joined in and smashed his Precision Bass to make the incident look staged. Billie Joe would check into rehab shortly after the incident.

* For a scene in ''Film/TheHatefulEight'', Creator/KurtRussell's character was supposed to grab a guitar from Jennifer Jason Leigh and smash it, eliciting a horrified reaction. However, due to a mix-up when it came time to shoot the film, Russell accidentally grabbed and smashed the actual guitar, rather than waiting for it to be replaced by a prop. [[GoneHorriblyWrong To make matters even worse]], it wasn't just any guitar but [[https://reverb.com/blog/cf-martin-responds-to-the-destruction-of-145-year-old-guitar-on-hateful-eight-set an irreplaceable one-of-a-kind original Martin guitar from the 1870s]] that was on special loan for the film from the Martin Guitar Museum. Well, he got a horrified reaction all right. Martin was understandably ''very'' disappointed.

** One story has it that the band were playing on a stage with a low ceiling and Pete Townshend unthinkingly raised his guitar whilst playing, driving the headstock into the ceiling and snapping it off. He proceeded to destroy the rest of the guitar, [[CrazyAwesome Keith Moon]] followed suit with the drums, and the audience liked it so much that the band started regularly smashing their gear -- even when it got to the point where [[EpicFail the damage they did totaled to more than they were being paid]]. It eventually got to a point where they didn't have a choice but to smash. Townshend once stated in an interview that if he tried to finish a show without destroying his guitar, fans would get irate.

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* Music/GreenDay went right to town with this trope back in their 90s heyday. Typically, sets would end with Mike Dirnt smashing his bass while Tre Cool ''burned'' his drums with gasoline. Then Billie Joe would finish by playing "Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)" in front of the fire.

** One story has it that the band were playing on a stage with a low ceiling and Pete Townshend unthinkingly raised his guitar whilst playing, driving the headstock into the ceiling and snapping it off. He proceeded to destroy the rest of the guitar, [[CrazyAwesome Keith Moon]] followed suit with the drums, and the audience liked it so much that the band started regularly smashing their gear -- even when it got to the point where [[EpicFail they did more damage than their shows paid for]]. It eventually got to a point where they didn't have a choice but to smash. Townshend once stated in an interview that if he tried to finish a show without destroying his guitar, fans would get irate.
** Their musical destruction probably reached its apotheosis during a 1967 appearance on ''Series/TheSmothersBrothersComedyHour'', in which Moon's bass drum was rigged with explosives in order to [[StuffBlowingUp blow up at]] [[EverythingExplodesEnding the end of the set]]. During rehearsal, the effect was unimpressive, so Moon "convinced" the SPFX technician to double the charge, without telling anyone. So, during the actual take, the explosion knocked Moon backward and scared the daylights out of everyone. In addition, Townshend (who was standing in front of the drum when it blew) had his hair singed and suffered permanent damage to his hearing. Just after the explosion, the practice was spoofed when Tommy Smothers, carrying a guitar, walked over to the band. Townshend took Smothers' guitar (actually a breakaway prop) and smashed it to pieces. Cue Tommy asking Dick if he could borrow his bass for a moment.

* You've heard of rockers smashing guitars, but what about a rocker smashing a ''venue''? That's exactly what Japanese noise rock band Hanatrash's frontman [[Music/{{Boredoms}} Yamantaka Eye]] did, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxJUbd66Vcc driving a bulldozer through the wall]] at a gig. One suspects [[Music/TheWHo Keith Moon]] would have wished he thought of that.

* In the original ''Film/BackToTheFuture'', Marty [=McFly=] ends his guitar performance in the year 1955 by kicking over an amplifier. His audience, who was enjoying the new (to them) kind of music up until that point, react with shock.

Rock stars often gets so into the hardness of their music that they actually destroy instruments. Typically this is smashing a guitar (hence the trope name) on the stage as hard as possible, pounding it to fragments with a few whacks. Some rock bands take it UpToEleven and set their instruments on fire. And these aren't fictional works trying to make [[SexDrugsAndRockAndRoll rock seem bad]]. This is ''TruthInTelevision''. So much so that it has [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instrument_destruction its own page on the other wiki]].