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In 1917, in reaction to the horrors of the First World War, a group of young and confused artists came together in Zurich to try to make sense of it all. Though now regarded by some as a significant and important art movement, Dada started as the very opposite: an attempt to make anti-art. To break it all down. They were nihilists. Dada performances in the Cabaret Voltaire, in the tradition of de Sade and Lautreamont, attempted to shock and scandalize the audience. Many times they ended in a riot. It's easy to see why. For instance, they would announce a Bach concert, only to create a large cacophonous hullabaloo on stage. The crowd naturally protested. Other times they would all get undressed on stage, or all talk at the same time. They bet they could empty out a hall in twenty minutes, and they did.[2]
In early 1984, four young twentysomethings from Scotland formed a band and started playing live. They called themselves The Jesus and Mary Chain. The guitarist was out of tune, the drummer's kit was limited to two drums, and the bassist's guitar had only half its strings ("that's the two I use, I mean what's the fucking point spending money on another two? Two is enough.") Because the band, due to their rambling and noisy sound, struggled to get gigs, they would show up early at venues and announce themselves as the support band. Then they'd play a very short set before quickly getting out. This set consisted mostly of twenty minutes of guitar feedback, and the band playing with their backs to the audience. The crowd would throw bottles at the stage and riot. When mainstream media like The Sun got word of this, they ran headlines on these occasions, calling them the new Sex Pistols, and subsequent gigs would attract people simply looking for a fight. It was partly on the attention out of this, that the band would become famous and attain the cult status they now have.[3]
In 2006, The Guardian ran a piece on a new phenomenon called Wyatting. It was elicited by a new line of jukeboxes that was connected to a large archive of all sorts of music, instead of the limited choice old models used to have. Some people saw this as an interesting opportunity to annoy a large number of people at once. They would put on a long, experimental piece - often of the minimalism, free jazz or noise variety - and watch on in amusement as people gradually got up to leave. The phenomenon was named after Robert Wyatt who, when asked about it, said: "I don't really like disconcerting people. Although often when I try to be normal I disconcert anyway".
