(this might not be for everyone, but try not to be so reductive and insulting about it)
RABIN : For example, the first year that I followed Phish – this was in 2010 – I followed them for eight, 10, 12 shows, and I didn’t get anything out of it. There was like this barrier between me and this world that I wanted to be a part of, but I just didn’t know my way in. And I remember, like, looking at people dancing to, say, “Boogie on Reggae Woman,” which is a cover they do of a Stevie Wonder song.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “BOOGIE ON REGGAE WOMAN”)
PHISH: (Singing) So boogie on reggae woman, what you trying to do…
RABIN: And I remember the first time I heard it, I’m just thinking, like, oh, this is just embarrassing. Middle-aged white men should not cover a song called “Boogie on Reggae Woman.” But the second year that I followed Phish, when I kind of let all that irony and let all that critical distance go, I just found it to be unbelievably joyous.
And I would look at people dancing at Phish shows and just feel like these are people who are overcome with joy and feel the need to express it. And it’s both reductive and insulting and, you know, doing violence to the human spirit to look at that and just judge it and not just feel that sense of joy that permeates Phish shows.
– Finding Meaning In The Mosh Pit Amongst Often-Reviled Groups, NPR.ORG