Due to its violence, moshing has been subject to controversy, with a number of concert venues banning the practice, and some musicians being arrested for encouraging it and concertgoers for participating.

Once Stormtroopers of Death released their debut album Speak English or Die in 1985, which included the track "Milano Mosh", the term began being applied to the style of dance.

[4] The direct predecessor to moshing was the pogo, a style of dance done in the 1970s English punk rock scene, in which crowds members would jump up and down while holding their arms beside them.

[5] Participants in slam dancing at this time modified the pogo by bringing additional physical contact to those around them by pushing and running, as well introducing the idea of a recognised area where it takes place called a "pit".

[8] The Orange County Register writer Tom Berg credited, Costa Mesa venue, the Cuckoo's Nest (1976–1981) as the "birthplace of slam dancing".

[9] Examples of this early moshing were featured in the documentaries Another State of Mind, Urban Struggle, the Decline of Western Civilization, and American Hardcore.

In their distinction, participants may stay in one position on their own or collide with others, while executing a more exaggerated version of the arm and leg swinging of California slam dancing.

The same year, moshing began to incorporate itself into live performances by heavy metal bands, with one early example being during Anthrax's 1985 set at the Ritz.

Grunge becoming the dominant force in rock music, brought with it aspects of genres like hardcore, punk and ska, and in turn, pop culture became aware of the mosh pit.

In his book Festivals: A Music Lover's Guide to the Festivals You Need To Know, writer Oliver Keens stated that "Lollapalooza's greatest impact was to expose Middle America to the joys of stage-diving and moshing...You can see Lollapalooza's legacy in the way mosh pits have become an integral part of youth culture; beyond rock and metal".

[20] During Public Enemy and Ice-T's European tour in the late 1980s, the artists witnessed moshing during their performances, which was still not commonplace during hip hop concerts.

At late 1990s parties such as New York's H-Bomb, Milwaukee's Afternoon Delight and Los Angeles' Twilight, attendees inverted the intellectualism and PLUR credo which permeated electronic music genres, like intelligent dance music, earlier in the decade, by incorporating crowd participation acts similar to those found at hardcore punk, metal and goth performances.

These artists, notably A$AP Mob, Odd Future and Danny Brown, revived moshing in mainstream hip hop, which led to pits becoming a staple of performances in the genre.

[25] Researchers from Cornell University studied the emergent behavior of crowds at mosh pits by analyzing online videos, finding similarities with models of 2-D gases in equilibrium.

At a 1996 Pumpkins concert in Dublin, Ireland, 17-year-old Bernadette O'Brien was crushed by moshing crowd members and later died in the hospital, despite warnings from the band that people were getting hurt.

[51]Sixteen-year-old Jessica Michalik was an Australian girl who died as a result of asphyxiation after being crushed in a mosh pit during the 2001 Big Day Out festival during a performance by nu metal band Limp Bizkit.

[53] Joey DeMaio of American heavy metal band Manowar has been known to temporarily stop concerts upon seeing moshing and crowd surfing, claiming it is dangerous to other fans.

[54][55] Former Slipknot percussionist Chris Fehn spoke about the state of audience interaction following the onstage incident and subsequent legal issues involving Lamb of God’s Randy Blythe, who was eventually found not guilty of criminal wrongdoing in the death of a concertgoer, despite being held "morally responsible".