Because it's pop.
You and I both know the music was the cake but the icing was the fact that there's an unwritten rule that if someone is on the ground you get your hands on him or her and get him or her to safety. The one I'll always remember from a show is that one dude who was stumbling out of the pit and how shocked he looked when I put hands on his shoulders, 'cause he thought I was going for him, but then I frog marched him over to the bar to get water and he thanked me profusely. That's what it is about.
Still is, as of Dec 2019, anyway, though my fusing vertebrae keep me out of the pit...
That's what it meant to be counter-cultural 30 years ago.... and it's still what it means. Participating in the counter-culture means treating strangers with sympathy, whether it's a Rainbow gathering or a GWAR concert.
The trouble is regular old traditional culture has infiltrated everywhere now. It's even in the SCA, which has turned into a woke mob that is more concerned with kicking people out than just being cool to each other.
