Israeli Punk Band That Didn’t Forget Its Roots
Crossposted from Haaretz
Useless ID is undoubtedly the most successful Israeli punk rock band in the world. Formed in 1994, it set out to try its luck abroad and became a respected member of the international scene, establishing itself within just a few years. The band signed with an American record company and gathered a devoted fan base, which knows all the words to its songs, in forceful and precise English.
What is less well known is that at some point along the way, band members did not forget where they had come from. In between appearances in a Canadian stadium and a tour in Australia, they continued to be a major influence on the Israeli scene too. Members of Useless ID have performed in every remote corner of Israel, drunk themselves silly with the kids on the local scene, and participated in endless numbers of discussions on the Tapuz punk forum — in particular, the band’s guitarist, Ishay Berger.
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I wanted to ask you to support the Forward’s award-winning journalism during our High Holiday Monthly Donor Drive.
If you’ve turned to the Forward in the past 12 months to better understand the world around you, we hope you will support us with a gift now. Your support has a direct impact, giving us the resources we need to report from Israel and around the U.S., across college campuses, and wherever there is news of importance to American Jews.
Make a monthly or one-time gift and support Jewish journalism throughout 5785. The first six months of your monthly gift will be matched for twice the investment in independent Jewish journalism.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO