Dec 222008
We’ve been talking a lot about Jesus’ birthday ’round these parts, and I thought it only fair to bring some Jewish Rock to the table, in celebration of everything rock-tacular that that fine culture has brought us. Official emissaries of this holiday message: the band with the highest quotients of both rock and Jewishness I can think of (though David Lee Roth has a big set of boots to fill): Seth Justman, Peter Wolf, Stephen Jo Bladd, Danny Klein, Magic Dick, and J. Geils — the J. Geils Band.
Happy Hannukah!
By the way, J. Geils Band — that’s some *serious* mach schau you’re layin’ down!
Great front man moves from Wolf at 2:19 and 3:40. Plus, of course, tremendous frizzed-out hair all around.
Not to detract from the holiday being celebrated here (some of my favorite bands are heavy in Jewish members), but Hrrundi, can we schedule a day in which we discuss whether J. Geils Band is actually any better than, I don’t know, Seger? When they’re hot they’re hot, but they seem to have some serious drop offs.
I meant to add, my favorite Judaica-fueled rockers are led by Bob Dylan and include most of the Brill Building stable of songwriters, my main man Lou Reed, and “mixed marriage” bands like The Turtles and my own mates. I know I’m unsure about a couple of British Jewish rockers as well (Bolan? Wreckless Eric?). I can’t say I know every rocker’s religious background.
I’ll leave others to sing the praises of KISS and Yo La Tengo.
My main reason for choosing the J. Geils band was the sheer number of tribesmen in the band. Jewish people have earned the right to seek safety in numbers, and I couldn’t think of another band with more Jewish folks in it. Not that they also don’t rock mightily, and *tastefully* — that being the key difference between them and Seger. That, and the izro quotient. I’ll leave it to the Jewish folks on the list to tell me if I chose wisely.
That’s definitely a wise choice, HVB. Amongst us chosen people, only perhaps The Blues Project or The Dictators have more jew cred.
Happy Hanukah to RTH!
My stepson, 19, thinks those cheesy pension-building hits were what the J Geils Band was about. There’s still time for him to find out, I guess. But I have a feeling the Centrefold years built a wall to keeping anyone who missed the band before that well and truly off limits.
Yo La Tengo is doing its traditional series of eight nights at Maxwell’s to celebrate Hannukah. The diary is here:
http://www.yolatengo.com/ylt/hanukkah2008diary.html
I always thought that ‘Full House’ belongs in the top ten of GREAT live albums for it’s sheer energy and great funs!