Jewdaic Rock Fans Anonymous!

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Comment by Craig Dalrymple on February 8, 2009 at 6:00pm

Bloomington, IN Jewish punks in the early 1980s: Eric White from punk band the Panics, Dan Lowenthal, and Jon Taylor, a guitarist who played with Moto-X and Yellow Rain.

Comment by Craig Dalrymple on February 8, 2009 at 5:56pm

I've got one more important Jewish punk to add to your list: Paul Westerberg, the highly talented singer-songwriter-guitarist of the Replacements who has had a long solo career.

Comment by Craig Dalrymple on February 8, 2009 at 5:54pm

Thanks for inviting me to join Jewdaic Rock Fans Anonymous!

You might be surprised to find out that I'm Jewish --- most people would say I'm not. So what? Actually, I'm not Jewish as far as religion goes. However, I am in part a person of Jewish ancestry: there is a French-German Jewish branch of my family tree, the Lobsteins, a prominent Jewish extended family in Paris.

All right, I'm glad you included Joey Ramone at the top of the list because I'm a long time Ramones fan and miss Joey since he passed away years ago. Thanks for adding Steve Wynn to the Jewish punk list because I saw his 80s band the Dream Syndicate a few times and met him and he remembered me every time and was very nice, friendly, and down to Earth.

I also saw the Circle Jerks, met them, and even got to party with them once. In addition to their guitar player being Jewish, Keith Morris told me himself that he is Jewish.

Do you remember that Siouxsie from Siouxsie and the Banshees used to wear a Swastika band around her upper arm during herve shows, circa 1977!? She said that she wasn't a Nazi punk and that she just wore the Swastika to shock people and piss them off. Just like Sid Vicious. Nice, eh?

Then three years later, the Banshees released a single "Israel" in which she sang a chorus of "Come to Israel!" I read in a magazine interview in the mid-1980s where Siouxsie claimed that she was "half Jewish" and she described doing a Banshees concert in Israel with Robert Smith of the Cure playing guitar with her band.

Comment by Marvin P. Goldstein on February 1, 2009 at 8:03pm

Jewish Punks 1976-1989

Jews started Punk Rock. I have no Jewdar and was astounded to find out so many Jews were involved in the earliest days of punk. I often thought someone should post this, so I did a few years ago.
Who should be omitted or included in my Jewish Punk list? ONLY 1976 - 1980!! Please write me!

New York
Joey Ramone [Jeffrey Hyman] RIP, and his brother, Mickey Leigh and Tommy.

Blondie: Chris Stein

Blondie and The Know: Gary Valentine [Lachman]

Bob Gruen, photographer

Danny Fields: Ramones first manager, history starting with the Doors, Iggy, Dolls and so many more. We OWE Danny so much!!!

Dictators: Handsome Dick Manitoba [Richard Blum], Andy Shernoff, Scott "Top Ten&" Kempner [always so kind to me] and Ross "the Boss" Freidman

Lisa Robinson, journalist

Lou Reed, Velvet Underground and soloist

NOT Lydia Lunch [her email: "Sorry hon, the nose is Sicilian, the name is German. can't be part of every list." Birth name Lydia Koch. Ha, I originally wrote I didn't think she was Jewish, and for once, my hunch was right!]

Marty Thau, original manager of the New York Dolls, co-producer of Suicide, owner of Red Star Records, producer of Ramones 1st recordings, record company of Richard Hell's 2nd album. [Marty was kind enough to write me! What a thrill to hear from him!]

Mumps: drummer Paul Rutner and Joe Katz [bass player who replaced Kevin in the Mumps. He went on to be the bass player in Swinging Madisons, Kristian Hoffman's post-Mumps band].

New York Dolls: Sylvain Sylvain [Steven Mizrahi], Arthur Kane RIP [ need verification, but obviously before he became a Mormon], and rumor David Johansen is half Jewish [which half? If his mother is Jewish, he's Jewish. Anyone know??]

Patti Smith Group: heart-throb guitarist, archivist and writer Lenny Kaye

Seymour and Linda Stein (RIP), who founded Sire Records and signed/managed the Ramones. Seymour was recently inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Voidoids: Richard Hell [Myers]

Jane Friedman [Patti and John Cale manager]?

Los Angeles
Jenny Lens, photographer "she had to leave Los Angeles . . . she hated all the niggers and jews"; -- who do you think she was singing about?? This Jew fer sure and Exene heard Farrah spitting nasty anti-Semitic remarks to me all the time when I was Jenny Stern.

Anna Statman, photographer and A & R, Slash

Backstage Pass: Genny Schorr, Marina del Rey [Joanne Russo] and Joanna aka Spock

Brad Elterman, photographer

Brendan Mullen, Masque founder. Told me his grandmother was Jewish

Cliff Roman, the Weirdos

Danny Benair, the Quick

David Lee Roth, Van Halen: dressed as a punk and hung out with us.

Dick Rude, film-maker: "Let's Rock Again," documentary with/of the late Joe Strummer
Greg Hetson: Redd Kross, Circle Jerks [original guitarist], Bad Religion Greg Gaffin: [Bad Religion] NOT Jewish. From Tony, lead singer of the Adolescents: "he [Greg] came to los angeles via sierra madre in the mid seventies with his mother and brother from wisconsin. the defining moment in his younger experience (as i see it) was their rejection by his local (presbytarian or methodist i can't remember) church because his mother was a divorcee. we found that we had a similar life experience in that respect. the bad religion thing seemed to be (again, as i see it) rejecting them back. dr. greg graffin is over at cornell in between tours. his dissertation explored religous beliefs (god) in the scientific community." Thanks, Tony!

That is EXACTLY how I feel about organized religions. They are judgmental, critical, narrow-minded and why I am the oddest of Jews: can't stand most Jews cos they look down on me and are so hypocritical. But I believe and live by the morals of Judaism.

Hal Negro aka Marty Goldberg, attorney

Harvey Kubernik, journalist/publicist

Jay Statman, attorney (Anna's brother)

Justin Pierce, journalist/publicist Keith Morris, Circle Jerks/Black Flag

Marcy Blaustein

Marvin Etzioni, musician

Michol Sinatra [Schwartz], RIP, Extremes

Mitch Schneider, journalist/publicist, Mitch Schneider Organization

NOFX: Fat Mike and Eric Melvin

NOT Pat Smear from the Germs, his father was German, NOT Jewish

Pleasant Gehman [Plez says she's half Jewish, but her mother Betsy is Jewish, which makes her Jewish because it's passed from mother to child. Who knew?? Did Farrah pick on her? NO WAY]

Randy Kaye , RIP, fan, participant, former A & R, Slash Records and Warner Brothers

Richard Creamer, RIP, photographer

Richard Meltzer, critic and VOM singer

Shredder aka Danny Weizmann, Flipside writer

Stan Lee, Dickies

Steve Wynn, Dream Syndicate
San Francisco and other USA Cities
The Nuns: Jeff Olener and ?

VKTMS (SF) guitarist John Edward [John Binkov]

Jonathan Richman is in love with the modern world [from Boston, I think]

England
Adam Ant?

Clash: Mick Jones [and Paul??] and Bernie Rhodes, manager

Clive Langer from Deaf School and record producer of Madness and Elvis Costello

Malcolm McLaren [wow, ha ha, punk really was started by Jews in NY and England!!]

PIL: Keith Levene

Siouxsie Sioux NO, according to a Brit pal.

Wayne Barrett, Slaughter and the Dogs singer. [one of the VERY few Jews in UK punk NOT from Greater London, which has approximately 80 percent of UK Jewish population. He quit the band because they wound up attracting a skin audience after "Where Have All The Bootboys Gone." This was documented in MOJO. This info came to me vial email, thank you Michael.]

Marc Bolan, T-Rex, Glam rock (pre-dates this list, but very influential)

Record Companies
BYO Records: The Stern brothers: Shawn, Mark, and Adam of the Extremes and Youth Brigade

Epitaph: Brett Gurewitz

Fat Mike: Fat Mike [Mike Burkett]

Rhino Records: Harold Bronson, Gary Stewart, Richard Foos

Jews are the original punks. Scrappy outcasts, relying on our inner lives, imaginations, music, art and intellect to survive slavery and various attempts at eliminating us (the Final Solution aka the Holocaust). Most of us were not traditionally religious -- many were raised on the fringes of Judaism, which can be as restrictive as Catholicism, but our heritage influenced us to take risks. When people have tried to kill you for thousands of years, what have we got to lose?

My research indicates a larger percentage of Jews were involved in the early days of punk, especially in LA and New York. This should not be surprising, given the involvement of Jews in music and art since modern American musical entertainment began. Jews began arriving in large numbers at the end of the 19th century (most escaping the Russian and Central European purges -- "Fiddler on the Roof" anyone?).

By the beginning of the 20th Century, Jews transformed and interpreted traditional European and Yiddish theatre with music from African-Americans to reflect and inform modern American life. We literally created "Tin Pan Alley," musical theatre and Broadway. A few immediate names are the Gershwin brothers, Berlin, Hammerstein, Kern, Fields and countless other popular and enduring songwriters (and producers). Obvious performers like Al Jolson, the Frank Sinatra/Elvis of his day, to others not obviously Jewish because so many changed their names to be accepted outside the Jewish community. Hollywood itself owes its beginnings to penniless European Jewish refugees.

Calling all Jewish punk rock pioneers (1976 - 1980): tell us who you are! If anyone knows the real names or who should be omitted or included in this list, please write me! Thank you to everyone who's written me. Tell you the truth: I was hesitant to put this page together. I thought I'd get hate mail in these extremely conservative times. Au contraire, wonderful people have written me! Proves you have to follow your heart (and curiosity!).
SHANA TOVA! Happy New Year's, October 3, 2005. I mean, September 12, 2007, I can't believe it's two years since I first posted this. Reposting Thanksgiving, 2008!

May G-d grant us peace, health, prosperity, continued love and friendship, and fulfillment of our dreams. But we each have to work at it!!

Read Steven Lee Beeber's "Heebie Jeebies at CBGB's," about the NY Jews who started punk. Fascinating previously undocumented punk history. He made a major error attributing the quote from X's "Los Angeles" to another photographer. It's MY story. ["She started to hate the niggers and Jews . . ." She gave me a hard time because I was born Jewish. But she also gave me my name, Jenny Lens, formerly Jenny Stern.]

Comment by Andrew Sanchez on January 25, 2009 at 11:06am

And let's not forget, 2 of the greatest R&B songwriters were 2 Jewish kids from the south side of Chicago, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller.
Did anyone mention Bob Dylan, David Lee Roth. or Paul and Gene from KISS?

Comment by LUMPY REPELLENT on January 25, 2009 at 2:13am

some of my favorites:
Wendy Goldberg/Pizzle
Handsome Dick Manitoba/Dictators
Eric Bloom/Blue Oyster Cult
Marc Bolan/T Rex
Joey Ramone
Lou Reed

Comment by Andrew Sanchez on January 24, 2009 at 8:19am

I'm not jewish. But, I've been accused of looking the part. Plus, I love the yiddish surf sounds of the Blazers!!

Comment by Marvin P. Goldstein on January 23, 2009 at 9:25pm

I gotta get back over to Burd's Satan page, there is some cross referencing going on! We'll get back to the Jew stuff later!

Comment by jeff on January 19, 2009 at 10:25am

Comment by Marvin P. Goldstein on January 18, 2009 at 4:49pm

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