HaYehudim or I.U.D.M is an Israeli hard rock band, formed in 1992 by couple Tom Petrover and Orit Shahaf, who share guitar playing and vocal duties. The band has achieved tremendous success in Israel despite relative commercial disregard in its first years, and has sold over 200,000 albums in Israel. The band is known for its energetic, dark-themed songs and loud vocals. The band sings mostly in Hebrew, although in later albums they have several songs in English.
History
The name of the band was suggested by their producer. The band's first album, Metziut Nifredet was released in 1995 through Hed Arzi Music. Several music videos from the album were often played on Israeli television, but not on the radio and initially the album sold poorly. However the band continued playing live shows all over Israel, gaining a cult following. The debut album went gold in 1998, and later on achieved double platinum. The second album, self-titled HaYehudim and released in 1998, and was an immediate success despite continuing disregard from mainstream media, making HaYehudim one of the leading rock bands in Israel. This album, too, attained gold status. In 1999 Hayehudim were elected as Band of the Year on Galey Tzahal, Israel's national radio station. The same year, they opened the Metallica concert in Israel, and in 2000 the band opened the Rage Against the Machine concert in Israel as well. Four years after their second album, Hayehudim released a third studio album by the name of Pahad Mavet in 2002. The next year Hayehudim released their first live album - a double CD and DVD set named Hayhudim LIVE. The live album was a great success and the following year the band released a second live album, this time of an unplugged show. In 2007 Hayehudim released their fourth studio album, Forte. In musicology, the term forte means strong, and the name was chosen because if you hadn't had enough of Hayehudim till now, you're about to get Hayehudim forte. The album went gold, and won Album of the Year in the Israeli Music Channel awards.
Name
The name 'HaYehudim', literally meaning The Jews, was proposed to the band by Eldad Ziv, an Israeli theatre director and musician, and by Roy Zu-Arets, the music producer who produced the band's debut album Metziut Nifredet. Despite being a provocative name the band's members liked it and decided to use it.
