Iron Menorah

So I heard simultaneously about Iron Menorah from a couple of places, including Jack at Teruah. They're a Jewish Iron Maiden tribute band, who play dressed as ultra-orthodox Jews. Other than that the Jewish context is pretty minimal, give or take the odd burst of Hava Nagila. My first reaction when I heard about them was to groan inwardly: it's not that this sort of shtick isn't moderately amusing, it's that we Jews deserve so much better. Let me explain. There is a long history of Jewish novelty acts that draw on the presumed humorousness of Jews contributing to popular music and popular culture. It's based on the premise that Jews are so nerdy and uncool that to see them rock or whatever is intrinsically ridiculous. And for a long time this was fair comment and novelty acts provided a valid way of Jews dealing with such anxieties. But the thing is - we've moved on. There's too much interesting and vital Jewish popular music around now to see it as only ever a novelty. In metal itself, after Orphaned Land there can be no doubt that a Jewish metal hybrid is viable and interesting.

It's not that Iron Menorah aren't fun. It's just that they themselves seem anachronistic: a parody of a self-parody.

All that said, as an Iron Maiden cover band they're not at all bad. The vocalist especially channels Bruce pretty well. Here's the two videos of them from you tube so you can judge for yourself:

Comments

[Deborah Applegate]

The Jewish community at Pendelton Correctional Facility, Pendleton, Indiana desparatly needs donations of Jewish Heavy Metal CD's so they can prove to prison officals that there is such a thing. They aren't allowed to play this music now because of this. A loving Jewish Mom.

[Deborah Applegate]

The Jewish Community at Pendleton Correctional Facility, Pendelto, Indiana desparatly needs donations of Jewish Heavy Metal CD's. This is to prove to prison officials that there is such a thing. They aren't allowed to play this music now because of this. PLEASE!!!!!