Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
The Schmooze

Israeli Punk Band That Didn’t Forget Its Roots

Crossposted from Haaretz

Useless ID band members (from left to right) Ishay Berger, Yonatan Harpak and Haim Binyamini. Image by Tali Mayer

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.

Read more at Haaretz.com

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.