HaYehudim

HaYehudim
Hayehudim in concert, 2010
Background information
Origin	Tel Aviv, Israel
Genres	Hard Rock Post-grunge
Years active	1992–present
Labels	Hatav Hashmini
Website	www.the-jews.com
Members	Tom Petrover Orit Shachaf Yahav Lipinski Guy Be'er Omri Agmon Nir Maimon Roy Zu-Arets
Past members	See "Former members"

HaYehudim or I.U.D.M(Hebrew: היהודים‎‎, lit. The Jews) is an Israeli hard rock band, formed in 1992 by (now married) couple Tom Petrover and Orit Shachaf, 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. Many of their songs are charged with political and ideological flavor, though since none of their songs are clearly political in nature, much room is left for interpretation.

The band sings mostly in Hebrew, although in later albums they had several songs in English.

The name of the band was suggested by their producer. The band's first album, Metziut Nifredet (Hebrew: מציאות נפרדת‎‎, Separate Reality) 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.