(18 MP3s of pure, uncompromised Jud beyond the jump.)
Jud Jud was the band that was too straight edge for instruments. Every song (including their "tuning") on their 1989 seven Inch The Demos consists of Steve Heritage (in the left stereo channel) and "B" (in the right channel) chanting their manifesto, which consists mostly of the word Jud, as well as occasional feedback and explosion noises. But mostly the word Jud. Repeated over and over again. The Demos contains pictures of fake flyers for Jud Jud headlining over bands like Minor Threat, which never happened. But the hoax/parody worked remarkably well. As one online review gushed:
JUD JUD managed to strip everything away and find the purist of centers. Using only there mouths JUD JUD leave you standing drop jawed with the speed and insensity of a train (sic). A quote from The Demos 7 inch "Our lyrics have always been the most important part of JUD
JUD. We write them separately and feel that is it necessary to print what each of us has to say. These words represent values, ideals, friendships and motivation. They define who we are. Thanxxx to everyone who has supported us over the years. You have made our dreams a reality. Go!"
And a quick inspection of their "important" lyrics is indeed impressive insofar as hoax or not, these boys did come up with a cool new form of musical notation. Each song shows two columns of nonsense words, representing what is being chanted in each stereo channel, as shown for their song X Dive Bomb Song X, at right (click it for a larger image).
WFMU received The Demos in 1999, and although the single says it was recorded from 1987 to 1989, who knows for sure. I couldn't find any evidence of their existence prior to the late 90's, but maybe someone out there has more info. Likewise, with their No Tolerance for Instruments collection - it was released to archive.org in 2003, with claims that it was recorded in 1988, but it sure doesn't sound like it was recorded at the same time as The Demos.
No matter. Judged either as hoax or parody, it's a great one, and
like part one, part one and a half and part two of this Audio Hoaxes Series, the
music is really fun. Here's the entire Jud Jud oeuvre. (True to their purist straight edge (sXe) roots, every title Jud Jud does is
surrounded by X's.)
X The Demos X
X High Hat Song X | X Gallop Song X | X Slither Song X
X Dive Bomb Song X | X Fast Song X | X Rounds of Jud Song X
X Tuning Song X | X Backmasking Song X | X Turn Around Song X
X No Tolerance For Instruments X
X We're Back Song X | X Wah Wah Song X | X Harmonics Song X
X Speed Picking Song X | X Tune Down Song X | X Bass In The Beginning Song X
X Double Bass Song X | X Grindcore Song X | X Hammer-On Song X
i highly recommend playing them all at the same time.
Posted by: the eating club | May 25, 2006 at 04:38 AM
B (who actually does go by B) was also in Scholastic Deth, a west coast hardcore band, who had a lot of songs about being academics (ie. "Bookstore Core"). The band ended when B moved to Chicago to go to grad school as a doctoral candidate in philosophy. Check out their anthology cd designed in Cliff Notes fashion...
Posted by: Woody | May 25, 2006 at 11:24 AM
B is currently the drummer in a band from Chicago called Sseepage... no records yet, though I hear they're working on one...They're playing on WHPK (University of Chicago radio) Friday May 26. I'm not sure if it's webcast or not, but if you're in Chicago it's 88.5 FM, from 9-10:30pm...
Posted by: Crank Satori | May 25, 2006 at 11:42 AM
WHPK, sadly, does not webcast yet due to financial navigations, quibbling with administrative forces, computing services folks, and various "falling throughs" with a handful of potential webcasting services...
Posted by: sepulveda_disaster | May 25, 2006 at 12:14 PM
Steve was the guitarist from Assuck. They came around in the early 90s with a demo style tape as a joke that spread around the southeast and got funny reviews in HeartAttack and the like. Check out the cats from No Idea, as they used to distribute the stuff and you can grab some more info.
Posted by: ben clack | May 26, 2006 at 03:07 PM
thanks for posting it. i only had the demos, now i have their discography and that rocks!
Posted by: m1k3k | May 29, 2006 at 10:49 AM
I own xThe Demosx on vinyl. The etching on side A says Demo 96' and the etching on side B says Demo 97'.
Posted by: STDK | September 28, 2007 at 07:52 PM
Related, for the current decade: http://listentowubwub.com
Posted by: x GARY x | January 19, 2013 at 11:52 AM