Get (song)

Last updated
"Get"
Single by The Groggers
from the album There's No 'I' in Cherem
ReleasedMay 2, 2010 (2010-05-02)
Genre Jewish music, pop punk
Length2:24
Label CD Baby
Songwriter(s) Doug Staiman
The Groggers singles chronology
"Get"
(2010)
"Eishes Chayil"
(2010)

"Get" is the debut single and music video by American Jewish pop punk band The Groggers, taken from their debut album There's No 'I' in Cherem . It is also the group's first song recorded together; written by lead singer L.E. Doug Staiman before the band had formed, he decided to film a low-budget music video for the song using a pickup band, which would later become The Groggers.

Contents

Background

Staiman conceived of the song while working at a Jewish family law firm, where he often had to deal with couples caught in messy divorces. [1]

Staiman wrote "Get" in 15 minutes while playing for a camp with Aryeh Kunstler. [2] Having received positive feedback on his music from friends but believing it was too niche to go anywhere, Staiman decided to film a low-budget video for "Get" using pickup musicians, including friend and former Yeshiva University classmate Ari Friedman. After the video became a small viral hit, Staiman, Friedman, and the other musicians decided to form the Groggers. [3] [4]

Lyrical content

The song satirically addresses the issue of an agunah , a Jewish woman whose husband refuses to grant her a get , or Jewish divorce, effectively preventing her from marrying anyone else. In the song, Staiman encourages such a husband to admit his failings and give his wife the divorce ("You gotta get, get, get, get, give her a get/'Cause she don't love you no more"). Following its release, the song became a popular tool among agunah activists. [3]

Music video

The video, directed by then-film student Farrell Goldsmith, was made for $30 and shot in one day. It was released on May 2, 2010; by early 2012, it had 115,000 views on YouTube, an uncommon feat for Jewish music videos. [4]

The video depicts a man in a failing marriage being hounded by the band to grant her a divorce, even being tied to a chair.

Personnel

Related Research Articles

Mike Dirnt American rock musician

Michael Ryan Pritchard, better known by his stage name Mike Dirnt, is an American musician, singer, and songwriter. He is best known as the co-founder, bassist, backing and occasional lead vocalist and former guitarist of Green Day. He has also played in several other bands, including the Frustrators. His stage name was originally a nickname that his friends from grade school gave him, as he constantly played "air bass/guitar" and made a "dirnt, dirnt, dirnt" noise while pretending to pluck the strings.

Tim Armstrong

Timothy Ross Armstrong is an American musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, filmmaker, music video director, and actor. Known for his distinctive hoarse and soulful voice, he is the singer/guitarist for the punk rock band Rancid and hip hop/punk rock supergroup Transplants. Prior to forming Rancid, Armstrong was in the influential ska punk band Operation Ivy. In 1997, along with Brett Gurewitz of the band Bad Religion and owner of Epitaph Records, Armstrong founded Hellcat Records. In 2012, through his website, Armstrong started releasing music that influenced him, along with stripped-down cover songs of his own work under the name Tim Timebomb. Armstrong is also a songwriter for other artists. Armstrong won a Grammy Award for his work with Jimmy Cliff and Pink, and has also worked with Joe Walsh.

An agunah is a Jewish woman who is stuck in her religious marriage as determined by halakha. The classic case of this is a man who has left on a journey and has not returned, or has gone into battle and is MIA. It is used as a borrowed term to refer to a woman whose husband refuses, or is unable, to grant her a divorce.

Doug Carrion is an American musician, audio engineer, record producer, and music editor. He played bass guitar in the punk rock bands the Descendents and Dag Nasty during the 1980s, and in the hard rock band For Love Not Lisa in the early 1990s. He has had a long working relationship with Brad "Daddy X" Xavier, playing with him in the punk rock bands Doggy Style and Humble Gods, working with his rap rock group the Kottonmouth Kings in the 2000s, and playing on his solo albums. Carrion has also composed, edited, and recorded music for television and films, including several reality television series and game shows during the 2000s. In 2012 he started his own Americana group, Doug C and the Blacklisted.

Tom Verlaine is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist, best known as the frontman of the New York City rock band Television.

Phil X Canadian rock guitarist

Phil Theofilos Xenidis, better known as Phil X, is a Canadian musician and songwriter. Since 2011, he has played lead guitar with Bon Jovi and officially replaced former lead guitarist Richie Sambora in 2016.

Die So Fluid

Die So Fluid are an English hard rock band that formed in London, England in 2000. The group consists of two members: songwriter Grog and Drew Richards (guitar). Al Fletcher played drums and performed backing vocals until his death in 2016. They have released five albums, the first two being Spawn of Dysfunction and Not Everybody Gets a Happy Ending. The third album, The World Is Too Big For One Lifetime, was released in the UK in June 2010. The fourth album, The Opposites of Light, was released on 5 May 2014. The band announced fifth album One Bullet from Paradise with a limited edition pre-order launched at PledgeMusic in August 2017.

8th Day is an American Hasidic pop rock band based in Los Alamitos, California. Formed in 2004 by brothers Shmuel and Bentzion Marcus, the group gained popularity in the Jewish music scene with their album Chasing Prophecy (2011) and its lead single, "Ya'alili", whose video became a minor viral hit on YouTube. As of 2017, the group has released seven studio albums and one live album. They have performed at venues throughout the country and abroad including Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, American Airlines Arena, and Universal CityWalk.

The Groggers was an American Jewish pop punk band from Queens, New York. Formed in 2010 by lead singer L.E. Doug Staiman, they were known for their satirical, often controversial songs dealing with a variety of Jewish issues. Initially gaining fame with their single and music video "Get", the band released their debut album, There's No 'I' in Cherem, on August 29, 2011. They received national attention, as well as controversy, with their 2012 video for "Jewcan Sam", produced with plastic surgeon Dr. Michael Salzhauer.

Benny Friedman (singer)

Benzion Hakohen "Benny" Friedman is an American Hasidic Jewish singer and a non-pulpit rabbi. Professionally trained in voice, he rose to prominence on the contemporary Jewish religious music scene with his first album in 2009. Singing mainly in Hebrew, Friedman tours extensively and also appears in music videos. He views his music as a shlichus (outreach) tool, with the goal of drawing Jews closer to Judaism.

Diaspora Yeshiva Band was an Israeli Orthodox Jewish rock band founded at the Diaspora Yeshiva on Mount Zion, Jerusalem, by baal teshuva students from the United States. In existence from 1975 to 1983, the band infused rock and bluegrass music with Jewish lyrics, creating a style of music it called "Hasidic rock" or "Country and Eastern". The band was very popular on college campuses in the early to mid-1980s, and was well known in Jerusalem for its Saturday-night concerts at David's Tomb. It had a considerable influence on contemporary Jewish religious music, inspiring later bands such as Blue Fringe, 8th Day, Reva L'Sheva, Soulfarm, the Moshav Band, and Shlock Rock. Fifteen years after it disbanded, band leader Avraham Rosenblum revived the band under the name Avraham Rosenblum & Diaspora and produced several more albums.

Ari Goldwag is an American-born Orthodox Jewish singer, songwriter, composer, and producer of contemporary Jewish religious music, as well as an author and teacher living in Ramat Beit Shemesh, Israel. He was a soloist for the Miami Boys Choir at age 10 and starred on five albums and three videos before his voice changed at age 14. He launched a music career after his marriage and move to Israel. He has released seven solo albums, and composes songs and produces albums for other artists.

"Jewcan Sam " is a single and music video by the American Jewish pop punk band The Groggers. The song and video, commissioned by Miami plastic surgeon Dr. Michael Salzhauer, follow a Jewish high school student being turned down by a girl because of his large nose and subsequently trying to correct it with rhinoplasty. Both the band and Salzhauer received heavy criticism for the video's portrayal of plastic surgery, as well as perceived antisemitic imagery.

Yaakov Chesed is an American Jewish rock band from Long Island, New York. Formed in 2006, the group won Battle of the Bands competitions at Yeshiva University and Lander College before recording two studio albums, Rise Above (2007) and The Passage (2009). Their name is a quote from the Uva Letzion prayer in Shacharis.

Aryeh Kunstler is an American Orthodox Jewish singer, songwriter, guitarist, producer, and composer.

<i>Theres No I in Cherem</i> 2011 studio album by The Groggers

There's No 'I' in Cherem is the debut album by American Jewish pop punk band The Groggers, released through CD Baby on August 29, 2011. Originating as a series of demos recorded by lead singer L.E. Doug Staiman in his bedroom, he formed the Groggers in early 2010 after the video for "Get" became a minor viral hit. The album was engineered by Aryeh Kunstler and features vocals from Bram Presser of the Australian Jewish punk band Yidcore.

L.E. Doug Staiman

Eliyahu Noah "Eli" Staiman, professionally known as L.E. Doug Staiman, is an American singer, songwriter, actor, comedian, and filmmaker. He is best known as the frontman of the Jewish pop punk band The Groggers, which he formed with guitarist Ari Friedman in 2010. He is also a musician in Aryeh Kunstler's backing band, the Aryeh Kunstler Band, and is half of the Jewish pop duo 3 Day Yuntif. In addition to his own music, he has directed, edited, produced, and acted in music videos for various artists, and has contributed to several YouTube comedy videos.

Jewish rock is a form of contemporary Jewish religious music that is influenced by various forms of secular rock music. Pioneered by contemporary folk artists like Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach and the Diaspora Yeshiva Band, the genre gained popularity in the 1990s and 2000s with bands like Soulfarm, Blue Fringe, and Moshav Band that appealed to teens and college students, while artists like Matisyahu enjoyed mainstream crossover success.

Rogers Park is an American Hasidic folk rock duo from Chicago, Illinois. Formed in 2011 by childhood friends Yosef Peysin and Mordy Kurtz, the group is named after the Chicago neighborhood where they grew up. Their debut album, The Maggid, was released on January 19, 2016.

Nechemia "Chemy" Soibelman is an American drummer. He was a founding member of The Groggers and played on their debut album, There's No 'I' in Cherem (2011). He is also a former member of the Israeli Jewish rock band Hamakor and the livetronica group G-Nome Project.

References

  1. Savage, Emily (May 13, 2010). "Interview with a punk: The Groggers". Jweekly . Retrieved 4 October 2015.
  2. "Meet The Groggers". The Commentator. Yeshiva University. March 21, 2012. Retrieved 25 August 2015.
  3. 1 2 Ginzberg, Binyomin (Sep 19, 2011). "Monday Music: Making a Loving Mockery of Modern Orthodoxy". The Forward . Retrieved 24 August 2015.
  4. 1 2 Yanover, Yori (March 20, 2012). "The Groggers: It Ain't Your Uncle Moishy's Rock N' Roll". The Jewish Press . Retrieved 24 August 2015.