URH
From Unearthing The Music
URH was a Hungarian underground band formed in 1980 (originally called "Orgazmus" - "Orgasm") and then disbanded in 1981. Though short lived, the band quickly attained a legendary status and served as the launchpad for a new generation of artists and musicians, whose members are highly recognizable in contemporary art and the Hungarian underground culture.
Biography
The ensemble was founded by Lajos Somoskői and Jenő Menyhárt in 1980, and was joined at the request of Menyhárt by his former military partner, László Kiss. Somoskői was a great admirer of Gergely Molnár and the Spions band and wished to follow in their musical footsteps. Upon hearing that Molnár had left his lyrics to a man before abandoning the country, he invited him, Péter Müller, to a rehearsal. Péter Müller brought along his own writings alongside Molnár's and impressed Somoskői, joining the band as a singer and eventually becoming its leader, partly because of his theatrical and television connections. His strong individuality was also reflected in the fact that Somoskői would later be forced to leave the band after being pressured by Müller, and he was also responsible for recruiting András Salamon as a drummer.
Their first performance, on September 13, 1980, was at a psychiatric emergency unit and the proceeds of the concert were offered to care for young drug addicts treated at the institute. The concert poster didn’t include the name URH yet, just the title of the show (Orgasm in Blue Light) and the following sentence: “If you really came from the future, make it brutal but gentle so that it doesn't hurt”. This was followed by the names of the members in abbreviated form, also referring to juvenile offenders.
From then on, their fan base grew from concert to concert, and the genre itself became increasingly popular; a real underground subculture had emerged. They finally had a permanent concert venue in the Kassák Club, although they didn't give their biggest concert here - that took place in the dining room of the Bercsényi College of the Budapest University of Technology. But after a short period of activity, they also held their farewell concert there on March 29, 1981. Their dissolution was in part due to creative conflicts between Müller and Menyhárt.
In place of the outgoing Müller, Menyhárt formed a legendary ensemble called Európa Kiadó, while Péter Müller became a key member of the also very popular Kontroll Csoport, before forming Sziámi.
Music
URH's music was influenced by punk (simple themes, fast, subdued rhythms), rock, and to a lesser extent, though noticeably, jazz. Many of their songs are about drug use and intoxication, feelings of freedom (e.g. "Hellish Golden Age"), criticism of the system ("Take It", "Is There Life on Earth"), the domestic music industry ("Who wants to cut the doctor") and criticism of public figures ("Blue Light"), spiced with irony and humor, but at the same time strongly poetic and filled with ambiguity. Like with Spions, their music was banned in Hungary, and published only in samizdat tapes.
Members
- Jenő Menyhárt -(guitar, vocals, lyrics)
- Péter Iván Müller (later Péter Müller Szíami) - singing, lyrics
- Lajos Somoskői - (vocals, guitar)
- László Kiss - (bass, vocals)
- András Salamon - (drums)