Up there with the James Bond theme and Jurassic Park's signature soundtrack, the world of cinema has been changed by the music of Star Wars. Alongside 'The Imperial March' and 'Duel of the Fates', our trip to the galaxy far, far away would be a different place if not for the melodic bopping of the Mos Eisley Cantina.
Since A New Hope introduced us to the Skywalker Saga, the music of Star Wars has become synonymous with this world of rebels and Rancor. Those up on their Star Wars history will know all about an eyebrow-raising style of music known since 1995's Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina anthology book as… ji*zz.
The modern connotations of sexual fluids seemingly don't fit with Disney's family-friendly image, however, as it looks like ji*zz has been finally banished to Exegol.
When we stepped inside the Mos Eisley Cantina back in 1977, you'll remember the bulbous-headed Bith aliens. To some, they're ji*zz-wailers, known because of the long-reeded instruments they play.
It's safe to assume John Williams didn't know he was inadvertently inventing ji*zz when he scored A New Hope, but up there with being a Nerf herder or a Moof-milker, ji*zz has become an obscure point of Star Wars lore that comes in handy during a pub quiz.
The most famous ji*zz artist is the adorable Max Rebo, with the blue Ortolan becoming a standout background character who more recently popped up in The Book of Boba Fett.
Star Wars: From a Certain Point of View: Return of the Jedi is a new anthology novel, with a Rebo-centric short story called 'Fancy Man' written by Star Wars Creative Arts Manager Phil Szostak.
It explains how Maximillian came to play in Jabba's Palace during Luke's attempted rescue of Han Solo in Return of the Jedi. (Fun fact, the expanded lineup of the Max Rebo Band was only added as part of the 1997 special edition.)
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AV Club reports how 'Fancy Man' revisits Rebo in flashback and explains how he improvised a new song that's unlike "any number of jatz standards he knew by heart". The anthology mentions how jatz "came to be known by many names, some less palatable than others", but notably misses out on any mention of it being called ji*zz.
Star Wars isn't always the most imaginative when it comes to names, and just like Black Krrsantan was originally going to be called Newbacca, ji*zz and jatz are just lazy reimaginings of real-life jazz.
Interestingly, it wasn't until 1995's Tales From The Mos Eisley Cantina that the word "ji*zz" was iconised as Star Wars' in-world musical genre. Jatz actually predates it, with it being mentioned in 1994's Star Wars Adventure Journal Volume 1, Number 3 magazine.
Jatz was officially canonised in 2015's The Perfect Weapon as a Force Awakens tie-in novel, had an indirect mention in 2023's Inquisitor: Rise or the Red Blade, and now causes a stir in From a Certain Point of View.
We imagine ji*zz has stuck around thanks to the odd chuckle and its fan-favourite mentions of ji*zz-wailing.
Disney has brought the likes of Grand Admiral Thrawn and Boba Fett's Sarlacc survival over from the old Legends canon, but as ji*zz has only made the leap in Return of the Jedi's 2017 junior novelisation, it looks like it's being resigned to the many nixed parts of Star Wars lore.
With one tweet going viral and calling Disney "cowards" the #justiceforji*zz movement has taken off. Someone else added: "Look I don't want to get crazy here but I think we should launch a violent insurgent campaign to force Disney to go back to calling the Star Wars music ji*zz."
It's purely speculation, but as Disney stopped short of letting Fiona Shaw's Maarva say "f**k the Empire" in Andor, jokes about ji*zz might be a step too far for the House of Mouse.
One person sure to be disappointed is Alden Ehrenreich, aka young Han Solo. In a 2018 interview with The Big Event podcast, he said that in preparation for his role, he went down into a Wookieepedia wormhole and discovered his love of ji*zz.
It might only seem like a minor gripe, but for Star Wars purists, ji*zz is as important to them as the Ghorman shipping-lane crisis is to Mon Mothma.
If you want to get really technical, the band from A New Hope is Figrin D'an and the Modal Nodes, with the titular Figrin being known for ji*zz and jatz, while Rebo stuck to ji*zz. In Legends, jatz was an evolution of ji*zz and was later replaced by the more popular leaf-jump.
Given the fan backlash to ji*zz erasure, there's a chance all these styles of music could live harmoniously side by side. In the meantime, Evar Orbus and His Galactic ji*zz-Wailers might have to add "The Band Formerly Known As" to the front of their name.
The entire Skywalker Saga is available to watch on DVD, Blu-ray and 4K, as well as on Disney+.
Tom Chapman
Tom Chapman is a pop culture-loving writer and NCTJ-accredited Broadcast Journalist with over seven years of experience covering the small and silver screen.
Starting his career with a post at Movie Pilot in Berlin, Tom took on freelancing full-time with regular stints at Digital Spy, Screen Rant and Comic Book Resources.
These days, you can still find him covering all things Marvel and Star Wars at Digital Spy, while dipping his toe in bylines at Yahoo! and IGN.
Tom likes to think his spirit animal is a cross between Gale Weathers and Olenna Tyrell.
