THE SHAGGS

'The Shaggs' were an American all-female rock and roll group from Fremont, New Hampshire. Their first album, ''Philosophy of the World'' was released in 1969. The Shaggs have often been considered the worst rock and roll band in the world (or the "Most Horrible" by the ''New York Times''), and this designation has made the band's first and most famous album a collector's item in its original vinyl pressing.

Contents

History

Rediscovery

See also

Reference

External links

History

According to an account recorded by Irwin Chusid, the idea of The Shaggs is older than the girls themselves. When the girls' father, Austin Wiggin, Jr., was young, his mother made three predictions: he would marry a strawberry blonde; he would have two sons she would not live to see; and his daughters would form a famous musical group. After the first two came true, Austin set out to make the third happen.
In the mid-1960s, Austin withdrew his daughters from school, bought them instruments, and arranged for them to receive music lessons. They named themselves "The Shaggs" after the shag hairstyle which was then popular. In 1968, Austin arranged for the girls to play a regular Saturday night gig at the Fremont, New Hampshire Town Hall. The next year, the girls went into the studio and recorded their album, ''Philosophy of the World''. All the songs were written by Dorothy.
On the topic of the album, Cub Koda wrote, "There's an innocence to these songs and their performances that's both charming and unsettling. Hacked-at drumbeats, whacked-around chords, songs that seem to have little or no meter to them ... being played on out-of-tune, pawn-shop-quality guitars all converge, creating dissonance and beauty, chaos and tranquility, causing any listener coming to this music to rearrange any pre-existing notions about the relationships between talent, originality, and ability. There is no album you might own that sounds ''remotely'' like this one." (emphasis in original) [1] Reportedly, during the recording sessions the band would occasionally stop playing, claiming one of them had made a mistake and that they needed to start over, leaving the sound engineers to wonder how the girls could tell when a mistake had been made.
Upon closer examination, The Shaggs seem to have a consistent (but highly idiosyncratic) approach to melody, harmony, and rhythm. The songs use highly irregular verse structures, which are emphasized by the melodic structures, which typically accord one note per syllable: the guitar accompaniment attempts to reproduce this pattern as well. Most of the Shaggs material is made up of eighth- and quarter-notes.
At this point, the man who had promised to press 1,000 copies of ''Philosophy of the World'' reportedly absconded with 900 of them. The rest were circulated to New England radio stations but attracted little attention, and the girls' dreams of superstardom were dashed.
In 1975, Austin Wiggin arranged one last recording session for his daughters, but died of a heart attack, which put an end to his ambitions.

Rediscovery

In 1980, Terry Adams and Tom Ardolino, of the band NRBQ, who owned an original copy of the LP and were fans of the music, convinced their record label, Rounder Records, to reissue ''Philosophy of the World''. Upon the LP's release, Rolling Stone magazine accorded the Shaggs "Comeback of the Year" honors. The album was widely—if derisively—reviewed. Adams and Ardolino issued some unreleased 1975 recordings on the 1982 LP ''Shaggs' Own Thing'', but its closer approximation to conventional music caused some to disregard this collection. In 1988 Dorothy Wiggin rediscovered the lost masters of ''Philosophy of the World'' in a closet; these and the tracks from ''Shaggs' Own Thing'' were remastered and released on Rounder an eponymous CD, which had different cover art and a resequencing of all tracks. RCA Victor released ''Philosophy of the World'' (with the original cover art and track sequence) on CD in 1999, whereupon it was hailed as something of an avant-garde cult classic. The Wall Street Journal reviewed the CD on the day it was released, and The New Yorker subsequently ran a lengthy profile of the Shaggs, authored by Susan Orlean.
In 2000, NRBQ celebrated their thirtieth anniversary with a concert in New York City; their opening act was The Shaggs. Helen, who had been suffering from depression for years, declined to attend, so NRBQ's drummer was faced with the challenging task of attempting to play Helen's parts.
In 2001, the Animal World label released ''Better than the Beatles'', a Shaggs tribute album. The title was based on the title of an article by Lester Bangs in which he described the importance of what The Shaggs accomplished musically. Frank Zappa is reported to have said of the Shaggs, "This sounds like the missing link between Fanny and Captain Beefheart & his Magic Band." The album featured established acts such as Ida, Optiganally Yours and Danielson Famille covering The Shaggs' songs.
Artisan Entertainment bought the movie rights to the band's story in 2000, with Katherine Dieckmann assigned to script and direct. Since that time, the project has been acquired by a succession of production companies, but no film has yet been made.
A stage musical about The Shaggs, ''Philosophy of the World'' by librettist/lyricist Joy Gregory, composer/lyricist Gunnar Madsen, and co-conceiver/director John Langs, opened at the John Anson Ford Theatre in Los Angeles in November 2003. The ''LA Weekly'' Award-winning Scenic Design was created by Brian Sidney Bembridge. The production was staged at Lookingglass Theatre Company in Chicago in the spring of 2004, and at the New York Musical Theatre Festival in September 2005.
Helen Wiggin died in 2006. The widow of Austin Wiggin, Jr., Annie Wiggin, died in 2005.

See also

★ Outsider music

Reference

★ ''Songs in the Key of Z: The Curious Universe of Outsider Music'' by Irwin Chusid ISBN 1-55652-372-6

External links

★ The Shaggs Online (official site)

★ My Pal Foot-Foot (unofficial site)