Get some Shaggs
Going through some stuff the other day I found a record I'd long forgotten about. 'The Shaggs' a compilation of work by the band of the same name.
The Shaggs are not only one of the best named bands ever, their also one of the bleedin' weirdest. Not in the forced 'we-are-weird' sense like, I don't know, The Flaming Lips but naturally strange and interesting.
Their story is best told by others like Gary Gold and Lester Bangs but in short they are three sisters from Fremont, New Hampshire who formed at the behest of their father. Dot, Betty and Helen Wiggin made an album called 'Philosophy of the World', although only a box of one hundred survived after their label owner did one with the rest.
This didn't stop it becoming a cult classic, and not only for the great sleeve showing the girls with their 'shaggy' hair and instruments. 'Philosophy of the World' sounds like imposters from another world attempting bubble-gum pop. It's off-kilter and peculiar. Charming and fun. It also a bit scary.
When I was at primary school they used to make us watch this creepy kids drama called The Boy From Space, about a distressed alien boy called Peep-Peep who was stuck on Earth. This ill looking mutha, was aided by two earth kids that gave him the name because of the way he tried to speak.
The reason Peep-Peep, or P to his friends, talked oddly was because he spoke backwards, after learning english off an in-side-out plastic bag! This is how the story went, don't dwell on it. We are talking late seventies kids tv.
Anyway something similar seems to be going on with The Shaggs. Yes its guitar, bass and drums. Yes its girls singing songs in harmony. But something fundamental is different in the sound they make. As if they're getting some of the 'rules' of rock/pop twisted.
Described both as 'the worst Rock and Roll band ever' and 'better than The Beatles'. They are well worth tracking down. Predictably perhaps, their story seems to be coming to the big screen.
For more on The Shaggs see their official site, My Pal Foot Foot - a fan site, and Wikipedia.
Best Shaggs:
- The Wheel
- Philosophy of the World
- Shagg's Own Thing (My favorite with their dad and brother on vocal duties).