bondagewound's Full Review: Philosophy of the World by The Shaggs
The Shaggs were a band composed of three Wiggins sisters: Helen, Betty, and Dot. The band was formed by their father Austin who insisted that they could play despite the fact that they couldn't. He bought them instruments, paid for lessons, and made them into an un-oiled, clanking, homely machine. The girls hailed from Freemont, NH, which is the kind of town that has not heard of gramophones or stoplights. After maybe a day of practicing, Austin pushed them into a Massachusetts recording studio hoping to capitalize on the lack-of-recognition that was surrounding his daughters. They recorded the album in a day. They returned to New Hampshire where they played dances for the slack-jawed locals. Austin died in 1975 and the Shaggs never played again.
It's impossible to really understand what the Shaggs sound like unless you've heard them. I listened to an hour-long radio show on the band and it's music and I was shocked beyond all reason. To put it mildly, Dot Wiggins, who wrote all the songs, had no ear, the sisters had no voices or chops, and it almost sounds like they had never heard any music besides their own. The hideously out-of-tune guitars jangle and crash, while the drumming Wiggins just takes thoughtless shot after thoughtless shot at her snare drum, providing no meter for the rest of the band. The result is a dissonant mess, that makes your average pre-school orchestra sound like the London philharmonic. As the songs shamble down their rocky road, the singin' Wiggins croons tunelessly about visiting her cat at his house, but failing to find him 'cause he wa'n't at home ("My Pal Foot Foot), and how parents are the ones who really care (parents are the ones who are always there; "Who Are Parents"), and how boys with cars want motorcycles, and the boys with motorcycles want cars ("Philosophy Of The World").
Did I mention that I love this album? The naïveté of these girls is so charming, their innocence so complete, and their music is so terrible that I wouldn't help myself even if I could; these girls didn't seem to have any idea that they sucked. This is the most rock and roll record of all time. Their songs are antidisestablishmentarian rants (they might as well be rebelling against rock music, and what's more rock and roll than that?), their music is more alienating than "Metal Machine Music," their whole ethos says "do it yourself," and nothing, NOTHING, is guaranteed to annoy your parents like The Shaggs. This album stands on a pedestal all by itself.
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