The Shaggs – Philosophy Of The World

Reviewed by Rekti

I was first introduced to this band by accident through my friend in a local indie music magazine. He’s one weird fellas who plays in a free jazz band. He often pissed other people in the office by playing commonly unfavorable music like Captain Beefheart, which was pretty fine by me since I have an affection to slightly similar Mark E. Smith’s The Fall (whom inspired by Beefheart). His musical taste does always catch my attention. Once he played me an obscure recording of a Indonesian woman singer from Dutch Colonial years, who was apparently accompanied by Kecapi. That eerie sound of her voice and noise from the vinyl (this one I heard was converted to mp3) kept in my mind and to this day I keep asking him where he stored the file since I never found the location of the mp3, and so does my weird friend. It probably lost or deleted, who knows.

Anyway, when he played The Shaggs in the office hour, everyone started to complained about their obscurity and band’s lack musicianship. What they were complaining about were all true. Hacked-at drumbeats, whacked-around chords, chords being played on out-of-tune-pawn-shop-quality guitars, etc, etc. In short word, they’re junk. The only reasonable reason to play this sort of music is, if you’re kinder garden kids or mentally challenging person. But then, do we need these kind of reason when it comes to sincerity? Beside, sincerity only comes from kids and mentally challenged people these days. In fact there’s an innocence to The Shaggs and their performances that’s both charming and unsettling. And that’s what matter most.

The Shaggs were formed by Dot, Betty, and Helen in 1968 on the insistence of their father, Austin Wiggin, who believed that his mother foresaw the band’s rise to stardom. The band’s only studio album, Philosophy of the World, was released in 1969. The album failed to garner attention, though the band continued to exist as a locally popular live act. The Shaggs disbanded in 1975 after the death of Austin.

Musically, The Shaggs seem to have a 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.

Posthumously, the band gained notoriety and praise for their unconventional style, lack of musical talent, and lyrical honesty after Frank Zappa named Philosophy of the World one of his favorite records. The late Lester Bangs even described the importance of The Shaggs by stating Better Than The Beatles in one of his article.

It’s clear that so many bands now days, owes a big bow to this largely underrated band. Even Helen, drummer, had to suffer from depression for the relative success her father once insisted. But still so many people out there thinks The Shaggs are the worst musical disaster. They couldn’t understand The Shaggs, nor even tried to.

The Shaggs – Philosophy Of The World [.mp3]