History Music / TheShaggs

* ShaggyDogStory: IncrediblyLamePun aside, this is subverted somewhat. [[BittersweetEnding The band failed to achieve mainstream success like Austin thought, but they're appreciated in cult and outsider music circles.]]

* CoverVersion: Of [[Music/{{Carpenters}} the Carpenters]]' "Yesterday Once More." By the time this was recorded, they could keep together reasonably well, but [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BkUFmjz-Ek it was still unmistakably the Shaggs.]]

-->''"Sometimes I worry over nothing at all\\

* DownerEnding: DoubleSubverted. They failed to achieve mainstream success, Austin died in 1975, and the band disbanded shortly after. Years later, they were VindicatedByHistory through cult and OutsiderMusic aficionados and played a few reunion shows in 1999, but then Helen [[DrivenToSuicide committed suicide]] in 2006.
* DreadfulMusician: Though they ''slowly'' developed a rudimentary sense of instrumentation, synchronization, and playing in time.

* GiftedlyBad: At least in Austin's mind.

Austin had four daughters: Helen, Dorothy, Betty, and Rachel. He withdrew them from school, bought them instruments, set them up with music and voice lessons, and had them practice their instruments for a good five years straight. They didn't enjoy the work in the slightest. Satisfied with their progress, Austin booked them to play on Saturday nights at the town hall in their hometown of Fremont, New Hampshire -- except they weren't very good at all, and their ineptitude only resulted in other kids picking on them. Undeterred, Austin booked a single day at the Fleetwood Recordings studio, where it became abundantly clear to the befuddled engineer that the girls weren't ready to record. Austin reportedly replied, "I want to get them while they're hot." The end result, such as it is, was named ''Philosophy of the World.''

Austin had four daughters: Helen, Dorothy, Betty, and Rachel. He withdrew them from school, bought them instruments, set them up with music and voice lessons, and had them practice their instruments for a good five years straight. Satisfied with their progress, Austin booked them to play on Saturday nights at the town hall in their hometown of Fremont, New Hampshire -- except they weren't very good at all, and their ineptitude only resulted in other kids picking on them. Undeterred, Austin booked a single day at the Fleetwood Recordings studio, where it became abundantly clear to the befuddled engineer that the girls weren't ready to record. Austin reportedly replied, "I want to get them while they're hot." The end result, such as it is, was named ''Philosophy of the World.''

* HaveAGayOldTime: "Why Do I Feel" is even more hilarious with this in mind:

* ContemplateOurNavels: Songs like "I Wonder" and "Philosophy of the World" do this in a dorky way.

* ThePerfectionist: Believe it or not, while recording, the band had a tendency to stop recording over perceived errors. One has to wonder what ''those'' were considering the end result.

The Shaggs had [[SoBadItsGood an unusual approach]] to making pop music. Not only did their instruments sound blatantly out of tune, but their limited ability caused each member's individual performance to seemingly follow its own time signature. Each individual note matched up to every syllable they sang, and in general, it all added up to what the average person would hear as a lot of disorganized sound. Despite all this, the band has developed [[CultClassic a small cult following]] and even some good reviews over the years (amongst them being from no less than Lester Bangs, Music/KurtCobain and Music/FrankZappa), with many praising the honesty and humanism of their lyrical content. Nowadays they are seen as a prime example of OutsiderMusic - music created by non-musicians that is unprofessional, unconventional and experimental.

The Shaggs' musicianship did eventually improve over time, and the band developed a small local following playing dances around New Hampshire. The band did have a second recording session in 1975, where among other songs, they did [[CoveredUp a cover of]] "Yesterday Once More" by the Music/{{Carpenters}}. The sessions never materialized into a full album, as the sessions -- and the band itself -- were aborted after [[DownerEnding Austin Wiggin passed away from a heart attack.]]

* ConMan: The man Austin hired to press 1000 copies of ''Philosophy of the World'' reportedly took 900 copies along with the money and ran, hence why original pressings are obscenely expensive.

%%* OutsiderMusic: Defines this as well as anyone else.

* MohsScaleOfLyricalHardness: Too innocent to be anything but a 1.
* MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness: Uh... ''ostensibly'' they're a 2.
* OutsiderMusic: Defines this as well as anyone else.

* VocalTagTeam: Dot and Betty, in all their monotonal glory.

* {{Adorkable}}: Their lack of skill becomes sort of charming after a while.

* ContemplateOurNavels: Songs like "I Wonder" and "Philosophy of the World" are quite possibly the most {{Adorkable}} versions of this trope.

Helen, the drummer, [[DrivenToSuicide took her own life]] in 2006. An off-Broadway musical about their life was created and ran in in UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity in the early 2010s. Dot Wiggin released a solo album on Music/JelloBiafra's Alternative Tentacles label in 2013. In 2015, she was the opening act for Music/NeutralMilkHotel's reunion tour; her band played both her new, straightforward material and songs from ''Philosophy of the World'', played [[StylisticSuck exactly as they were on the album]] (which is no mean feat, because doing that on purpose is extraordinarily complicated). In 2017, the surviving members of the Shaggs -- Dot, Betty, and Rachel -- [[http://www.nme.com/news/music/one-kurt-cobain-favourite-bands-the-shaggs-reunite-1979663 reunited]] at Music/{{Wilco}}'s Solid Sound Festival.

The Shaggs had [[SoBadItsGood an unusual approach]] to making pop music. Not only did their instruments sound blatantly out of tune, but their limited ability caused each member's individual performance to seemingly follow its own time signature. Each individual note matched up to every syllable they sang, and in general, it all added up to what the average person would hear as a lot of disorganized sound. Despite all this, the band has developed [[CultClassic a small cult following]] and even some good reviews over the years (amongst them being from no less than Lester Bangs, Music/KurtCobain and Music/FrankZappa), with many praising the honesty and humanism of their lyrical content. Nowadays they are seen as a prime example of OutsiderMusic.

* HalloweenEpisode: The subject of "It's Halloween", with its hilarious line "Why, even Dracula will be there".

The band's rediscovery began while they were still together, when Frank Zappa stopped by the Creator/DrDemento show in the early 1970s and played a few cuts from ''Philosophy of the World'' on air. In 1980, the band NRBQ arranged for ''Philosophy'' to be reissued on Rounder Records, and it proved to be a huge underground hit. A second album of Shaggs material, ''Shaggs' Own Thing'', was issued in 1982 and featured some of their more competent recordings from their later career. In 1999, ''Philosophy'' was reissued again, this time by major label RCA, and the Shaggs and their cult following received national media attention as a result.

Helen, the drummer, took her own life in 2006. An off-Broadway musical about their life was created and ran in in UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity in the early 2010s. Dot Wiggin released a solo album on [[Music/DeadKennedys Jello Biafra]]'s Alternative Tentacles label in 2013. In 2015, she was the opening act for Music/NeutralMilkHotel's reunion tour; her band played both her new, straightforward material and songs from ''Philosophy of the World'', played [[StylisticSuck exactly as they were on the album]] (which is no mean feat, because doing that on purpose is extraordinarily complicated). In 2017, the surviving members of the Shaggs -- Dot, Betty, and Rachel -- [[http://www.nme.com/news/music/one-kurt-cobain-favourite-bands-the-shaggs-reunite-1979663 reunited]] at Music/{{Wilco}}'s Solid Sound Festival.

->"The Shaggs are a sort of cult like band. Cult as in their music that was once lost became found and with a little help from The Creator/DrDemento Show, Music/FrankZappa, and some guy named Music/KurtCobain, they were rediscovered and have somehow stepped past the threshold of mediocrity (awfulness really…) and evolved into a band that escapes the boundaries of obscurity and being locked behind a circus sideshow-like persona. The kind of stuff your buddy in college might tell you about.\\

You might want a different buddy…"

->"The Shaggs are a sort of cult like band. Cult as in their music that was once lost became found and with a little help from The Dr. Demento Show, Frank Zappa, and some guy named Kurt Cobain, they were rediscovered and have somehow stepped past the threshold of mediocrity (awfulness really…) and evolved into a band that escapes the boundaries of obscurity and being locked behind a circus sideshow-like persona. The kind of stuff your buddy in college might tell you about.\\

->''"Oh, the rich people want what the poor people's got''\\
''And the poor people want what the rich people's got''\\
''And the skinny people want what the fat people's got''\\
''And the fat people want what the skinny people's got''\\
''You can never please anybody in this world!"''

->"The Shaggs are a sort of cult like band. Cult as in their music that was once lost became found and with a little help from The Dr. Demento Show, Frank Zappa, and some guy named Kurt Cobain, they were rediscovered and have somehow stepped past the threshold of mediocrity (awfulness really…) and evolved into a band that escapes the boundaries of obscurity and being locked behind a circus sideshow-like persona. The kind of stuff your buddy in college might tell you about.