# The Shaggs **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [November 19, 2024, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shaggs/1010437 "2024-11-19T03:58:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2024, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shaggs/1010437/1 "2024-11-19T03:58:45Z")
I’m gonna guess most of you are passing familiar with this girl group from the 60s. I got to reading about them, and there’s a story there somewhere. Their dad was a Bizarro Murray Wilson. Where Murray pushed his boys to excel and put out timeless music, the Shagg’s dad just bought them guitars and declared them a band thanks to some prophecy from his mother. And they had zero interest in becoming proficient at their instruments. After playing around their town, dad booked studio time so he could record them “while they were hot”. Here’s their big hit, [“My Pal Foot Foot”](https://youtu.be/XR9d4ESlpHY) ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2024, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shaggs/1010437/2 "2024-11-19T04:01:55Z")
I saw an off-Broadway musical about them a while back! I don’t remember anything about it other than the music was really strange. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2024, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shaggs/1010437/3 "2024-11-19T04:35:16Z")
Pretty sure there are two guitars and drums but no bass guitar. ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2024, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shaggs/1010437/4 "2024-11-19T04:53:12Z")
There are people who claim that the Shaggs were outsider musical geniuses. That, far from being incompetent, they were actually playing the way they did as a deliberate stylistic choice. Those people are idiots. I love a lot of music that some people think is “noise”, and I can tell you: the Shaggs were just hopeless at music. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2024, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shaggs/1010437/5 "2024-11-19T16:03:46Z")
A fourth sister Rachel later played bass. She only appeared on one track of their original album but did more on the “unreleased” issue stuff. It doesn’t appear that she ever did a reunion thing. ---
**Author:** ![ZonexandScout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zonexandscout/32/544_2.png) [@ZonexandScout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZonexandScout)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2024, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shaggs/1010437/6 "2024-11-19T16:03:50Z")
When describing The Shaggs, I usually say something like, “Imagine you’re a fourth grader and the class is going to have a Music Day. You have no musical talent at all, but the teacher gives you a guitar and tells you that you have to stand up front and perform…and that it has to be an original song.” ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2024, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shaggs/1010437/7 "2024-11-19T16:10:29Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > I’m gonna guess most of you are passing familiar with this girl group from the 60s. I’m surprised to see I am not. I wonder how I missed them. I was _right there_. From this thread, I don’t think I’ll go look them up. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2024, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shaggs/1010437/8 "2024-11-19T16:10:50Z")
And Teacher picks out the costumes. ---
**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2024, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shaggs/1010437/9 "2024-11-19T16:12:39Z")
When discussing the merits of modern art you can almost always hear the opinion - _“You call that ART? My four year old kid brother could do better!..”_ The musical analog must compare the Shaggs to one’s talentless young sibling. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2024, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shaggs/1010437/10 "2024-11-19T16:15:47Z")
Great band name, though. With a name like that, you expect the hair-dos to look like Jane Fonda in **Klute** or Joan Jett in her heyday. ---
**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2024, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shaggs/1010437/11 "2024-11-19T16:20:28Z")
I’d read somewhere recently where a group tried to painstakingly recreate the Shaggs music. Right down to having their instruments precisely mis-tuned _just so_. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2024, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shaggs/1010437/12 "2024-11-19T16:26:42Z")
The mind boggles. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2024, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shaggs/1010437/13 "2024-11-19T16:29:25Z")
[Here it is on piano.](https://youtu.be/RTA7DqPX2ds) ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2024, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shaggs/1010437/14 "2024-11-19T16:44:10Z")
The Dead Milkmen wrote a song about The Shaggs. [Kinda.](https://genius.com/The-dead-milkmen-when-i-get-to-heaven-lyrics) ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2024, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shaggs/1010437/15 "2024-11-19T16:47:02Z")
> [@Shakester](#): > > I love a lot of music that some people think is “noise”, and I can tell you: the Shaggs were just hopeless at music. I had to sit through a high school recital where the student teacher tried to convince the audience that any collection of noises is music by having student bang on objects at random times. He is wrong. It was not music. ---
**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2024, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shaggs/1010437/16 "2024-11-19T16:58:40Z")
And stop with the Outsider genius malarkey. As I understand it, they were essentially forced into performing in public by their step dad. At a subsequent reunion, more than anything else they were reportedly interested in…getting paid. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2024, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shaggs/1010437/17 "2024-11-19T17:50:46Z")
I think some people like to find things that are distinctive, maybe somewhat because it makes them feel like they have special knowledge, but I do think some folks may have liked them unironically. At least a few, anyway. They were going to make a movie about them with Elsie Fisher (Eighth Grade) in one of the roles, but that seems to have disappeared. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2024, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shaggs/1010437/18 "2024-11-19T17:55:57Z")
I was in college radio in the 80s so obviously I knew all about the Shaggs. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2024, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shaggs/1010437/19 "2024-11-19T20:49:38Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > With a name like that, you expect the hair-dos to look like Jane Fonda in **Klute** or Joan Jett in her heyday. With a name like that, I expect them to be women who like to, well, shag. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2024, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shaggs/1010437/20 "2024-11-19T21:41:38Z")
“Ooo, behave!” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-shaggs/1010437.md?page=2)