Depending on who you talk to, The Shaggs were either one of the best bands from the ’60s, or one of the worst bands of all time.
Helen, Betty and Dot Wiggin grew up in Fremont, New Hampshire. They had no interest in music, no natural talent for music, and in the late ’60s, their father forced them to drop out of school and start a rock band. In their living room. And then he forced them to record an album.
Decades later, The Shaggs became a cult classic….beloved by the likes of Frank Zappa, Sonic Youth and Kurt Cobain. And the sisters were suddenly in a spotlight they never expected, or desired.
In this show, The New Yorker’s Susan Orlean talks about her reporting on the origins of The Shaggs.
This show was produced for a FANTASTIC series out of KCRW, called Lost Notes. I highly recommend checking it out.
I produced this show with:
Susan Orlean of The New Yorker
The present day interview with The Shaggs was by Avishay Artsy
This was an enjoyable episode but not for the usual reason, the subject, but for the bemused approach to your commentary. Bemused, but very thoughtfully, generously and delicately sparing of the Shagg’s. The Shagg’s themselves, aside from being driven into playing the music and making a few recordings, have lives that seem about as nondescript as one can imagine. But your gentle and mellifluous delivery, almost music itself, bathed the atmosphere in warmth and empathy. They were curious characters indeed. And we all could feel kinship.
This is a pretty awesome comment Spoon…but I should say that it wasn’t my commentary…it was Susan Orlean, writer for The New Yorker. I edited the show. If you haven’t read her article on The Shaggs from the late 90s, you should check it out. It’s great. There’s a link to it on the show page. As always, I love getting your comments. So thank you! E
Sorry, Can’t figure it out.
Totally agree with Spoon Agave’s comment. I’m just going to say “ditto” b/c I will not express it as well as Spoon did.