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Originally Posted by anabundanceoftubes
For me, The Shaggs is a big one. For those who don't know about them, their dad pretty much shut them up with instruments and told them to play . They had no musical training whatsoever and its really interesting to hear how that effected their music. There's no beat really or melody. Their music sounds really juvenile, like when a toddler bangs on the piano. But Frank Zappa declared them to be "better than the Beatles". It's awful, unskilled, almost painful to listen to. But, there's something so pure about their music. Especially "My Pal Foot Foot" (Written about Dot's stuffed animal).
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I haven't heard them mentioned here recently, I really like the Shaggs. If you listen carefully, there's certainly a beat and a melody. However, I also suspect that they didn't have many influences other than a little bit of children's music, because I can't think of really anything earlier to compare them too. The strange thing is, despite the fact that they really, really did not have the slightest clue about how to play their instruments, they actually had a huge influence on later bands. For example, The Raincoats, to me, sound like the Shaggs if they knew how to play their instruments... but I'm not saying they're better. They were also very influential on Kimya Dawson and The Moldy Peaches, both of whom I really like. The thing about The Philosophy of the World, though, is that there is such a split between fans and people that think it is the ****tiest thing ever recorded. I, obviously, am one of the former, and here's why. When you listen to this album, you hear the innocence of the band just bleeding through there music, and it reminds me off children banging on their instruments. Songs like Halloween further enforce this point, with simple lyrics about it being Halloween and going out to trick or treat. But at the same time this innocence and complete honesty about everything they feel combines to create a very strange, eerie at times album when they sing songs like "My Pal Foot Foot" about a derelict imaginary friend or "Who Are Parents". And they have a melody and actually often a rather complicated song structure, but it is buried beneath the guitar players complete lack of rhythm. I'm not even entirely sure how to describe the feeling I get listening to it; there is something absolutely amazing to hear when you find a band like The Shaggs that makes music with absolutely no self consciousness and little to no influences from other musicians. Simply put, this band is absolutely unique, and no one will ever record anything that sounds like this. And it's very interesting to listen to.