The Shaggs - The Shaggs' Own Thing

I first heard The Shaggs in a small hallway closet in Hadley, Massachusetts. I was 21. My friend Dan Cashman played them for me in the actual closet that was his bedroom in the old schoolhouse we lived in. I was sort of mid-journey from my highschool love all all things witchy and goth (Stevie Nicks, X, Sisters of Mercy, Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Birthday Party, Bauhaus, etc) to falling HARD for something new. I reveled in the off-kilter, the lack of consistent and familiar time signature, and some new-to-me styles of dischord. I spent nights listening to every Ornette Coleman record i could get my hands on, Sun Ra, Art Ensemble of Chicago, Frank Zappa, Roky Erickson, Captain Beefheart, was even blessed enough to see Professor Milford Graves perform several times. Something about The Shaggs really clicked together for me a love of pop songwriting with this bonkers version of music i was learning.I'm not sure there's a more cult-y origin story?? The Shaggs were created from an actu