My theory about The Shaggs

DriveYourCarDownToTheSea · 02-15-2023, 10:07 PM

I recently came up with a theory about The Shaggs - or more specifically, about the father who wrote their songs and made his daughters perform it. Could Austin Wiggins have had Musical Anhedonia? (look it up if you don't know what that is). From all accounts Wiggins was a really strange guy and I'm wondering if anhedonia could have been part of his strangeness? The songs on this album almost sound like they were composed by somebody who was incapable of understanding and appreciating music and derived no pleasure from it, so wrote some songs of what music sounded like to him. In other words, we're hearing what music sounds like to a person with Musical Anhedonia.

grindy · 02-15-2023, 10:26 PM

I have the more plausible theory that he was actually three Captain Beefheart dwarves stacked on top of each other wearing a human suit.

**Frownland** · 02-15-2023, 10:48 PM

We should probably be glad that the strange guy who was weird and abusive with his daughters wasn't that into pleasure.

Queen Boo · 02-16-2023, 02:02 AM

I find The Shaggs really fascinating both for their backstory and their music, I do find their music really charming in it's strangeness, the abusive childhood that led to it's creation not so much.

BTW their father didn't compose the songs, Dot did.

Here's an interview Rolling Stone did with Dot back in 2016 that's worth a read.

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/m...-album-115348/

SGR · 02-16-2023, 08:48 AM

Drjohnrock · 02-16-2023, 11:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Queen Boo

I find The Shaggs really fascinating both for their backstory and their music, I do find their music really charming in it's strangeness, the abusive childhood that led to it's creation not so much.

BTW their father didn't compose the songs, Dot did.

Here's an interview Rolling Stone did with Dot back in 2016 that's worth a read.

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/m...-album-115348/

Agree 100% on all points. No way Austin Wiggin Sr. wrote any of their songs. It wouldn't surprise me if he was tone deaf.

jadis · 02-16-2023, 03:08 PM

I like the song though. It rather seems to me that those who don't like My Pal Foot Foot by The Shaggs suffer from a bad case of Musical Anhedonia

DriveYourCarDownToTheSea · 02-16-2023, 05:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Queen Boo

I find The Shaggs really fascinating both for their backstory and their music, I do find their music really charming in it's strangeness, the abusive childhood that led to it's creation not so much.

BTW their father didn't compose the songs, Dot did.

Here's an interview Rolling Stone did with Dot back in 2016 that's worth a read.

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/m...-album-115348/

Thanks for that link! I had always assumed the father wrote the music, but I guess not.

But now that I know Dot wrote the music instead, deepens the mystery. She said she liked Herman's Hermits and the Beatles when she was young, so clearly she didn't have Musical Anhedonia. So the question would be - Why did she write such bizarre stuff? Unfortunately the Rolling Stone interviewer didn't ask her that, which to me, would seem to be the most obvious and important question!

She also said she still doesn't know much about music, so that strikes me as someone who wouldn't be the kind of person who would be doing avant-garde stuff, especially in her younger years when she knew even less. Though I guess you never know. So was she writing goofy stuff just for the sake of writing goofy stuff? Or did she write deliberately bad stuff to thwart her father's ambitions of the band becoming big and famous?

Stuff like Captain Beefheart you can tell the songwriters knew a lot about music but were deliberately being weird and avant-garde. But that's certainly not the case with this band.

**Frownland** · 02-16-2023, 07:54 PM

She did it to spite you personally.

Queen Boo · 02-16-2023, 08:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DriveYourCarDownToTheSea

Thanks for that link! I had always assumed the father wrote the music, but I guess not.

But now that I know Dot wrote the music instead, deepens the mystery. She said she liked Herman's Hermits and the Beatles when she was young, so clearly she didn't have Musical Anhedonia. So the question would be - Why did she write such bizarre stuff? Unfortunately the Rolling Stone interviewer didn't ask her that, which to me, would seem to be the most obvious and important question!

She also said she still doesn't know much about music, so that strikes me as someone who wouldn't be the kind of person who would be doing avant-garde stuff, especially in her younger years when she knew even less. Though I guess you never know. So was she writing goofy stuff just for the sake of writing goofy stuff? Or did she write deliberately bad stuff to thwart her father's ambitions of the band becoming big and famous?

Stuff like Captain Beefheart you can tell the songwriters knew a lot about music but were deliberately being weird and avant-garde. But that's certainly not the case with this band.

Yeah I've seen another interview where Dot actually goes into her songwriting process but I can't remember which one it was.

02-15-2023, 10:07 PM	#1 (permalink)
DriveYourCarDownToTheSea AllTheWhileYouChargeAFee Join Date: Mar 2013 Location: Kansas City Posts: 1,174	My theory about The Shaggs I recently came up with a theory about The Shaggs - or more specifically, about the father who wrote their songs and made his daughters perform it. Could Austin Wiggins have had Musical Anhedonia? (look it up if you don't know what that is). From all accounts Wiggins was a really strange guy and I'm wondering if anhedonia could have been part of his strangeness? The songs on this album almost sound like they were composed by somebody who was incapable of understanding and appreciating music and derived no pleasure from it, so wrote some songs of what music sounded like to him. In other words, we're hearing what music sounds like to a person with Musical Anhedonia. __________________ Stop and find a pretty shell for her Beach Boys vs Beatles comparisons begin here

02-15-2023, 10:26 PM	#2 (permalink)
grindy . Join Date: Oct 2014 Location: . Posts: 7,201	I have the more plausible theory that he was actually three Captain Beefheart dwarves stacked on top of each other wearing a human suit. __________________ *A smell of petroleum prevails throughout.*

02-16-2023, 07:54 PM	#9 (permalink)
Frownland SOPHIE FOREVER Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: East of the Southern North American West Posts: 35,541	She did it to spite you personally. __________________ Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth. d e a f b o x

02-15-2023, 10:48 PM	#3 (permalink)
Frownland SOPHIE FOREVER Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: East of the Southern North American West Posts: 35,541	We should probably be glad that the strange guy who was weird and abusive with his daughters wasn't that into pleasure.

02-16-2023, 08:48 AM	#5 (permalink)
SGR No Ice In My Bourbon Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: /dev/null Posts: 4,326

02-16-2023, 03:08 PM	#7 (permalink)
jadis Music Addict Join Date: Jun 2021 Location: dont ask Posts: 1,359	I like the song though. It rather seems to me that those who don't like My Pal Foot Foot by The Shaggs suffer from a bad case of Musical Anhedonia