One is not educated musically until they've listened to The Shaggs' Philosophy of the World.
The conceptual beginning of the Shaggs came from Austin Wiggin's mother who, when her son was young, had predicted during a palmreading that he would marry a strawberry blonde woman, that he would have two daughters after she had died, and that his daughters would form a popular music group. The first two predictions proved accurate, so Austin set about making the third come true as well.[8] Austin withdrew his daughters from school, bought them instruments, and arranged for them to receive music and vocal lessons. The Wiggin sisters themselves never planned to become a music group, but as Dot later said, "[Austin] was something of a disciplinarian. He was stubborn and he could be temperamental. He directed. We obeyed. Or did our best."[9] Austin named the Shaggs after the popular shag hairstyle and as a reference to shaggy dogs.[9] In 1968, Austin arranged for the girls to play a regular Saturday night gig at the Fremont, New Hampshire, Town Hall.
Kurt Cobain ranked Philosophy of the World No. 5 on his 50 best albums list.
The challenge in listening to Philosophy of the World is to suspend what you think music should be. The best way to approach it is to think "Hey, if aliens came down to Earth knowing nothing about humanity, our culture, or our music, and, in that complete state of ignorance, tried to make "music", what would it sound like?"
The Shaggs "Philosophy of the World" is the answer to that question.
One thing to keep in mind while you're sampling this esoteric form of art: these sisters
aren't playing badly or making mistakes in their performance. Apparently they're playing the music
exactly as scored!
And so I present The Shaggs' Philosophy of the World. Treat it like that first Borat film and take it in small doses. Especially the "My Pal Foot Foot" track.
m.