Singers with Unique Voices: The Shaggs (The Unique Voices Club #35)

Every Friday, I write a post about singers with unique voices not commonly heard in mainstream music in an effort to educate emerging artists and music lovers and inspire them to embrace their own quirks. This week I'm writing on The Shaggs.

Photo from the Music Museum of New England

Before I jump into this week's artist bucking the status quo, I heavily implore you to share these posts with anyone could be inspired by the artists (or entertained by my anecdotes). Because as I say every week, there's power in the unconventional. And it's often the unconventional ones in the arts world that get overlooked. But when you're a creative, being different is what'll make you stand out and be special in the long run. So here's your weekly dose of confidence and education.

Anyway, I first learned about the Shaggs in a college class on the psychology of music. To be nerdy for a brief second, the band was used as an illustration of Juslin and Vastfjall's theory that there are six mechanisms through which music can induce emotions: brain stem reflexes, evaluative conditioning, emotional contagion, visual imagery, episodic memory and musical expectancy. Namely, the Shaggs shows off the musical expectancy component perfectly: you have expectations of how a song will sound and so if it meets your expectations you enjoy it, or if it violates your expectations, you don't enjoy it. Which explains why my choir-trained father once got on my case for playing the Shaggs on college radio.

You see, the Shaggs in their 1969 Philosophy of the World album (recorded not far from me!) were fairly lackadaisical about being inconsistent with the rhythm and music of their songs. And that can shake you up unless you listen to jazz with weird time signatures that change every other bar. But even then, it's like the drums are following one time and the (untuned) guitars are following another and the singers are singing a mush of random melodies just behind both of them. Of course it can drive you mad (in fact, the album is described as the worst of all time). The band however was unaware that their music was unusual and didn't understand why people cringed at it. Not me while I'm writing this though. I've listened to all sorts of stuff at this point in my life and in the Unique Voices Club so nothing really surprises me much anymore😅.

The band was made up of the reluctant Wiggin sisters at the insistence of their father who wanted to see a prediction that they would become famous come true. After recording and releasing that first (and only) album, the Shaggs disbanded after the father died in 1975. What's interesting is that like Van Gogh, the music only became famous after they broke up, attracting fans like Frank Zappa and Kurt Cobain. And in 1990s, an interest grew in "outsider music," which is unadulterated music with childlike qualities created by musicians that have little to no traditional musical experience. (Lo-fi probably falls under this, as do some artists who record their songs in their bedroom). Then the Shaggs had another surge of popularity, and released another compilation containing unreleased songs (and re-recordings of the songs of the debut) in 1982. Most recently though, Dot, one of the sisters, released a more in-tune album in 2013 that's reminiscent of the rock music from the '50s. And even though one of the sisters is dead now, they've had about two reunions during the 21st century.

So I write the Shaggs into the Unique Voices Club this week not to say you don't need vocal training or a music teacher or the like. That can be helpful so you don't do things like destroy your vocal cords or the mechanism of whatever instrument you're playing (being a self-taught guitarist I wrecked quite a few strings and bridges until I knew better). But just that you can be the mose inexperienced artist, singer, guitarist or whatever and still create something beautiful that someone will love. I wrote my first song when I was 11 unassumingly called "Lyrics" about random stuff like dust blowing and cats mewing, and my friends thought it was best thing ever, so much so that they practiced it every recess for a month. Dot Wiggin's voice sounds like she's talking but trying to make it sound melodic. You can hear the untrained qualities in her voice. But a theatre company performed a play about her and her band at the 2025 Edinburgh Fringe Festival and received rave reviews from The Guardian. And Billie Eilish who doesn't even have the biggest range records stuff in her bedroom. So you never know who is going to appreciate whatever you create.

And that is it for this week, firebirds! If you know of some unique voices that should be shared with the wider world, sign up for my Patreon. This will make sure you have a stake in what I write about next, and you'll know when I post! And don't forget to share this post!

Stay educated,

Alexia