Thoughts about The Shaggs

So, one of my friends on Facebook recently posted a music video by this band called "The Shaggs"... here is the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yN9UT2zF8c8

Notice there's something off, almost creepy and unsettling about the video?  It may just be "foot foot" himself, but the music is also off-beat, and you can hear a kind of deadness and lack of enthusiasm in the singer's voice that causes you to wonder about some things.  This isn't your typical rock band... the reason I didn't laugh or poke fun at the video when my friend posted it was because I know their story and think it's just plain sad.

In order to create, you need to experience.  If I hadn't gone through all I've gone through in life, I would have very little material to use in my writing.  That's where creatures like foot foot come in... The Shaggs grew up in a small town called Fremont, New Hampshire--just fifty or so miles from Boston, but they'd never been there until they were young adults.  They only ever left the house to go grocery shopping and to church--the rest of their time was spend home, mostly practicing.  So of course, when they sat down to write a song, the only material they could come up with was foot foot.  I suppose when your world is that small, you come up with (sometimes strange) ideas to make it bigger and more interesting.

The band was made up of four sisters, and their father, Austin Wiggin, was their producer.  The father was convinced, because his fortune-teller wife said fame was in his future, that his daughters were destined to be musical legends.  That didn't happen.  What did happen was that his daughters grew up to be depressed and dysfunctional adults because they were deprived of everything a normal child is privileged to grow up with.

For the last few days, I haven't been able to get this out of my mind.  I read a piece in an English class in college called "Meet the Shaggs", which is where I learned their story--and it's been one of those things I've heard that's just stuck with me.  And in listening to their music, the one thing that strikes me the most is the "off-ness" of it.  The beat and the lyrics don't line up--and I think there's a reason for that.

The basis for all this hard work and time spent was--a fortune.  A fortune is told by a human being, and it's widely accepted that a human being cannot predict the future.  Fortunes, by definition, are not trustworthy.  God doesn't bless people's efforts if these efforts are not in line with His will.  This band was clearly not in line with His will, which is why they did not become famous.  God's will, and the father's will, did not line up.  The lyrics that he wrote did not line up with the drum beat that God wanted him to march to.  So everything was off.  The stars did not line up, and the dream did not come true.

There was also a lack of passion.  In discerning God's will for your life, you have to look at where your passions lie.  Who knows what Austin's daughters were actually passionate about?  They were never able to discover this because all their time was being put into the band.  It would be another thing entirely if they wanted to form a band--or if Austin had any musical knowledge or talent.  If he and his daughters were passionate and musically inclined, that may be a sign that God is leading them in that direction.  But, neither of those factors were present.  It was hard work with no passion and little payoff.  What was the point?

Read this article from the New Yorker for more info on the band... what do you think?

http://www.susanorlean.com/articles/meet_shaggs.html