From Bizarre Records, Nick DiFonzo's website for cataloguing weird records. Great website, worth several visits. The Friends are simply one of a number of obscure acts to be discovered there.
The Bizarre Records catalogue fits in with the sorts of outsider music that WFMU DJ and cultural explorer Irwin Chusid focuses on in his fascinating book/recording series, Songs in the Key of Z. I read his book several years ago and could not put it down.
According to Chusid, "If you're interested in Outsider Music, it's safe to assume you're a fairly unusual person, inquisitive, perhaps a bit "outside" the mainstream yourself. Because Outsider Music, by definition, offers little of interest to the vast majority of your fellow citizens. They have neither the time nor the curiosity for.it.
- - The spectrum of music to which the average person is exposed -- versus the variety of available sonic art -- is extremely limited. Yet I don't subscribe to conspiracy theories about the music industry suppressing uncommercial (or non-commercial) artists; nor do I believe that the government, the Trilateral Commission, Billboard, radio programming consultants, Warner Bros., and agents of the Nine Elder Bankers are in collusion to prevent anyone from exploring the nether reaches of musical marginalia. These lumbering Goliaths aren't concerned with Jandek or Shooby.Taylor.
Most consumers simply do not have adventurous taste in music. They're preoccupied with families, careers, and paying bills, home improvements and car repairs, and getting a good night's sleep. Insofar as music plays any role in their lives, they prefer the comfort of familiar artists and formulas. For that, no one should be faulted. It's a filtering process, necessary to avoid sensory overload. A person who can't appreciate music beyond Air Supply or Jimmy Buffett may have an appetite for exotic food, fine art, or extreme sports. But when they or their progeny get married, they prefer that the festivities resonate with the strains of Billy Joel, Sinatra, Motown oldies, and Madonna. Weddings and Bat Mitzvahs are not occasions for expanding your musical horizons, or those of your guests. And yet music provides an important ritualistic function, and I harbor little doubt that pop standards played or performed at these events have great significance to all involved. Captain Beefheart's "Neon Meate Dream of a Octafish" or Wesley Willis's "Shoot Me in the Ass" just won't.do.
- - Yet Outsider Music has its place -- an intimate, dimly lit enclave. Songs in the Key of Z attempts to air out the dusty attics and damp cellars of the greater music community, introducing some of the dizzy aunts and eccentric uncles about whom your parents rarely.spoke."
Finally, as an example of pure outsider music, there is the Shaggs. This is a group of sisters who seemingly could not play their instruments; nevertheless, the wrote and performed a bunch of songs, appearing at venues during the late 60s/early 70s. Their LP sold very few copies, but among those who did own it were Frank Zappa, who championed them, and the music collectors at Rounder Records, who signed them to a releasing deal. The Shaggs periodically get together to play, and they were also the subjects of a musical in L.A.
Here is the Shaggs' website
On a certain level, Shaggs' music may seem laughably bad and thoroughly amaterish. However, I must admit, I actually like their records a lot, and from what I have gathered, the Wiggin sisters are very likable people. These recordings are unlike anything else ever recorded. Nothing is in tune. The beats and rhythms are all over the place. The lyrics are very naive and childlike. However a certain sweetness and sincerety comes across. I also don't find it irritating the way I find a lot of commercial music. Is it any wonder that the Shaggs have been the object of cultish devotion for all these many years?
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