Difference between revisions of "The Fugs"

Latest revision as of 12:42, 29 August 2019

The Fugs are a folk rock/garage rock band with poets as lead singers which played an extremely important role in the New York underground music scene of the mid to late 1960s. Their flirtations with the art of the Beats and their own musical ideas led them to make a little bit of music that could be considered psychedelic right around the same time that the Yardbirds and Byrds were creating the genre. "Virgin Forest", on their confusingly titled second album, The Fugs, is arguably the first ever psychedelic "freak out" track and one of the earliest tracks in the history of the genre.

The Fugs

• Lead Vocals:
  • Kendell Kardt (<1965)
  • Tuli Kupferberg (<2010, his death)
  • Ed Sanders
  • Ken Weaver (<1969)
• Guitars:
  • Steve Weber (<1965)
  • Vinny Leary (1965-66)
  • Pete Kearney (1965)
  • Jon Kalb (1966)
  • Jake Jacobs (1966)
  • Ken Pine (1967-69)
  • Danny Kortchmar (1967-68)
  • Steve Taylor (1985>)
• Keyboards:
  • Lee Crabtree (1965-67)
  • Scott Petito (1985>)
• Bass Guitar:
  • John Anderson (1965-66)
  • Chuck Rainey (1966-67)
  • Charles Larkey (1967-68)
  • Bill Wolf (1968-69)
  • Scott Petito (1985>)
• Drums:
  • Ken Weaver (1965-69)
  • Bob Mason – drums (1968-69)
  • Coby Batty (1985>)
• Percussion:
  • Ken Weaver (<1965)
  • Tuli Kupferberg (1965)
  • Lee Crabtree (1965-67)
• Harmonica: Peter Stampfel(<1965)
• Fiddle/Violin:
  • Peter Stampfel (<1965)
  • Danny Kortchmar (1967-68)

Folk Rock/Garage Rock

The Fugs began as a Beat-influenced folk rock band, whose ragged style often drifted into garage rock perhaps unintentionally.

Recordings

Autumn 1965: The Village Fugs Sing Ballads of Contemporary Protest, Point of Views, and General Dissatisfaction

Viewed by some as the first "underground" rock album, the Fugs' debut album contains rough performances of folk rock and garage tunes with poetic lyrics (including some by William Blake). Like the lyrics of some other folk rock bands, the lyrics are often considerably more psychedelic than the music, though the use of seemingly random noises presages some psychedelic "freak outs", though it's hardly similar to the psychedelic music which would come later. It's more likely this is where performance art poetry was at in 1965.

March 1966: The Fugs (album) It's the Fugs' second album where their biggest contribution to psychedelic music occurs.

1967: Virgin Funs (Recorded 1965)

Recorded in 1965.

January 1968: Tenderness Junction

October 1968: It Crawled into My Hand, Honest

1969: The Belle of Avenue A