The Fugs
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The Fugs was a band formed in New York City in 1965 by Ed Sanders and Tuli Kupferberg, with Ken Weaver on drums. Later that year they were joined by Peter Stampfel and Steve Weber of the Holy Modal Rounders.
The band was named by Kupferberg who borrowed it from the euphemistic substitute for the word "fuck" famously used in Norman Mailer's novel, The Naked and the Dead. Incidentally, the band is featured in a chapter of Mailer's book, Armies of the Night, as they play at the 1967 march on the Pentagon in protest of the Vietnam War (with Scott Rashap on upright bass).
The Fugs were, and are more than thirty years later, a satirical and self-satirizing rock band that in its early years performed at war protests [against the Vietnam War and since the 1980s at events around other US instigated wars]. The band's often frank and almost always humorous lyrics about sex, drugs, and politics have caused a sometimes hostile reaction in some quarters. Their irreverant humor is comparable to a number of musical and comedic groups, many of whom have commented on contemporary affairs (including Saturday Night LIve among other late night polictal satire).
The Fugs have remained committed to literature and poetry with a socio-political thrust and often mine the history of European and American literature as inspiration for contemporary pop song lyrics. One of their better known songs is an adaptation of Matthew Arnold's poem, Dover Beach. Another was a William Blake poem including "Sunflower". These poems-turned-songs are certainly two of the most moving adaptations of the late 20th century.
The Fugs played their so-called "final" concert of the 1960s in 1969 at the Hersheypark Arena in Hershey, Pennsylvania with the Grateful Dead. Deadbase shows this show a 02-07-69 Stanley Theatre, Pittsburgh, Pa.(not Hershey Arena), also appearing were The Velvet Underground.
For the last twenty five years The Fugs has included (in addition to Sanders and Kupferberg): composer, song writer and long-time Allen Ginsberg collaborator Steven Taylor, acclaimed singer/songwriter Coby Batty and Scott Petito, a renowned Woodstock-based musician and producer Scott Petito.
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[edit] Discography
- The Village Fugs (The Fugs First Album) 1965; rereleased 1966
- The Fugs (2nd album) 1966
- Virgin Fugs (bootleg) 1967
- Fugs 4, Rounders Score (split compilation album with Holy Modal Rounders) 1967
- Tenderness Junction 1968
- It Crawled into My Hand, Honest 1968
- Belle of Avenue A 1969
- Golden Filth (Live at the Fillmore East) 1970
- Refuse to Be Burnt Out (Live reunion) 1984
- No More Slavery (Studio album) 1985
- Star Peace (two disk set, an opera) 1986
- Fugs Live in Woodstock 1989
- Songs from a Portable Forest (best of 1980s reunions) 1992
- The Real Woodstock Festival 1995
- The Fugs Final CD (Part 1) 2003
