A Short History of the Fugs

The Fugs were possibly the very first punk band. They formed in 1964 and couldn't play their instruments. Not that it mattered though. Their music was all about the message and not about the technical skills of the band members.

Main man Ed Sanders set up a magazine called 'F*ck You - A Magazine Of The Arts'. He was based in New York and through the publication he met another poet and publisher called Tuli Kupferberg. So, with Sanders playing toy piano, Ken Weaver playing cardboard boxes and Tuli Kupferberg singing, the trio formed a band and called it the Fugs. It was 1964. The band was primarily a vehicle for their poetry. This was the time of Bob Dylan and Phil Ochs and lyrics were seen as all important.

The Fugs began playing shows in and around New York's east side. They were backed, at various times, by a folk band called the Holy Modal Rounders. Soon they had secured a residency at a dive bar called The Dom which was based under the famed Electric Circus club. This was a crucial meeting place for all manner of boho artists and chic socialites. The place was acquired by Andy Warhol in 1965 and he used it as the main setting for the Exploding Plastic Inevitable nights that wound up featuring the Velvet Underground.

When they played at the Dom, the Fugs played their satirical anti-war songs and mixed some sarcasm and digs about pop music and the general mainstream commercial culture in with them. The lyrics were somewhat obscene and the song title were things like 'River Of Sh*t' and 'Coca-Cola Douche', but they were all adults so it didn't matter.

The Fugs recorded two albums for ESP, a specialist jazz record label. One of them was rejected though, probably because of obscene lyrics. They were offered a deal in 1967 by Atlantic Records. But it was cancelled, probably because of obscene lyrics. The first set of songs they recorded was produced by Harry Smith, a legendary folk music archivist. Musical help was provided by Steve Weber and Peter Stampfel. In 1968, their second set of recorded songs was actually released. The called it 'Virgin Fugs'. It featured original compositions like 'CIA Man' and 'New Amphetamine Sheik' alongside a version of a Ginsberg poem called 'I Saw The Best Minds Of My Generation Rot'. The album came with a sticker on the cover which read 'For Adult Minds Only'.

Their third album called confusingly 'The Fugs Second Album' is a way more accomplished set of songs. It reached the Billboard Top 100. This led to a number of TV appearances and some gigs which were attended by the counter-culture's finest. At the time, the band comprised of Lee Crabtree on keyboards, Vinny Leary on guitar, Pete Kearney on guitar also, and bass player Jon Anderson. It's the Fugs' best album and includes actual harmonies and some degree of musical expertise. There are slogans sung like 'Near or middle or very far east, kill, kill, kill for peace'.

The Fugs signed a deal with Reprise and released four more albums before the end of the sixites. They maintained an active role in various protest causes and were central to the shift from beatnik to hippy and on to yippy. As the decade closed, Tuli and Sanders were proper counter-cultural icons who were in a decent band. This could, and maybe should, have been the end of the band. But, fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on your point of view, the Fugs have carried on, in a Grateful Dead style, in various forms and reincarnations ever since.