‘We Are the Shaggs’ SXSW Film Review: The World’s Most Polarizing Band Gets Its Due in Ken Kwapis’ Sweet Salute to Outsider Rock
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The Shaggs may be the unlikeliest group since the dawn of rock ‘n’ roll to have attracted a cult of hundreds of thousands or even millions of fans, all of whom take their place on different parts of the ironic-to-sincere appreciation scale. Were Dorothy, Betty and Helen Higgin, who comprised this late ’60s/early ’70s trio, […]
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Mar 15, 2026 1:47pm PT ‘We Are the Shaggs’ SXSW Film Review: The World’s Most Polarizing Band Gets Its Due in Ken Kwapis’ Sweet Salute to Outsider Rock By Chris Willman Plus Icon Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic ChrisWillman Latest What’s Different at SXSW Music 2026: Festival Chiefs on Having a New Base Beyond the Convention Center, Earlier Set Times, Global Genre Shifts and Celebrating a 40th Anniversary 3 days ago Kanye West Found Liable in Malibu Mansion Renovation Trial, but Jury Awards Plaintiff Only a Fraction of Damages Demanded 4 days ago Kacey Musgraves Announces Sixth Album, ‘Middle of Nowhere’; Witty and Racy ‘Dry Spell’ Video Out Now 4 days ago See All The Shaggs may be the unlikeliest group since the dawn of rock ‘n’ roll to have attracted a cult of hundreds of thousands or even millions of fans, all of whom take their place on different parts of the ironic-to-sincere appreciation scale. Were Dorothy, Betty and Helen Higgin, who comprised this late ’60s/early ’70s trio, so bad they were good? Or so good they were bad, if you want to look down that particular hall of mirrors? Childlike amateurs, or enfants terribles , worthy of the respect they got from admirers from Frank Zappa to Patti Smith and Kurt Cobain? To quote writer Susan Orlean, from her 1999 New Yorker profile of the long-bygone sister act: “Are the Shaggs referencing the heptatonic, angular microtones of Chinese ya-yueh court music and the atonal note clusters of Ornette Coleman, or are they just a bunch of kids playing badly on cheap, out-of-tune guitars?” Related Stories Bruno Mars Makes a Leisure Suit of a Record With 'The Romantic,' Doubling Down on Silk Sonic's Hermetically Sealed '70s Revivalism: Album Review
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