Outsider music is music created by self-taught or naïve musicians. The term is usually applied to musicians who have little or no traditional musical experience, who exhibit childlike qualities in their music, or who have intellectual disabilities or mental illnesses. The term was popularized in the 1990s by journalist and WFMU DJ Irwin Chusid.
Robert George "Joe" Meek was an English record producer and songwriter considered one of the most influential sound engineers of all time, being one of the first to develop ideas such as the recording studio as an instrument, and becoming one of the first producers to be recognised for his individual identity as an artist. Meek pioneered space age and experimental pop music, and assisted in the development of recording practices like overdubbing, sampling and reverberation.
The Shaggs were an American rock band formed in Fremont, New Hampshire, in 1965. They comprised the sisters Dorothy "Dot" Wiggin, Betty Wiggin, Helen Wiggin (drums) and, later, Rachel Wiggin. Their music has been described as both among the worst of all time and a work of unintentional brilliance.
Dudley Do-Right is a fictional character created by Alex Anderson, Chris Hayward, Allan Burns, Jay Ward, and Bill Scott, who appears as the main protagonist of "Dudley Do-Right of the Mounties", a segment on The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show.
Norman Carl Odam, known professionally as the Legendary Stardust Cowboy, is an outsider performer who is considered one of the pioneers of the genre that came to be known as psychobilly in the 1960s.
William "Shooby" Taylor was an American jazz vocalist famous for scat singing over various records, including those of the Ink Spots, the Harmonicats, Johnny Cash, Miles Davis, Mozart, and Cristy Lane, in a baritone voice.
Wesley Lawrence Willis was an American musician and visual artist. Diagnosed with schizophrenia in 1989, Willis began a career as an underground singer-songwriter in the outsider music tradition. Willis' songs are typically partially spoken in an MC style, and partially sung in a nasal and out-of-tune manner reminiscent of punk rock vocals. They feature bizarre, humorous and sometimes obscene or absurd lyrics sung over backing created by using the auto accompaniment feature on his Technics KN keyboard. His songs cover a wide variety of topics, with mental illness and consumerism being the most prominent themes. He is best known for songs such as "Rock N Roll McDonald's" as well as a series of songs where he would directly insult his demons.
Eilert Dahlberg, who uses the stage name Eilert Pilarm, is a Swedish former Elvis impersonator. He gained fame when he performed on Morgonpasset on Sveriges Radio in 1992, but retired from music in 2003.
Trout Mask Replica is the third studio album by the American band Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band, released as a double album on June 16, 1969, by Straight Records. The music was composed by Captain Beefheart and arranged by drummer John "Drumbo" French. Combining elements of R&B, garage rock, and blues with free jazz and avant-garde composition, the album is regarded as an important work of experimental rock. Its unconventional musical style, which includes polyrhythm, and polytonality, has given the album a reputation as one of the most challenging recordings in the 20th century musical canon.
Irwin Chusid is a journalist, music historian, radio personality, record producer, and self-described "landmark preservationist". His stated mission has been to "find things on the scrapheap of history that I know don't belong there and salvage them." Those "things" have included such previously overlooked but now-celebrated icons as composer/bandleader/electronic music pioneer Raymond Scott, Space Age Pop avatar Esquivel, illustrator/fine artist Jim Flora, various outsider musicians, and The Langley Schools Music Project. Chusid calls himself "a connoisseur of marginalia," while admitting he's "a terrible barometer of popular taste."
Lo-fi is a music or production quality in which elements usually regarded as imperfections in the context of a recording or performance are present, sometimes as a deliberate stylistic choice. The standards of sound quality (fidelity) and music production have evolved over the decades, meaning that some older examples of lo-fi may not have been originally recognized as such. Lo-fi began to be recognized as a style of popular music in the 1990s, when it became alternately referred to as DIY music. Some subsets of lo-fi music have become popular for their perceived nostalgic and/or relaxing qualities, which originate from the imperfections that define the genre.
B. J. Snowden is an American songwriter and musician who sings and plays synthesizers. She has become a cult figure in Canada for her many songs about the country, including titles covering every Canadian province, and has been featured on CBC Radio One's show As It Happens where she noted that her grandmother was Canadian. In addition to her songs about Canada, she covers diverse subjects, including Judge Joe Brown and Daisuke Matsuzaka.
Philosophy of the World is the only studio album by the American band the Shaggs, released in 1969.
David Malcolm Adams was a British singer, keyboard player and songwriter.
Downloading the Repertoire is a 1996 album by American singer John "Jack" Mudurian. It consists of an uncut, a cappella field recording of Mudurian, in a stream of consciousness, singing a battery of mostly show tunes, old country-western and folk music, and Tin Pan Alley standards.
Shaggs' Own Thing is a 1982 compilation album by the American band the Shaggs, containing unreleased recordings made between 1969 and 1975. In 1988, Shaggs' Own Thing and the Shaggs' first album, Philosophy of the World, were remastered and rereleased by Rounder Records as the compilation The Shaggs.
Peter Grudzien was an American country/psychedelic singer-songwriter, photographer, commercial artist, musician and recording engineer. Grudzien's music has been well known in the outsider music community since its inclusion in Irwin Chusid's book Songs in the Key of Z: The Curious Universe of Outsider Music (2000). "There's a Star Spangled Banner Waving Somewhere" is included on the companion CD for the book.
Touchy is a 1974 album by Luie Luie. Self-produced by the outsider musician and nightclub performer Luis Johnston, the album initially sold no more than 25 copies. Touchy was included in a list of the "101 strangest records on Spotify".
Malinda Jackson Parker was a Liberian singer and pianist. She composed her own music and recorded the album The Liberian Landmark Joy around 1971. She served a term in the House of Representatives of Liberia representing Montserrado County. A well-known figure in Monrovia, she graduated from Morgan College in Baltimore. Her songs were included in Irwin Chusid's 1999 compilation albums Songs in the Key of Z, which considered her an outsider artist.
Jet Lady is a 1982 album by Angela Masson, released under the name Tangela Tricoli. Masson is an accomplished pilot who flew with American Airlines, set several speed records, and was the first woman cleared to fly Boeing 747s. The album included songs that originated on her 1980s public access talk show Tangela Tonight. Only 1,000 copies of the album were pressed, and it loitered in obscurity until its inclusion in the 2002 outsider music compilation Songs in the Key of Z. Masson's singing on the album has been described as off-key and "deranged". The song "Stinky Poodle" from the album has been noted for its resemblance to "Smelly Cat", sung by Lisa Kudrow on the sitcom Friends. Jet Lady was reissued with bonus tracks in 2004 by Arf! Arf! Records.
