FUGS FILM!

The Fugs were anarchic beat poets in the East Village who took folk instruments they could sort of play and didn’t give a damn. Their music was so anti-establishment, though, that it didn’t matter. The Fugs lo-fi folk could be challenging and weird but they had a knack for catchy pop songs too like ‘Supergirl’ and ‘Slum Goddess.” Formed by Ed Sanders and Tuli Kupferberg, alongside drummer Ken Weaver in late 1964, they are credited as the first true underground band, featuring a revolving door of musicians. Sanders is one of the most crucial figures in countercultural history: He founded the bookstore Peace Eye and the arts journal F*** You and, among other late-’60s antics, he attempted to levitate the Pentagon and staged a funeral for flower power in San Francisco.

“Before there was punk, there were the Fugs: antagonistic, hilarious, and radically political to the bone.” —Pitchfork

Q&A to follow with WFMU DJ Ira the K, Director Chuck Smith and Peter Stampfel

84 min