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The Fugs were a band formed in New York City in 1964 by Ken Weaver and Ed Sanders, with drummer Billy Mernit. Later that year, they were joined by Tuli Kupferberg and Scott Rashap of the group. The band's name was coined by Kupferberg, who borrowed it from the euphemistic substitute for the word “fuck” used in Norman Mailer’s novel, The Naked and the Dead. The Fugs are featured in a chapter of Mailer’s book, Armies of the Night, as they performed at the 1967 march on the Pentagon in protest of the Vietnam War, with Scott Rashap on upright bass. Known for their satirical and self-satirizing style, The Fugs performed at protests against the Vietnam War nationwide. Their 1968 album, It Crawled Into My Hand, Honest, released by Transatlantic Records, helped them gain wider recognition in Europe. The album is also available as tracks 11 to 30 on Electromagnetic Steamboat. The Fugs' candid lyrics addressing sex, drugs, and politics elicited mixed reactions, drawing both hostility and enthusiastic interest. Among their notable songs was an adaptation of Matthew Arnold’s poem, Dover Beach, as well as a poem by Allen Ginsberg. The Fugs played their “final” concert of the 1960s in 1969 at the Hersheypark Arena in Hershey, Pennsylvania, alongside the Grateful Dead.

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