The Fugs are an American rock band formed in New York City in late 1964,[2] by the poets Ed Sanders and Tuli Kupferberg, with Ken Weaver on drums.

Some 1969 correspondence, found inside an FBI file on the rock group the Doors, called the Fugs the "most vulgar thing the human mind could possibly conceive".

[6] But, Tom Robbins wrote of them in 1968, "Incongruously… this trio of hairy gross ginch gropers is the most intellectual, sophisticated and literary ensemble in rock.

The band's often frank and humorous lyrics about sex, drugs, and politics[6] occasionally generated hostile reactions, most notably from the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the late 1960s.

[12] In 1968, they toured Europe twice: in May to Denmark and Sweden where they wrote the song "The Swedish Nada"[11] and played with Fleetwood Mac, Ten Years After, and The Nice;[13] and in September to Germany where they played with Peter Brötzmann, Cuby and the Blizzards, Family, Guru Guru Groove, Alexis Korner, David Peel, Tangerine Dream, at the Internationale Essener Songtage in the Grugahalle in Essen.

[13][14] In 1971, at a General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a Fugs song was castigated by Ezra Taft Benson - a high-ranking elder who would go on to become its President.

In a speech condemning rock music as Satanic, Benson said "the cynic defends his degeneracy by ridiculing his critics with confusing metaphors."

He complained that critiquing "The words of the rock recording 'I Couldn't Get High,'" caused people to call for the LDS hymn 'High on the Mountain Top' to be dropped from songbooks.

Benson disputed the retort that 'If one sees filthy implications in a popular song, it is because he has a dirty mind,'" saying "No filth is [merely] implied in many of the lyrics.

"[15] In a 2012 interview with National Public Radio, Ed Sanders read a leaflet from an August 1965 show: "The Fugs present: Night of napalm, songs against the war, rock n' roll bomb shrieks, heavy metal orgasms!

[18] After pursuing individual projects over the years, in 1984 Sanders and Kupferberg decided to re-form the band and stage a series of Fugs reunion concerts.

This incarnation of the Fugs included, at various times, the guitarist and singer Steve Taylor (who was also Allen Ginsberg's teaching assistant at the Naropa Institute), the drummer and singer Coby Batty, the bassist Mark Kramer, the guitarist Vinny Leary (who had contributed to the first two original Fugs albums), and the bassist and keyboardist Scott Petito.

The basic Fugs roster of Sanders, Kupferberg, Taylor, Batty, and Petito performed in this series of concerts with additional vocal support from Amy Fradon and Leslie Ritter and also with appearances by Allen Ginsberg and Country Joe McDonald.

[11][19] On June 11, 2011, the four remaining Fugs performed at Queen Elizabeth Hall in London as part of the annual Meltdown Festival, curated that year by Ray Davies of the Kinks.