Shannon Scott Selberg (born June 3, 1960) is a noise/punk rock musician known for his unusual antics on stage. Formerly the frontman for the

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

-based group

The Cows ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

, Selberg provided lead

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

bugle The bugle is one of the simplest brass instruments, normally having no valves or other pitch-altering devices. All pitch control is done by varying the player's embouchure. History The bugle developed from early musical or communication ...

and hardcore

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

.Robbins, Ira and Robin Edgerton
Cows

Trouser Press ''Trouser Press'' was a rock and roll magazine started in New York in 1974 as a mimeographed fanzine by editor/publisher Ira Robbins, fellow fan of the Who Dave Schulps and Karen Rose under the name "Trans-Oceanic Trouser Press" (a reference ...

. Accessed October 4, 2007. After the dissolution of The Cows in 1998, Selberg, described by

Pitchfork Media ''Pitchfork'' (formerly ''Pitchfork Media'') is an American online music publication (currently owned by Condé Nast) that was launched in 1995 by writer Ryan Schreiber as an independent music blog. Schreiber started Pitchfork while working ...

as "the

Crispin Glover Crispin Hellion Glover (born April 20, 1964) is an American actor. He is known for portraying eccentric characters on screen, such as George McFly in ''Back to the Future'' (1985), Layne in ''River's Edge'' (1986), Andy Warhol in ''The Doors' ...

of the noise rock community", moved on to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

noise-rock band, The Heroine Sheiks, where he has added

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

to his repertoire.Reid, Brendan. (February 10, 2003
Heroine Sheiks Siamese Pipe

. Accessed October 4, 2007.

Performance persona

In its biography of Cows,

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

credits Selberg's "squealing, shrieking, and general lunacy" as "the bizarre, often engaging, focus" of the band. He is known for his "legendary" antics on stage, described by the

Detroit Metro Times The ''Detroit Metro Times'' is a progressive alternative weekly located in Detroit, Michigan. It is the largest circulating weekly newspaper in the metro Detroit area. History and content Supported entirely by advertising, it is distributed f ...

as a "demented roadside attraction".Metro Times staff. (October 20, 2004
Head cheese
''Detroit Metro Times''. Accessed October 4, 2007. His onstage behavior has included performing naked except for strategically placed

shaving cream Shaving cream or shave cream is a category of cream cosmetics used for shaving preparation. The purpose of shaving cream is to soften the hair by providing lubrication. Different types of shaving creams include aerosol shaving cream (also kn ...

, performing with mousetraps "dangling from his ears", wearing a business suit with stuffed animals at the crotch and a skin suit made from a

love doll Love encompasses a range of strong and positive emotional and mental states, from the most sublime virtue or good habit, the deepest interpersonal affection, to the simplest pleasure. An example of this range of meanings is that the love o ...

. In a 1992 review, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' assessed Selberg's stage wear as a visual counterpart to the music of his then band, Cows, "merging defiance, pain and dark comedy".Pareles, Jon. (May 23, 1992)
Defiance and dark comedy
''The New York Times''. Accessed October 4, 2007. Selberg's general presentation with Cows was described as a mingling of "requisite menace and a disarmingly arch, lowbrow wit..., leveling both barrels at the oozing backalley/trailerpark underbelly of life."

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Selberg, Shannon American male singers American rock guitarists American male guitarists American horn players American rock singers Post-hardcore musicians Noise rock musicians Living people Singers from Minnesota 1960 births Cows (band) members The Heroine Sheiks members Guitarists from Minnesota 20th-century American guitarists 20th-century American male musicians