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They've been called "The World's Greatest Rock Band" by Smashing Pumpkins' Billy Corgan, counted Eddie Vedder and the late Kurt Cobain among their small legion of famous followers, and caused outrage with their perverse sense of humour.
But Frogs keyboardist and drummer Dennis Flemion has his own way of describing his band's 20-year career.
"Obscure and hated," says Flemion with a laugh. "That about sums us up."
The Frogs, who make their long-awaited Toronto debut at the El Mocambo tonight, have certainly courted that reputation with their notorious string of album releases.
Their 1989 indie cult classic, It's Only Right And Natural, was an off-the-cuff pop album that -- depending on who you ask -- either celebrated or poked fun at homosexuality. Never intended for public consumption and released as a lark by hip New York label Homestead, the record won some gay fans, though others were upset when the band wouldn't disclose their sexuality.
"I think it's a very moving record, though I can hear the juvenile element," says Flemion. "For somebody's first listen, it would raise an eyebrow or two!"
The Corgan-produced Starjob, from 1994, offered a searing critique of the sleazy, shock-by-numbers nature of the music industry. Their latest release, Racially Yours -- actually a 1991 recording that has just seen the light of day through Chicago indie label 4 Alarm -- is just plain shocking, sending up American racism by adopting the perspective of racists.
The controversies are impossible to ignore. But what is perhaps more interesting, certainly in Flemion's mind, is the wealth of material that The Frogs haven't issued.
Basically a duo, featuring Flemion and his singer-guitarist brother Jimmy, the group formed in Milwaukee in 1980 under the usual post-punk circumstances. "I felt that rock 'n' roll was dead," Flemion says.
The Frogs' stylistic path would ultimately zig-zag between blistering hard rock and the wistful folk-pop and absurdly dirty ditties that made them an underground favourite.
The band's little-heard first album from 1988, however, betrays the Flemion brothers' love of The Kinks, Donovan and The Beatles, while the material isn't unlike that of The Frogs' cross-town rivals, Violent Femmes.
"We were at odds with the people here because we did think we were so good," Flemion says. "We believed that someone would discover us. We'd rocket to stardom. Total naivite."
It wasn't until Corgan started working with the band that they were introduced to a new generation of listeners.
Nirvana played Right And Natural before their concerts, and Pearl Jam put out a split single with them. Beck actually got them on the radio, albeit just for a glimpse, when he sampled a line from them -- "That was a good drum break" -- in his hit, Where It's At.
Flemion finally reached the masses when he replaced the late Jonathan Melvoin as touring keyboard player for The Smashing Pumpkins on their 1996 tour.
Still, he downplays the star connections.
"I don't want to be an adjunct to their careers," he says. "I'm releasing as much material as I can so people can see what the band was all about.
"I'm sick of people like Paul McCartney hedging. He's the one person who can stand up and say, 'We were the s---!' I don't want him to be so coy. On a good night, we can be The Beatles."