The Shaggs

The Shaggs were an American rock band formed in Fremont, New Hampshire, in 1965. They comprised the sisters Dorothy “Dot” Wiggin (vocals and lead guitar), Betty Wiggin (vocals and rhythm guitar), Helen Wiggin (drums) and, later, Rachel Wiggin (bass guitar). Their music has been described as both among the worst of all time and a work of unintentional brilliance.

The Shaggs composed seemingly simple and bizarre songs using untuned guitars, erratic time signatures, disconnected drum parts, wandering melodies and rudimentary lyrics. According to Rolling Stone, the sisters sang like “lobotomized Trapp Family Singers”, while the musician Terry Adams compared their music to the free jazz compositions of Ornette Coleman.

The Shaggs formed at the insistence of their father, Austin Wiggin, who believed that his mother had predicted their rise to fame. For several years, he made them practice every day and perform weekly at the Fremont town hall. The girls had no interest in becoming musicians and never became proficient in songwriting or performing. In 1969, Austin paid for them to record an album, Philosophy of the World, which was distributed in limited quantities in 1969 by a local record label. The Shaggs disbanded in 1975 after Austin’s death.

Over the decades, Philosophy of the World circulated among musicians and found fans such as Frank Zappa and Kurt Cobain. Following a 1980 reissue on Rounder Records, it received enthusiastic reviews for its uniqueness in Rolling Stone and The Village Voice. A compilation of unreleased material, Shaggs’ Own Thing, was released in 1982. The Shaggs became the subject of fascination in the 1990s, when interest grew in outsider music, and they are credited with influencing twee pop. Dot and Betty reunited for shows in 1999 and 2017; Helen died in 2006. As the Dot Wiggin Band, Dot released an album in 2013 containing previously unrecorded Shaggs songs.

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