The Shaggs: The Worst All-Girl Band In The World Ever?!
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The Shaggs were an all-girl rock band formed in New Hampshire in 1968. Made up of sisters, The Shaggs were Dorothy "Dot" Wiggin (vocals/lead guitar), Betty Wiggin (vocals/rhythm guitar), Helen Wiggin (drums) and, later, Rachel Wiggin (bass). But it was the three original sisters in the band that walked into a studio on March 9th 1969, to record what is considered one of the worst albums of all time, Philosophy Of The World.
The band were created and managed by their father Austin Wiggin, who believed that the girls were destined to formed a band. He took the out of school, bought them their instruments, and organised for them to have lessons. The girls had no interest or intentions of being in a band, it was all their father's unstoppable ambitions that drove them forward. ""He directed. We obeyed. Or did our best", Dot is quoted as saying of her father. |
Despite their father's unbridled ambitions for the band, the sisters were simply no good. They couldn't play, sing or write an even half-decent song. They played out-of-tune, out-of-sync and without harmony. There were three people in the band, and they were all playing to the sound of a different beat. Especially Helen the drummer, who bashed away enthusiastically, but without rhythm or meter. Somewhere in among the awful guitar strumming there could have been some chords, but then again maybe not. When they entered that studio in 1969, the studio engineer turned off the control booth microphones, so that Austin and his daughters couldn't hear the sniggering and guffaws of laughter coming from the booth. The engineers let them get on with it, and were surprised at one point when the girls stopped playing. When Austin and the girls were asked why they had stopped, Austin calmly stated that they had made a mistake, and needed to do a retake. The engineer was bemused, as far as he was concerned the whole thing had been one huge mistake from beginning to end.
When it came to pressing the album, the man who Austin had paid to press it disappeared. He'd promised to press a thousand copies of the album, but reportedly for some inexplicable reason (other than to save the world from Philosophy Of The World) took 900 copies of the album and all Austin's money with him when he absconded. The few copies that Auston did manged to get his hands on, he distributed around radio stations throughout New England. For all the the right reasons, the album was ignored by the radio stations, putting apid to Austin's ambitions of fame and glory for his girls and their band. The band battled on, or at least Austin bullying and cajoled them into carrying on. They continued to play the local gig circuit, that was until Austin's death in 1975, when the band broke-up.
When it came to pressing the album, the man who Austin had paid to press it disappeared. He'd promised to press a thousand copies of the album, but reportedly for some inexplicable reason (other than to save the world from Philosophy Of The World) took 900 copies of the album and all Austin's money with him when he absconded. The few copies that Auston did manged to get his hands on, he distributed around radio stations throughout New England. For all the the right reasons, the album was ignored by the radio stations, putting apid to Austin's ambitions of fame and glory for his girls and their band. The band battled on, or at least Austin bullying and cajoled them into carrying on. They continued to play the local gig circuit, that was until Austin's death in 1975, when the band broke-up.
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Philosophy Of The World (1969)
The first album released by The Shaggs in 1969, financed by their manager/father Austin Wiggin. All the songs and arrangements were done by Dorothy "Dot" Wiggin. Easily considered as one of the worst albums of all time. Reissued in 1980, after an original vinyl copy of the album was rediscovered sitting a radio station in Massachusetts in 1978. Since its rediscovery and reissue, reviews of the album have been less than flattering. It's been called "the sickest, most stunningly awful" of albums, that the band sounded "like a lobotomized Trapp Family Singers" and "hauntingly bad". However in the early 70s, Frank Zappa championed the band and their music, on the Dr. Demento radio show. Zappa claimed to love the band, and even said that they were influential on him as a musician. |
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Track Listing
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Weird Retro Fact: Kurt Cobain of Nirvana is said to have listed The Shaggs album Philosophy Of The World as his 5th favourite album of all time.
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