Written by Kearin Green
The debate on what is ‘bad music’- and what is music which just doesn’t satisfy our taste- raises the question of ‘what actually is bad music’ between those of us who love music but are clearly not experts in it. Those of us who just don’t understand the love of Taylor Swift (sorry) are logical enough to understand she’s a good musician based on her success; she’s just not suited to our taste. Not in the same way white men on the internet cried when Pitchfork gave goddess Fiona Apple’s Fetch the Bolt Cutter a perfect 10 rating because the thought of someone using pots and pans as an instrument was too much for their brains to handle.
The 1960s sister trio composed of Helen, Dorothy ‘Dot’ and Betty Wiggin, The Shaggs, (named after their boxy hairstyle) are a particularly interesting case. They were once described by Rolling Stone as being like ‘the lobotomised version of the Von Tramps’ yet also managed to nab a spot on Nirvana frontman, Kurt Cobain’s, top 10 albums of all time for their 1969 debut: The Philosophy of the World. This album, considered by some to be the worst album of all time, is a collection of sounds rather than melodies, words instead of lyrics and wailing rather than singing. For some, it’s completely unlistenable, yet for others, it’s a piece of art.
The biggest question when it comes to the product of any art form, from horrifically-made movies from the minds of those like Tommy Wiseau or Neil Breen, or controversial pieces of literature like Lolita and A Clockwork Orange, is whether the artists behind these works actually know how terrible or contentious their product is, and if it was intentional. With regard to The Shaggs, for those that beg to ask the question, the answer is still not confirmed even to this day. Some say their efforts were on purpose and something of combined genius. Others say they created what they created because they were just pure shite at music. No one will ever know except the three girls in the basement.
For the average listener that just wants to have a good time, Philosophy of the World is a mess. No one can play an instrument to save their life, can’t count a beat or sing in a pleasant enough manner to actually be able to confidently say by the end of it- this is a song. The lyrics sound like they were written by a robot that couldn’t even be arsed to serve its one function. The album is ultimately a chaotic thunderstorm; out of touch with its medium and can’t abide by even the most basic rules of ‘hold a tune’. I will ask another question: why and how is this album so fucking atrocious? Why is it the way it is?
The sisters- eldest Helen on drums; Dot- lead singer, guitarist and songwriter and youngest Betty on rhythm guitar- of Fremont, New Hampshire never had a passion for music. Instead, it was their father, Austin, who insisted on the formation and future activities of the band. In 1965, The Shaggs formed after the girls’ father pulled them out of school so they could carry out daily music lessons and practice to make a record that he hoped would take them to national fame. Over the course of ten years, the girls’ lives consisted of devoting their lives to a dream of musical success that mattered very little to them, only to appease their father.
Austin had never dreamed or fantasised about a life of being a musician either. Ironically, the family couldn’t be less musically-oriented if they tried. The sisters would later report that they didn’t grow up around music and had no influences in their work.
The path that Austin wanted his daughters to tread was based on the prediction of his late mother, who once read his palm and predicted he would marry a strawberry blonde woman, have four daughters and two sons and that his daughters would become the most famous band in America. When the first two predictions came true, Austin became frantic to fulfil the last prediction. Behind that prediction were three girls who thought that their father was “nuts”, as they put it, and didn’t have the talent nor interest to pursue the life their father wanted for them.
The girls would play in the town hall every Saturday for many years to come, where they were often booed by their peers and had soda cans thrown at them. The Wiggins family’s youngest daughter, Rachel, who still attended school, was often bullied as a result of her sisters’ performances. The only pleasant reception the band would often receive was when they played at a local nursing home. The girls missed out on normal teenage life due to these commitments, such as meeting boys and hanging out with friends. When the sisters were interviewed years later, it became clear that Dot was the only sister even remotely interested in music, while Betty had often dreamed of a full gas tank to drive as far away as she possibly could.
The climactic result of Austin’s narrative was Philosophy of the World only released 1000 copies that disappeared in a short period. Many of the songs were written by Dot, using her own life experiences, from her cat running away to the Shaggs' most famed song, My Pal Foot-Foot. Despite the abusive ring she was stuck in, she even wrote about respecting your parents on Who Are Parents? The album overall projects classic, and very relatable, teenage anxieties through songs like Why Do I Feel and Dot praying for straight hair in the eponymous Philosophy of the World. On the album cover, Dot and Betty stand with their guitars whilst Helen sits at the drums. The green palette of Betty and Dot’s uniform outfits omits a sense of melancholy and despair. There is a lack of confidence, direction and motivation within the prestigious cover photo of them and their music. Whilst their father surrendered his life savings on cheap instruments and their album recording, the girls could think of a multitude of places they would rather be than be glued down in the studio.
In 1975, The Shaggs disbanded after Austin unexpectedly had a heart attack and passed away. The sisters moved on, got married, started families and ended up in working-class jobs for a living. In fact, before the band’s breakup, Helen ran away from home to get married; resulting in Austin trying to hunt down her and her husband despite her being 28 years old. The Shaggs became something of the past, something the sisters would describe in an interview with BBC 4 Radio over 40 years later as “a part of life that had simply ended”. The idea of any reunion of the band seemed unthinkable. Without Austin micromanaging his daughters’ lives, The Shaggs were done and dusted.
The opportunity of RCA Victor reissuing the album in 1999 revived The Shaggs; diminishing the weeds around Philosophy of the World’s grave. Before that, The Shaggs had become something of a cult following; with fans being as broad as the likes of Bonnie Raitt and Frank Zappa. Filmmaker Harmony Korine named two characters after Dot and Helen in his raw-to-the-core soliloquy film, Gummo (1997). The reissue came at a time when the grown-up Wiggins sisters weren’t expecting. In a meeting between RCA Victor and the sisters, which took place at a local KFC branch, the sisters asked how much this would cost them and were baffled by the idea that they would be the ones getting paid.
The reissue launched a reunion show performed by Betty and Dot in 1999 as well as a New Yorker profile by well-known journalist, Susan Orlean. Thirty years after their album had come out, the sisters admitted being disconnected from the music they had made. Betty, who was working in a kitchen warehouse, was described by Orlean as having “the hair of a grown woman without time to bother too much about her appearance”, whilst Dot, who worked as a part-time cleaner, admitted she didn’t find the music to be sentimental. Helen, who had become dependent on disability benefits due to severe depression, remained absent from any publicity up until she died in 2006.
Another reunion show would come in 2017 after Dot decided five years before to embark on an adventure after she was offered the opportunity to form the Dot Wiggin Band with musicians that admired her. The band was formed after Dot attended a Shaggs tribute show where she admitted that she still writes songs and had many unrecorded songs in her possession. The result was an album sung by Dot and bought to life by musicians who could actually play their instruments. They even ended up becoming the opening act for Neutral Milk Hotel’s tour in 2015. Betty joined Dot and her band for their deluxe reunion show, and, after that, the Wiggins disappeared from the scene.
The Shaggs sisters’ story from the beginning of their journey as musicians to their album’s reissue is something that reflects persistent dread. This would follow through to Helen’s death, to Dot’s band formation and up to the nearly-70-years-old sisters performing awkwardly and distantly as their audience cheered them on; a brilliant upgrade from the audience that threw soda cans at them when they were teenagers. Just because Frank Zappa called them ‘the band better than the Beatles’, didn’t mean many agreed with him. The average person would still, no matter how much time has passed, have no problem calling them the worst band of all time; likely to the sisters’ faces as they were told once before. Amongst haters was Betty herself, who when Susan Orlean complimented the music during the band’s New Yorker interview, responded that she thought the music was nothing short of horrible. Any publicity Betty ended up doing over the years, from interviews to reunion shows, was for the money and the money only, she admitted.
The rights for Wiggins’ story have been bought multiple times and struggled to be used for anything other than off-broadway musical and casting Elsie Fisher of Eighth Grade and Castle Rock fame in a film adaption that hasn’t appeared to move past development stages since 2020.
Dot is the only Wiggin willing to still answer questions and merge herself into the life her father wanted for her. In the interviews she has done in most recent years, from Rolling Stones to Boston Globe, Wiggins finds herself photographed in front of the town hall where she was made to perform like a circus act for years of her youth. Whilst the Wiggins sisters don’t hold a grudge against their father, even despite rumours that he sexually assaulted them growing up, Betty reported during their BBC Radio 4 interview that “he was a good man, he just got too obsessed about things”.
Despite the influence and accidental legacy they made for themselves, The Shaggs, once you know their story, will always be something of a tragic slice of history. Whilst they will be loved by artists for years to come, they will also continue to be mocked by those who see them as bait for teasing. Behind their reputation will be the result of three musically-untalented sisters who produced an album without any musical influences and knowledge, as if they invented music themselves, and tortured girls being forced against their will to perform and please their father. “This was his dream”, Dot recalled to Rolling Stone, “I’m sure he has a big smile on his face wherever he is”. If Dot seems to think her father would be satisfied, then maybe, for the sisters’ sake, all of this happened for a reason and, in the end, was worth it.
About The Writer: Kearin Green (she/her)
Hi, I’m Kearin and I am the magazine’s Welfare Officer and upcoming EIC for 2023/2024! I am a second year Film Production student and am currently committed to using our support platform to give mental health a louder voice at our university. I also write about cinema, political issues, humour pieces and whatever comes to mind.
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