By rights, The Shaggs shouldn’t even be a footnote in the history of rock, pop or jazz. Their first and only real album, Philosophy of the World, came out in 1969 in an edition of just 1,000, paid for by their disciplinarian father, Austin Wiggin, who only bankrolled their endeavors because his mother, a palm reader, told him he would marry a strawberry blonde and have three girls who would go on to form a successful band. In the age-old tradition of people buying into prophecies without thinking about the caveats, after the first part came true, Austin gave his first three daughters some instruments, paid for lots and lots of tuition, and then let — no, let’s not beat around the bush — made them get on with it.
The catch would be that Austin died in 1975, unaware that the band he christened The Shaggs — Dot
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