Often completely out of tune and rarely in time, the group of sisters forced to play together by their father gained an army of fans from Frank Zappa to Kurt Cobain. A new documentary celebrates their cult status
When Austin Wiggin Jr was a boy, his mother read his palm. She foretold that Austin would have two sons she wouldn’t live to see; he’d marry a strawberry blonde; and his daughters would play in a popular band. By 1965, the first two omens had come true. Austin felt this was reason enough to pull Dorothy, Betty and Helen Wiggin from school in pursuit of musical superstardom.
Austin’s domineering daily regime began immediately: mail-order homework, calisthenics, and constant band practice under his watch. Whether they liked it or not, the sisters were now the Shaggs – and barred from being anything else. They were rarely permitted to leave their home, save for church, shopping, and a gig every Saturday at the town hall in Fremont, New Hampshire, where for five years they played to peers they never got to know.
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