The Wiggles Were '80s Rock Gods?!

If you were born after about 1995, the Wiggles were probably a major part of your childhood and also your mom's sexual fantasies. It turns out she was/is just carrying on a long tradition that began with the young women who camped outside the band members' home when they were the Cockroaches.

That's "She's the One," the biggest hit of the Cockroaches, who were a huge deal in Australia in the '80s. They weren't very well known outside of the country, but in 1987, they had a top 10 platinum album and played 300 shows a year. They even toured with INXS. And yes, they had a dedicated fangirl following that "erected a kind of tent embassy" outside the home of Blue Wiggle Anthony Fields and his brother, John, who both played guitar in the band. "Ninety percent of the clientele that came to see us were women, which was fantastic for us," he recalled. They were kind of like Hall and Oates if they had a breakdown and pivoted to Nick, Jr.

Which is kind of what happened. The next year, lead singer Paul Fields's daughter -- that would be the Blue Wiggle's niece -- died of SIDS. The Cockroaches disbanded in the wake of the family tragedy, but it inspired Anthony decided to go back to school to study early childhood education, which is where he got the idea to form a children's band with one of his ex-bandmates and a few of his classmates. They even reworked a bunch of old Cockroaches songs for the project.

In fact, they just plain repurposed some of them.

The Wiggles ended up being much more successful than the Cockroaches ever were, and although they still have their fair share of drama, it's nice to know you can't keep a good rock and roll panty magnet down.

Top image: Spasmsmash/Wikimedia Commons