The Ziggens are an American eclectic band from Orange County, California. Their band members all use the stage surname "Ziggen" as an apparent homage to The Ramones (although their lead singer is better known by his real name, Bert Susanka). Though they have been active since 1990, The Ziggens are unfortunately fairly unknown in the music industry. They have, however, been namechecked, covered, and sampled by the much more famous Southern California band Sublime in the songs "Greatest Hits," "Big Salty Tears," (and "Tim the Dinosaur"), and "Smoke Two Joints," respectively. The Ziggens later returned the favor by covering Sublime's token Surf Rock song, "Paddle Out."
Discography:
- Three Wise Men & Dickie (1987)
- Wake Up & Smell (1991)
- Rusty Never Sleeps (1992)
- Chicken Out (1994)
- Ignore Amos (1996)
- Pomona Lisa (1998)
- Live in San Luis Obispo (1999)
- Live: Tickets Still Available (2000)
- Sleazy Rider (2000)
- The Ziggens (2002)
- Greatest Zits: 1990-2003 (2003): also includes a bonus CD of Surf Rock Instrumentals.
- Oregon (2021)
Tropes related to the band:
- Cover Version: The aforementioned "Paddle Out," as well as The Vaselines' "Molly's Lips" (best known as a Nirvana song) and Judas Priest's "Breakin' the Law"
- Fan Service With A Smile: "Something About a Waitress"
- Lyrical Dissonance: "Ed Gein" is a lighthearted surf pop tune...about the Serial Killer of the same name.
- My Friends... and Zoidberg: The Christmas album Three Wise Men & Dickie (Dickie Ziggen is one of their members.)
- Ode to Sobriety: "Sober Up," "Tie One On"
- Shout-Out:
- "On the Way" name-checks Don McLean's "American Pie" and Kenny Rogers' "The Gambler".
- "Fat Charlie" lampoons a few lines from The Doors' "L.A. Woman."
- "Surfin' Buena Park" contains the riffs from "Low Rider" and "April 29, 1992 (Miami)".
- Singer Name Drop: So many.
- Surf Rock: Most prevalent on the instrumentals and the songs "Outside," "San Clemente," and "Surf's Up."
