Zoogz Rift (born Robert Pawlikowski; July 10, 1953 – March 22, 2011) was an American musician, painter and

professional wrestling Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to Real life, real- ...

personality. Born Robert Pawlikowski in

Paterson, New Jersey Paterson ( ) is the largest City (New Jersey), city in and the county seat of Passaic County, New Jersey, Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.Parsippany-Troy Hills, New Jersey and moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

while in his mid-20s."Passings; Zoogz Rift"
''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'', March 31, 2011. Accessed August 11, 2019. "Rift was born Robert Pawlikowski on July 10, 1953, in Paterson, N.J., but grew up in Parsippany, N.J. He moved to Los Angeles in 1977 after starting his career in the early 1970s."

Biography

Musical career

The ''

Trouser Press ''Trouser Press'' was a rock and roll magazine started in New York in 1974 as a mimeographed fanzine by editor/publisher Ira Robbins, fellow fan of the Who, Dave Schulps, and Karen Rose under the name "Trans-Oceanic Trouser Press" (a reference ...

'' describes Zoogz Rift as "an iconoclastic original" who is "as imaginative and stimulating as he is irritating and vitriolic." Rift was influenced by

Frank Zappa Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American guitarist, composer, and bandleader. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa composed Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, jazz fusion, orchestra ...

and

Captain Beefheart Don Van Vliet (; born 'Don Glen Vliet'; January 15, 1941 – December 17, 2010) was an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and visual artist known by the stage name Captain Beefheart. Conducting a rotating ensemble known as the M ...

as well as

Salvador Dalí Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, Marquess of Dalí of Púbol (11 May 190423 January 1989), known as Salvador Dalí ( ; ; ), was a Spanish Surrealism, surrealist artist renowned for his technical skill, precise draftsmanship, ...

and

Ayn Rand Alice O'Connor (born Alisa Zinovyevna Rosenbaum; , 1905March 6, 1982), better known by her pen name Ayn Rand (), was a Russian-born American writer and philosopher. She is known for her fiction and for developing a philosophical system which s ...

. Zoogz Rift began his recording career with the album ''Idiots on the Miniature Golf Course'', released by Snout Records in 1979. His long-time collaborators included Richie Häss and John Trubee (the latter being famous for the songshark tune, "A Blind Man's Penis"). Rift released several albums through

SST Records SST Records is an American independent record label formed in 1978 in Long Beach, California by musician Greg Ginn. The company was first founded in 1966 by Ginn at age 12 as Solid State Transmitters, a small business through which he sold elec ...

during the 1980s. Richard Gehr, writing for ''

Spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spin (physics) or particle spin, a fundamental property of elementary particles * Spin quantum number, a number which defines the value of a particle's spin * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thr ...

'', noted that by the time of 1985's ''Interim Resurgence'', Rift had completed a transition from "Zappa

sycophancy In modern English, sycophant denotes an "insincere flatterer" and is used to refer to someone practising sycophancy (i.e., insincere flattery to gain advantage). The word has its origin in the legal system of Classical Athens, where it had a d ...

" to "a conceptual continuity of his very own." ''

Keyboard Magazine ''Keyboard'' is a magazine that originally covered electronic keyboard instruments and keyboardists, though with the advent of computer-based recording and audio technology, they have added digital music technology to their regular coverage, in ...

'', in a special "

Experimental Music Experimental music is a general label for any music or music genre that pushes existing boundaries and genre definitions. Experimental compositional practice is defined broadly by exploratory sensibilities radically opposed to, and questioning of, ...

" issue, described Rift's album ''The Island of Living Puke'' as "moments of outstanding free-form rock, sandwiched between scrupulously obscene interruptions."

Wrestling career

By 1985, Zoogz Rift had indicated his plans to enter professional wrestling. Zoogz Rift booked the UWF ( Universal Wrestling Federation) in 1993. He left the promotion in March 1994, but returned in May 1995 to become Vice-President, alongside founder

Herb Abrams Herbert Charles Abrams (July 9, 1955 – July 23, 1996), also known by the nickname Mr. Electricity, was an American professional wrestling promoter from Queens, New York, who founded the Universal Wrestling Federation (UWF) in 1990. Early life ...

. After Abrams died in 1996, the UWF promotion closed and Zoogz was left without a job. Zoogz hosted an online wrestling show, entitled ''Puke-A-Mania'' that provided a weekly assessment of WWE and TNA promotions, with Zoogz giving insight on wrestling issues. His rants on the show included the pushing of former WWF superstar

Warlord Warlords are individuals who exercise military, Economy, economic, and Politics, political control over a region, often one State collapse, without a strong central or national government, typically through informal control over Militia, local ...

, and his fascination with possibly training 60-year-old

Vince McMahon Vincent Kennedy McMahon ( ; born August 24, 1945) is an American businessman and former professional wrestling promoter. McMahon, along with his later-estranged wife Linda McMahon, Linda, is a co-founder of the modern WWE, the world's largest ...

to become a main-event wrestler. Zoogz' wrestling career was cut short after being torture racked by

Lex Luger Lawrence Wendell Pfohl (born June 2, 1958), better known by the ring name Lex Luger, is an American retired Professional wrestling, professional wrestler, bodybuilder, and gridiron football player. He is best known for his work with Jim Crocke ...

Death

Zoogz Rift died on March 22, 2011, aged 57, due to complications from diabetes.

Discography

;Studio albums *'' Idiots on the Miniature Golf Course'' (1979) *'' Amputees in Limbo'' (1982) *''

Ipecac Syrup of ipecac (), or simply ipecac, is a drug that was once widely used as an expectorant (in low doses) and a rapid-acting emetic (in higher doses). It is obtained from the dried rhizome and roots of the ipecacuanha plant ('' Carapichea ipe ...

'' (1984) *'' Interim Resurgence'' (1985) *'' Island of Living Puke'' (1986) *''

Water Water is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It is a transparent, tasteless, odorless, and Color of water, nearly colorless chemical substance. It is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known liv ...

'' (1987) *'' Water II: At Safe Distance'' (1987) *'' Son of Puke'' (1987) *'' Nonentity (Water III: Fan Black Dada)'' (1988) *'' Murdering Hell's Happy Cretins'' (1988) *'' Torment'' (1989) *'' War Zone'' (1990) *'' Nutritionally Sound'' (1990) *'' Villagers'' (1992) *'' Five Billion Pinheads Can't Be Wrong'' (1996) *''Sanitized For Your Protection'' (1998) *''School of the Criminally Insane'' (1999) *''Born in the Wrong Universe'' (2001) ;Compilation albums *''Kiss My Bleeding Dork'' (1984) *'' Looser Than Clams... A Historical Retrospective (Greatest Hits, Vol. 1)'' (1986) *''This Is the Music Your Parents Warned You About, Vol. 1'' (1995) *''This Is the Music Your Parents Warned You About, Vol. 2'' (1995) *''This Is the Music Your Parents Warned You About, Vol. 3'' (1996) *''Sunken Treasures: The Very Best of Zoogz Rift'' (2000) *''Demons Are Stabbing Me With Pitchforks'' (2000) *''Dada Is Surrealism With a Sinister Agenda'' (2002) ;Cassette albums *''With No Apparent Reason'' (1976) *''Music Sucks'' (1982) *''Can You Smell My Genitals From Where You're Standing?'' (1983) *''None of Your Damn Business!'' (1983) *''The Diseased Confessions of Moamo Milkman'' (1984)

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rift, Zoogz 1953 births 2011 deaths American male professional wrestlers American rock guitarists American male guitarists Diabetes-related deaths Guitarists from New Jersey Musicians from Paterson, New Jersey Neo-Dada People from Parsippany-Troy Hills, New Jersey Sportspeople from Paterson, New Jersey SST Records artists Universal Wrestling Federation (Herb Abrams) Place of death missing 20th-century American guitarists 20th-century American male musicians