In 1980, Terry Adams and Tom Ardolino, of the band NRBQ, who owned an original copy of the LP and were fans of the music, convinced their record label, Rounder Records, to reissue "Philosophy of the World". Upon the LP's release, "Rolling Stone" magazine accorded the Shaggs "Comeback of the Year" honors. The album was widely, if derisively, reviewed. Adams and Ardolino issued some unreleased 1975 recordings on the 1982 LP "Shaggs' Own Thing", but its closer approximation to conventional music caused some to disregard this collection. In 1988 Dorothy Wiggin rediscovered the lost masters of "Philosophy of the World" in a closet; these and the tracks from "Shaggs' Own Thing" were remastered and released on Rounder as a self-titled compilation, which had a resequencing of all tracks.