Formed by brothers John and Paul Field while at boarding school in New South Wales, they quickly became a popular draw card at local pubs. They issued several singles on various independent labels, "Empty Heart" the most successful, peaking at number nine in October 1981 in Australia.

In 1986, they signed a deal with Regular Records, home to Icehouse and Mental as Anything. Phil Carson replaced Phil Robinson on bass and the band's first single for Regular Records, "Wait Up," hit the Top 40. The band's debut album, The Cockroaches, was released in March 1987 and reached number nine on the national charts on its way to sales of over 100,000 copies. It also produced the band's biggest hit single, "She's the One," which peaked at number seven in April 1987.

Bassist Peter Mackie replaced Phil Carson for the follow-up album, Fingertips. The Cockroaches undertook a national Australian tour during 1989 with Mental as Anything and released their third album, Positive, in 1991. By the end of the year, the Cockroaches had disbanded and Tony Field and Jeff Fatt created the Wiggles, a musical act for children, with Murray Cook and Greg Page. The Wiggles combination of music, song, dance, and children's characters became one of the most successful acts of the '90s. ~ Brendan Swift