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Fruit Salad, Yummy Yummy

Posted at 2:04 PM on January 18, 2007 by Tony Lopez (17 Comments)

Those of us with kids will know what I'm talking about when I say, "Greg Wiggle, we'll miss you!" I only bring this up because it was such a huge part of Red's world between age 2 and 4. Naturally, it became a huge part of mine. I speak of the worldwide phenomenon known as The Wiggles.

Don't pretend you haven't, at some point in your child's life, gotten your Wiggles groove on. You know the tune AND lyrics to "Big Red Car" and, for a while, it haunted your waking existence. And there was a certain credibility in the whole thing, musically speaking. The guys in the band were real musicians and they got their start in the early '80's Sydney pub-rock scene. But I'll admit, I was relieved when Red got older, eschewed her youthful tastes and started paying more attention to what her mother and I prefer. Call it cultural force-feeding.

I did experience a twinge of sadness, though, when I learned that Greg Wiggle had left the band due to a chronic illness. It brought all those days and nights (...and days and nights...) back like a flash flood. Greg was replaced by his understudy, Sam. And that got me thinking: how would the children take it? It was like the adult equivalent of Sammy Hagar replacing David Lee Roth in Van Halen. Or worse yet, Gary Cherone replacing Sammy!

I mean, there's no stopping a juggernaut like The Wiggles, whatever you do. I just wonder about how some of the kids might be handling it. The impressionable two-year olds probably don't care. It's the cynical and world-weary five-year olds that worry me. They probably look at this Sam guy and say to each other, "You know, Sam's OK but he just can't kick "Romp Bomp a Stomp" the way Greg did."

Anyway, I just want to take a moment to wish Greg Wiggle well. And may the rest of the band soldier on into the sunset.

What kind of music does your kid like?

Comments (17)

My daughter got spooked by the octopus from The Wiggles just once and never watched it again. She is currently obsessed with Doodlebops and Spongebob Squarepants. She has her own iTunes mix that we listen to in the car that consists of songs from the Spongebob TV show and movie Soundtrack, The Schreck Soundtrack and a couple of random tunes, as well (T. Rex's "20th Century Boy", Raconteurs "Steady As She Goes" and the old Spiderman theme).

Posted by Barb | January 18, 2007 3:48 PM

There's a certain 5 year old in my life who looooooves Rock and Roll - just ask her - and I try to provide mixes and musical background for her.

Aside from the music fed to her from movies (I must have listened to Reel 2 Real's "I Like to Move It" enough to clear some time outta purgatory) she'll try a listen for almost anything. Eventually,The Scooby Doo theme song and McCartney's "Silly Love Songs" will be requested and after a play or two I'll move back to trying something new. It only takes 10 seconds or so to know if a song will catch her ear.

Is it just me or does it kill folks to have to download both the clean and explicit versions? Nah? A-okay.

Posted by Julia Schrenkler | January 19, 2007 2:57 PM

When I have children, I hope I'm as cool a parent as you guys are.

Posted by Mac Wilson | January 19, 2007 8:57 PM

Check out Weekend America reporter John Moe's unscientific look at the way young children are affected by C&C Music Factory's "Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)". It was in the May 20, 2006 episode. Audio here. It's a funny story... the kids just freak out!

Posted by Luke Taylor | January 22, 2007 12:43 PM

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