The Wiggles. l to r: Greg, Jeff, Murray, Anthony
My fascination with the Wiggles continues. Every now and then their songs are actually good, but mostly my fascination (obsession, perhaps? That's scary) revolves around the fact that it's amazing to me that they exist as a band! So here's a post dedicated to my (okay, fine) obsession with the Wiggles.
My introduction to the Wiggles happened when Miciah was still too young to care about them--she was perhaps 1 year old. I was on my way to work and these 3 radio DJs, one woman and two men, came on the radio station I was listening to. The woman started talking about how she'd hung out with the Wiggles the night before, after their show in Salt Lake City. She explained a little about them, and I thought, "Who would take their kid to one of these shows?" I couldn't imagine what that person would be like, but I was SURE he/she wouldn't be anything like me. The two male radio DJs started making fun of the Wiggles and the woman kept insisting that they were very nice. She shared a drink with them and she was pretty adament that they were like the nicest people ever. I think by the end of the discussion she was annoyed with the other DJs for making fun of them. But come on! The Wiggles? They sing songs for 4-year-olds. They deserve to be made fun of.
The first time I saw one of their videos (I didn't buy it, trust me. It was at someone else's house) I was interested to see what these men looked like and what made their music so great anyways (what's worth a concert ticket for your kid? In my opinion, not much). I was a little shocked at their appearances, actually. I thought, "What kind of 40-something-year-old men dream of singing subpar songs to kids?" I was still decidedly unconvinced, even though my daugther (at the time, the only one of my children old enough to care) seemed to like them well enough.
Then my mother did something I never would have done: She bought my kids (by now I had two children old enough to care) a Wiggles movie: Whoo Hoo! Wiggly Gremlins. Seriously. (As a side note, what bothers me most about this entire movie isn't the lame plot or repetitive songs, but that the title isn't written the way they pronounce it in the movie. Spelled how they have it, I expect Whoo Hoo to make the Choo Choo sound. But no. It's the Santa Claus Ho Ho Ho sound. Shouldn't they spell it something more like "Woah Ho!" if they're going to pronounce it that way? This actually really bothers me for some strange reason.) And my kids loved it. 2-year-old Elijah and 4-year-old Miciah were in heaven.
This started my search for information on the Wiggles. How does a band like this start? (College project that took off like crazy.) WHO starts a band like this? (2 Child Development (or something like that) majors--Greg and Murray; 1 drummer from a previously failed band--Anthony, from Australian band the Cockroaches; and 1 friend of a friend, band connection through Anthony--Jeff.) How much money do they make? (A LOT. More than any other Australian entertainer, which at the time included (and I assume it still does) Nicole Kidman.) Why the colors red, yellow, blue, and PURPLE? (I still don't know that one. But Anthony used to wear green until they decided that blue would be better, since Dorothy the Dinosaur is green.) Where can I get cool pants like that?!! (I'll skip the belt buckle, though.)
Each of my kids went through a fairly lengthy period of time when they were addicted to the Wiggles. We moved from the Baby Einstein addiction (roughly 6-months-old until around 2 1/2-years-old) to the Wiggles addiction (about 2 1/2-years-old until around 4). We started Miciah late on both, so her periods of fascination are a little skewed (and hence should not be presented here as valid data, other then to note that she was addicted to them, too).
And then something happened in the Wiggles world that a lot of people didn't hear about: Greg, the lead singer, has a disease that impairs his wiggling ability, and he stepped down as lead singer. He handed his yellow jersey to Sam (I'd call it a shirt, not a jersey, but an article I read called it a jersey). Anthony (the best Wiggle, in my opinion) was on morning shows in the US following up this announcement, to promote their group, to state they were still in business, and defend their selection of Sam as the new yellow (I don't know why, really, I just made that up). It is strange that I found it a source of some pride that at a play group with other young mothers, I was able to be the one with exclusive up-to-date knowledge on the Wiggles.
Other Mother: "What? Greg was my favorite!"
Me: "I'm partial to Anthony myself."
Second Other Mother: "Anthony is my favorite, too. It's the hair."
Me: "Totally the hair! ... I'm anxious to hear what the new Wiggle sounds like, though. I've only heard reviews. Hopefully new videos will come out soon."
The other mothers nodded and thought about how sad it was that Greg had left his post as Wiggles lead singer.
Since then Anthony has changed his hair and now cuts it really short, so you can't tell it's this curly amazingness (to hide the grey, I think). But they have come out with new videos and I've been able to hear Sam's voice and style. The review I read said that he doesn't have Greg's "soulful (something) voice." I remember the word soulful because I never thought Greg's voice was soulful to begin with. Sam's isn't soulful, either. THEY SING FOR 4-YEAR-OLDS, PEOPLE! THEY'RE NOT GOING FOR SOULFUL!
My introduction to the Wiggles happened when Miciah was still too young to care about them--she was perhaps 1 year old. I was on my way to work and these 3 radio DJs, one woman and two men, came on the radio station I was listening to. The woman started talking about how she'd hung out with the Wiggles the night before, after their show in Salt Lake City. She explained a little about them, and I thought, "Who would take their kid to one of these shows?" I couldn't imagine what that person would be like, but I was SURE he/she wouldn't be anything like me. The two male radio DJs started making fun of the Wiggles and the woman kept insisting that they were very nice. She shared a drink with them and she was pretty adament that they were like the nicest people ever. I think by the end of the discussion she was annoyed with the other DJs for making fun of them. But come on! The Wiggles? They sing songs for 4-year-olds. They deserve to be made fun of.
The first time I saw one of their videos (I didn't buy it, trust me. It was at someone else's house) I was interested to see what these men looked like and what made their music so great anyways (what's worth a concert ticket for your kid? In my opinion, not much). I was a little shocked at their appearances, actually. I thought, "What kind of 40-something-year-old men dream of singing subpar songs to kids?" I was still decidedly unconvinced, even though my daugther (at the time, the only one of my children old enough to care) seemed to like them well enough.
Then my mother did something I never would have done: She bought my kids (by now I had two children old enough to care) a Wiggles movie: Whoo Hoo! Wiggly Gremlins. Seriously. (As a side note, what bothers me most about this entire movie isn't the lame plot or repetitive songs, but that the title isn't written the way they pronounce it in the movie. Spelled how they have it, I expect Whoo Hoo to make the Choo Choo sound. But no. It's the Santa Claus Ho Ho Ho sound. Shouldn't they spell it something more like "Woah Ho!" if they're going to pronounce it that way? This actually really bothers me for some strange reason.) And my kids loved it. 2-year-old Elijah and 4-year-old Miciah were in heaven.
This started my search for information on the Wiggles. How does a band like this start? (College project that took off like crazy.) WHO starts a band like this? (2 Child Development (or something like that) majors--Greg and Murray; 1 drummer from a previously failed band--Anthony, from Australian band the Cockroaches; and 1 friend of a friend, band connection through Anthony--Jeff.) How much money do they make? (A LOT. More than any other Australian entertainer, which at the time included (and I assume it still does) Nicole Kidman.) Why the colors red, yellow, blue, and PURPLE? (I still don't know that one. But Anthony used to wear green until they decided that blue would be better, since Dorothy the Dinosaur is green.) Where can I get cool pants like that?!! (I'll skip the belt buckle, though.)
Each of my kids went through a fairly lengthy period of time when they were addicted to the Wiggles. We moved from the Baby Einstein addiction (roughly 6-months-old until around 2 1/2-years-old) to the Wiggles addiction (about 2 1/2-years-old until around 4). We started Miciah late on both, so her periods of fascination are a little skewed (and hence should not be presented here as valid data, other then to note that she was addicted to them, too).
And then something happened in the Wiggles world that a lot of people didn't hear about: Greg, the lead singer, has a disease that impairs his wiggling ability, and he stepped down as lead singer. He handed his yellow jersey to Sam (I'd call it a shirt, not a jersey, but an article I read called it a jersey). Anthony (the best Wiggle, in my opinion) was on morning shows in the US following up this announcement, to promote their group, to state they were still in business, and defend their selection of Sam as the new yellow (I don't know why, really, I just made that up). It is strange that I found it a source of some pride that at a play group with other young mothers, I was able to be the one with exclusive up-to-date knowledge on the Wiggles.
Other Mother: "What? Greg was my favorite!"
Me: "I'm partial to Anthony myself."
Second Other Mother: "Anthony is my favorite, too. It's the hair."
Me: "Totally the hair! ... I'm anxious to hear what the new Wiggle sounds like, though. I've only heard reviews. Hopefully new videos will come out soon."
The other mothers nodded and thought about how sad it was that Greg had left his post as Wiggles lead singer.
Since then Anthony has changed his hair and now cuts it really short, so you can't tell it's this curly amazingness (to hide the grey, I think). But they have come out with new videos and I've been able to hear Sam's voice and style. The review I read said that he doesn't have Greg's "soulful (something) voice." I remember the word soulful because I never thought Greg's voice was soulful to begin with. Sam's isn't soulful, either. THEY SING FOR 4-YEAR-OLDS, PEOPLE! THEY'RE NOT GOING FOR SOULFUL!
The Wiggles with new yellow Sam, and including regular characters
Wags the Dog, Henry the Octopus, and Captain Feathersword.
Anyway, you can make your own decisions about the Wiggles. But here's my last point. I think it's okay to be a Wiggle. I mean, laugh's on us, right? Make fun of the Wiggles and they can just wave their buckets of $100 bills in our faces. But how would you tell people that you're a back-up dancer for the Wiggles? Or that you're an understudy for the Wiggles (that's what Sam was for years)? Can you imagine that conversation?
Girl: "So. What do YOU do for a living?"
Wiggles Understudy:
Girl: Oh.
I imagine the girl would walk away at this point.
And what about Captain Feathersword? The man is an "actor". If you look him up (which of course I've done), just about the only thing he's done is be Captain Feathersword. Again, WHO WANTS TO BE CAPTAIN FEATHERSWORD?
Actor A: I want to be a Shakespearean actor.
Actor B: I'd really like to be an action movie star.
Actor C: I find fulfillment in Broadway.
Actor D: I want to wear an eye patch and use a lame piratey-sounding-voice while dancing around like an idiot and singing songs. Every few minutes I'd like to say the word, "Arrgh," right after the phrase, "This is the best/worst (insert words here) I've ever had."
Whose life dream is THAT? No one's.
However, if you can move up the ranks in the Wiggles organization, I'm pushing for the blonde dancer to take Anthony's place when he retires. I don't know if he's currently Anthony's understudy or not, but Sam originally was a back-up dancer, too (he's featured nicely as a pirate dancer in Here Comes the Big Red Car (which is in fact a remake (a REMAKE!) of an earlier movie they put out when they were just starting. The new one is the version they would have done originally had they possessed any money to do it with). And the blonde dancer is my favorite. I think he'd make a nice Anthony--kinda zany and cute.
...
If you're going for their videos, I suggest the Magic one (can't think of the full title right now, haven't seen it in a year or two). I really like Wally (he's not a Wiggle, just a goofy actor they use in the video to play some wannabe magician). Other than that, stay away from their newer ones (you can tell because it's Sam instead of Greg, and Murray looks a little psychotic on the covers), they're more annoying (though Pop Go the Wiggles was alright).
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