wiggles or hi 5?
Hands down, between these two Aussie kiddy entertainment groups, the winner for us is The Wiggles.
I cannot explain the appeal of four middle-aged Australian men – aged from their mid 30s to mid 50s – swiveling their hips and flouncing around in what some people would term a “gay” manner. (Since three of them have two kids each, however, it’s probably just work)
Neither can I explain the poetry behind the prosaic lyrics of their (mostly) original songs, Day’s favourite being:
Hot potato hot potato
Hot potato hot potato
Hot potato hot potato, potato
Potato potato potato
I am even more hard-pressed to explain why KK sometimes puts on the DVD for his own listening pleasure, or why I gleefully wiggle along with the quartet (after drawing down the blinds) till I’m out of breath. (for those in the know, my fav dancing song is D.O.R.O.T.H.Y, the moves are very YMCA-ish)
But I can fully understand why they are Australia’s highest earning entertainers. Wikipedia says they grossed more in 2005 than AC/DC and Nicole Kidman combined.
No wonder. For we, despite our thin wallets, have contributed to the Wiggles fund too.
Day now owns two Wiggles DVDs, bought for the princely sum of A$50, and I don’t know how much more I have spent on renting the damn things for him to assess. (the good ones, we go on to buy) He watches them ad nauseum, four, five times a day or more.
Why am I writing this now?
Because one of the Wiggles – the one who can sing and who wears yellow, Greg – is sick (from a mystery illness that makes him faint all the time) and they are searching for a replacement. The first to be replaced after the band’s 15 years of wiggling.
See how I talk about them as if they are relatives. Shocking.
I’m not sure if it’s a good thing, but if there’s any one sound track that, in future, would instantly transport us back to our Sydney experience, it would be the jaunty tunes of The Wiggles.
Here’s a rather boring video of Day doing the Hot Potato.
As to Hi 5, well. The one time I borrowed one of their DVDs, Day tuned out after five minutes. KK frowned ferociously at the bubblegum pop, made-up faces, tarty girls/buffed boys, and flat out refuses to watch anymore Hi 5 after one of the programme segments taught little girls (and boys perhaps) how to paint their toenails.
This entry was posted by Sher, on
Thursday, November 02, 2006.
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Good grief, this is certainly one Antipodean phenomenon that passed me by ...
i also say; hi-5 is too 'ewww' for me for the same reasons. they r a step away from britney spears & her like. bleah. do u know that they have a hairstyling book teaching girls how to plait/weave their hair into those styles u see on their shows?!
the favourite wiggles tune in our household: big red car (but of course)! :)
LOL....glad to see I have company when it comes to gyrating and humming along with the Wiggles! :) Can't stand the fact that they're so infectious or perhaps just replayed so often my subconscious just has to succumb!
What I found even more skanky is the UK version of Hi-5 - Fun Song Factory with the one rather big boned chick prancing around in her lycra hot pants! :(
heard of hi-5 but not the wiggles, but reading all your comments made me laugh!
reading all the comments made me laugh too!
guess hi 5 has a very different appeal, to kids who want to learn how to act cool... but yes, karen, i do think they are skanky and i pray i never see the fun song factory folks.
Never heard of Wiggles but know Hi-5. They had a concert in Singapore. My colleague had to take leave to take his daughters to the afternoon concert. His girl LOVES them. Maybe they appeal to just girls??? :p
Jo: you may be right. my neighbour's daugher was in love with hi5 too.
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