Aussie Kids Essentials

Aussie Kids Essentials

Since the mid-’90s, children’s music in Australia has been dominated by The Wiggles, and with good reason. Their songwriting boasts a sophistication that appeals to parents while bestowing easy-to-digest messages about topics such as nutrition (“Fruit Salad”). So beloved are the Fab Four—regardless of which line-up you were raised with—that musical heavyweights such as Polish Club (“Apples and Bananas”) and Busby Marou (“Dressing Up”) lined up to pay tribute to the band on the ReWiggled album, in which popular acts reinterpreted classic songs from The Wiggles’ catalogue. The shift into kids’ music by adult pop acts has gathered steam in the 21st century courtesy of artists such as Josh Pyke, Emma Donovan, Holly Throsby and Dan Sultan (Sultan’s song about a windy gorilla named Bwindi proves that fart jokes will forever be multi-generational). Yet despite the presence of such voices and programs as Bluey, which premiered on Australian TV in 2018, there will always be a place for the original children’s entertainment juggernaut, Play School. Having turned 50 in 2016, it too was the subject of a tribute album, with artists such as Missy Higgins (“Three Little Fishies”) and Powderfinger’s Bernard Fanning (“Morningtown Ride”) joining in the celebrations.

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