They’ve spawned. Satisfied with their dominance of American popular culture for a while, the Zhu Zhu Pets want more. More! This week, the Zhu Zhu Pets begin their multimedia empire in earnest. They’re going to have a float at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. And on that float will be pop singer Savannah Outen, a YouTube star and Radio Disney sensation. Outen will be singing songs (with Zhu Zhu Pets and 130 hand-picked young singers) from the Zhu Zhu Pets new animated movie The Quest for Zhu, which stars a bunch of Zhu Zhu Pet characters singing familiar, kid-friendly pop and rock classics, along with originals by Outen and American Idol finalist Thia Megia. And that’s the music part of the media phenomenon: the soundtrack to Quest for Zhu.

I know, I know. Likable, chubby, CGI rodents with high pitched voices performing “What I Like About You,” “Celebration,” “Let’s Groove” and “ABC.” Yes, I know. It’s…familiar. But song choice is important. The Chipmunks, in their latest incarnation, which is what matters to you, the parent of a child, are horrible. The boy Chipmunks are smug and crass. The girl Chipmunks are sexed-up, lazy girl stereotypes. I’d much rather hear the Zhu Zhu Pets sing “ABC,” a song originally sung by children, to children, then hear the Chippettes tell their boyfriends to put a ring on it. Plus Outen and Megia have nice voices, and know their strengths: there’s nothing wrong with innocuous kiddie-pop, and something musical for kids to have of their very own.

So let’s talk about Infinity Sock.

Yeah! What’s going on with it? (Laughs)

One thing I’ve always enjoyed about the Gustafer records is that they’re not only mellow — as you often point out — but that they’re also gentle, which makes a big difference, I think. And I also appreciate the fact that they don’t pander musically, either to kids or to parents.

I don’t — yeah, I don’t think that does any good, to pander. It’s not in my nature — I’m not even thinking about whether I’m doing it or not. Maybe I sensed that kind of thing in music as a kid, so I try and avoid it now.

I know you’ve said that you spent a lot of time listening to AM radio when you were a kid, and that influence is pretty apparent in your work. But do you remember listening to any music geared specifically to kids?

Yeah, I actually did, and the older my son gets, the more my memories of it resurface. I had a lot of the old book-and-record combos from Disney, like Br’er Rabbit and Snow White, and Alvin and the Chipmunks. And the music from Sesame Street and The Electric Company, of course. There was a lot of great music on those shows.

A few of the early Sesame Street albums were reissued recently. My kids love them — and like you, I have a lot of strong memories of those songs. I was surprised by how many lyrics I remembered, and it’s been a learning experience, because to my memory, the ’70s and ’80s were kind of a wasteland for kids’ music, but so many of those Sesame Street songs were just brilliant.

I guess a lot of the really good stuff was from the late ’60s and early ’70s. And of course, a lot of the songs I remember are themes to TV shows, like The Rockford Files. I hear those songs now and I feel like it’s time for me to go to bed. (Laughs)

The common thread between your music and the stuff we’re talking about is that, in contrast to a lot of what’s released now, it isn’t saturated with sensory input — it doesn’t get up in your face. It gives you room to experience it.

I think a lot of the stuff you’re talking about is probably a bit focus-grouped. Everyone’s afraid of losing kids’ attention, so they approach it from the mindset of, “Okay, we have to keep things moving at a fast pace — today’s kids, you know, ADD!” But I think the opposite is true.

My approach largely developed accidentally on purpose, if that makes any sense. I started putting these projects together and seeing people’s reactions to them, and pretty much unanimously, people say they love that they’re mellow. I hear “My kid who’s normally hyper sits calmly through Gustafer DVDs.” I’m not a child psychologist, but it seems like maybe that’s what kids need. They don’t need the fast-paced stuff — not that it’s bad, necessarily, but people frequently assume that it’s necessary.

What’s the inspiration for your lyrical approach? Sometimes it seems like you’re the Mike Doughty of kids’ music — that words or titles are used simply because they sound good together. A song like “Wisconsin Poncho” from Infinity Sock, for instance.

Sometimes, yes. And actually, it’s funny that you chose “Wisconsin Poncho” as an example, because that’s something I came up with in 1988, when I was a teenager. I had a friend I used to do funny songs with, and we did a song about a porcupine that had a spoken-word part, talking about woodland creatures. We were definitely absurdists. One line from that part talked about a Wisconsin poncho, and it’s just stuck in my head for 20 years. Anyway, since Gustafer is in Minnesota, and his Infinity Sock adventure takes him out of the state, that phrase just sort of naturally reappeared.

But of course, a title is very valuable. I do this a lot — when I’m going to make an album, I choose the song titles first. I put together 10 titles, and think, “these all sound good to me,” and the stories flow from that. Like, for instance, “Panther Stamp Pants.” That’s just fun to say, so I’m like, “What’s it going to be about? Well, the pterodactyl is really into clothing…”

So with Infinity Sock, did you approach the songs with a narrative arc already established?

Yeah, actually, I’ve had the story around since 2006 or so. It was a standalone story, and I kind of tinkered with it for a long time, and then my wife Rachel and I — we started this business around people’s fondness for our DVDs, and then we thought we could turn this into a book. That’s how Infinity Sock was originally supposed to be released. But we realized that the publishing world is a whole other monster, so we decided to do it this way, just to get the story out.

So I wrote the songs by choosing points in the story, and I built the music around where they’d go. The cool thing about the sock is that it serves a different purpose for all these different groups of characters, so the storytelling possibilities were limitless, and I could just mold the music around it. Like with “Beehive” — I mean, what’s a sock doing in a beehive? Well, the bees are musicians, and they use it as a curtain for their shows. Things fit together that way.

About how long does it take you to put these together? You aren’t just performing the music, but you’re creating the illustrations that go along with it.

I’d say two or three weeks per song. And that’s just putting the illustrations to paper.

And do you illustrate as you go along with the music, or are they separate processes?

I record the songs first, and make sure I’m happy with the music, and confident that each song is strong enough to go on the DVD, and then I start drawing. What I do is sit down with a lyric sheet, and it’ll have maybe 20 lines of lyrics, and I’ll storyboard it out in a notebook with pencil — just sketch it out roughly. Once I have that, I’ll get out the good paper, draw it for real, and scan it into Photoshop — after which Rachel adds the template with the lyrics and the plaque and all that stuff. Once all that’s ready, we send it off to the animator, who sends us previews, and usually after two or three rounds of edits, it’s finished. The whole process takes almost a year.

I know that for most performers, by the time an album is done, they’re often pretty tired of the music and ready to move on to the next project. I imagine that because you’re moving through each Gustafer release twice, essentially, it must make you a little antsy sometimes.

Well, let me tell you — the music for Infinity Sock was finished in December of 2009, so…yeah. I’ve already started drawing the next DVD, and I have the next 10 songs recorded, and the two following DVDs planned out on my board.

Yeah, it takes awhile to do these, and for me, I need to be constantly going. Otherwise, I do get antsy.

I spoke with Michael Rachap of Readeez recently, and he talked about having constructed an elaborate mythology around those characters, and his plans to slowly explore their world over the course of many releases. It seems like you’re on a similar path with Gustafer.

It’s true, and my main obstacle is just time. I have more ideas than I can manage, and I want to get them all out. The next DVD is written, the next two are conceived — it’s like, I already know the owl has its own song. It isn’t for two more projects, but I want to do it now! (Laughs) I like the owl. I want the owl to have his time to shine. You know, there’s Gustafer, you have Slim, and then there’s the pterodactyl — those are the three most solid, prominent characters. But I want there to be more. The owl has a whole story — the owl is married to a bear, but the relationship is strained because of their cultural differences. (Laughs)

To what do you attribute the surreal streak in your lyrics?

Um…issues of MAD magazine from the ’70s…Sid and Marty Krofft…do you remember those shows?

Of course! H.R. Pufnstuf!

Right, and Sigmund and the Sea Monsters, yeah. Definitely those MAD issues with Don Martin and Al Jaffee and Mort Drucker. But on the other side, there’s a little bit of a sentimental streak in my music that I think probably comes from Bil Keane, who does The Family Circus, and Charles Schulz. I don’t know — I’ve never thought about it like this before, but I think that stuff is definitely there.

All of which probably contributes to the unusual amount of crossover success you’ve had, especially as a live act — you’ve opened for some unexpected acts.

I think the thing is, this is just my music. This is the music I’ve always been making. It’s just that nobody really noticed until I added cartoon characters. The grand irony in all this is that I put out a record in 2003 called Dream in Green, and it had songs like “I’m from the Sun” and “Quite Easily Lost.” I paid publicists to push it, and did all kinds of things to try and get people to hear it, and I got like one review, from the Village Voice, and it was a bad review. They said it was generic or boring or whatever, and at that point, I thought maybe I should reevaluate.

It was Rachel who suggested going back and doing the children’s book I’d talked about. She saw the potential in all this. So I had these songs and put cartoons to them, and it evolved into DVDs, and the next thing I know, I’m opening for Wilco. I’m sitting there in the dressing room, waiting to go onstage, by myself, with just my drawings and my music, and I’m thinking to myself, “This is so weird.” And then the same thing happened with the Polyphonic Spree. All of a sudden, people were into my music, and I think it’s because I added cartoons.

It just puts the music in a different framework, a different context. The lyrics are in front of you, which changes the experience, so…maybe I just kind of happened into something that’s natural for me. Which is great, because I can keep doing it. I mean, Gustafer looked like a kids’ character, so I thought, “Well, I guess maybe this is kids’ music.” But it’s really just my music.

Occasionally, I’ll get people coming up to me at shows and saying, (stage whisper) “I think I like this more than my kids!” I think it appeals to people like me — kids who grew up in the ’80s and ’90s, who saw a lot of bands in bars, and kind of cut their teeth on real alternative music. Maybe I’m talking to those people with the music part, but there’s also a strong element of nostalgia in the kids’ part. You know? They’re catchy pop songs with nostalgic-looking cartoons.

Visit Gustafer (and Morgan) at his official site — and just in case you were wondering, yes, Infinity Sock is available for pre-order now.

Related articles

• Dadnabbit Interview: Michael Rachap of Readeez (dadnabbit.com)

Bob Marley – B Is for Bob (Tuff Gong, 2009)
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A perfect blend of the utterly crass and the undeniably entertaining, Tuff Gong’s latest Bob Marley compilation stitches together a dozen previously released tracks — eight of them with subtle remixing and repurposing from Ziggy Marley — bundles them with a whole bunch of nifty bonus content, and serves them up for one more round of consumption. On the one hand, it’s label tomfoolery at its most repellent — how much Marley product do these people need to sell? — but on the other, it’s really sort of brilliant; after all, now that Legend has passed the 10 million-in-sales mark, is there a reggae fan left on Earth who doesn’t own his greatest hits? It’s time to start building new ones, which is where B Is for Bob comes in. Though I doubt most people have ever thought of him as a children’s artist, a lot of Marley’s music is quite kid-friendly — simple, catchy, and carrying messages of peace, love, and happiness — and though it seems safe to say the original versions of these songs would have worked just fine, Ziggy’s remix job hasn’t done them any harm; in fact, unless you’re a dedicated Marley disciple, you probably won’t even notice a difference.

Adding value to the compilation is a raft of extra online material, unlockable when you insert the disc into a Web-connected computer. In exchange for purchasing these songs for the umpteenth time, you get things like coloring book pages, a music video, and a one-year subscription to Parents magazine. None of it is truly essential, of course, but it’s a fun little package, and something that’ll make a terrific gift for any budding Bob enthusiasts in your life. You might get more sparkle from a more contemporary artist, but for classic songs that will last a lifetime, this batch is just about impossible to beat.

Daddy a Go Go – Come On, Get Happy: The Best of Daddy a Go Go, Volume 1 (2009, Boyd’s Tone)
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I had never heard of Daddy a Go Go, the kiddie-rockin’ alter ego adopted by singer/songwriter/stay-at-home-dad John Boydston, before opening the envelope that contained Come On Get Happy, but that’s just simple ignorance on my part: Boydston has released six albums of kids’ music since 1998, won multiple awards, and earned press in publications like Newsweek and the Washington Post. For lucky album number seven, Boydston has decided to collect and remaster 15 of his greatest “hits,” including “Daddy’s Diaper Blues,” “I Think I Might Be a Dog,” “Nana Nana Boo Boo,” and “Pink Floyd Saves Hugh Manatee,” a song so stupidly titled I almost threw away the CD.

I’m glad I didn’t, because Come On, Get Happy is really pretty charming. My friend the Lovely Mrs. Davis has designated Boydston a member of the “goofy dads” genre, which is true, I guess, except that I find Daddy a Go Go a lot less goofy than much of the kids’ music I listen to. And really, pretty much the entire genre is goofy — some of it is obnoxiously overt, and some of it is less caffeinated, but I don’t think I’ve listened to a single children’s album that didn’t make liberal use of cornball humor. In that context, Come On, Get Happy is really pretty sedate; musically, I’d liken it more to NRBQ than most children’s music (and yes, I’m aware that the Q has released a kids’ record). Given that I’m a huge NRBQ fan, it should come as no surprise that I really enjoyed most of these songs (notable, unsurprising exception: “Pink Floyd Saves Hugh Manatee”) — they have the pleasantly lo-fi production aesthetic of a lot of the great old indie rock records of the ’80s, which is weird, given that Boydston didn’t start recording them until the ’90s, but whatever. The album also highlights Boydston’s taste in covers, which ranges from the obvious (the title track) to the wonderfully semi-obscure (Harry Nilsson’s “Best Friend”).

Daddy a Go Go isn’t for everyone; my wife, for instance, hated Come On, Get Happy. But if you’re anything like me, and you find yourself having to stomach an awful lot of sugar with your kids’ music, these songs may be just the slightly rockin’ relief you seek. Check out this video for “School Bus Driver (The Stop Song)” — not, incidentally, on Come On, Get Happy — and then hear clips from the album at the purchase link above.

MeeWee: Hip-Hop for Kids (2008, MeeWee Entertainment)
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To those of us who grew up during hip-hop’s mid-to-late ’80s golden era, the idea of a hip-hop album for kids may seem silly and unnecessary; after all, you can play a lot of those old hits without worrying about objectionable content. (My daughter, for instance, developed an intense appreciation for Heavy D at a very early age.) And then there’s this project’s name: MeeWee? Seriously? When I first heard about this album, I didn’t even want to say the title, let alone listen to the music.

Here’s the good news, then: MeeWee: Hip-Hop for Kids is much better than its title. It isn’t as much fun as the hip-hop hits you remember from your younger days, but for the most part, it avoids using the music to do any truly obnoxious pandering to kids, and the majority of the songs do a fine job of holding up to repeated listens. (A notable exception is the horrible “Keyvo,” which makes me want to give whoever recorded it a few solid punches to his MeeWee.) Some of them are really pretty catchy, actually; for instance, I’ve found myself randomly getting “I Can Be Anything” stuck in my head, and songs like “So Much Love to Give” deftly combine positive messages with solid pop arrangements.

MeeWee was developed by a former teacher and one of the producers of MTV’s Lyricist Lounge, and MeeWee Entertainment has been doing a great job of outreaching the album to childcare professionals (teachers, camp counselors, dance instructors), offering them free downloads as well as lesson plans and other materials. It’s a smart way of getting the word out, and for the K-3 set, MeeWee might work as a spoonful of sugar to help the educational message go down. Older kids are a lot savvier about music, though — hip-hop in particular — and for future installments, the company could, and should, do a better job of connecting the dots between real hip-hop and age-appropriate messages. This stuff is cute, but it’s canned, and the world is still waiting for an album of kids’ songs from rappers with household names. (Biz Markie and the Roots have contributed to Yo Gabba Gabba!, after all.) In the meantime, there’s no arguing with results like these:

The Baby Grands – The Baby Grands (2008, Backspace)

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As has been discussed many times here at Dadnabbit, we no longer live in the dark old days of children’s music, when parents had slim choices for audio entertainment, and most of them involved sitting through untold hours of synth-laden arrangements and cutesy-poo lyrics. We’ve entered a more enlightened era, one in which artists who cater to kids often try to target adult tastes too — but even now, there’s a pretty stark split in kids’ music; some artists try to infuse their music with an approximation of the manic energy of youth, while others take a more thoughtful, laid back approach.

Atlanta’s Baby Grands fit the latter description, and even if their press materials overplay their hand a bit — whoever came up with the phrase “manna from kid music heaven” may wish to consider trying decaf — the trio’s self-titled debut still manages to blend a kid’s-eye view with smart pop songwriting with admirable, uncommon skill. Singer Donny Todd, multi-instrumentalist Ben Rowell, and lyricist Marc Castelo (whose presence makes the Baby Grands the kidscene equivalent of Procol Harum or the Dead, I guess) set out to create what they call “Kids’ music that’s not jus for kids,” and they get about as close as you could reasonably expect; you’re probably never going to reach for “Panda Rock” or “Diggin’ a Hole to China” when the little ones aren’t around, but (as I can attest from personal experience) you may very well find yourself humming the melody to “Sugar Makes Me Loco.”

What it lacks in wacky sound effects and silly gags, The Baby Grands more than makes up for with themes that will be relevant to its key demographic — stuff like the alphabet (“Why Is It W?”), the planets (“Pluto”), hopes and dreams (“Dream Big”), and the family pet (“Wet Nose Friend,” which is not, as I’d initially assumed, about my year-old son). It’s all uplifting, sweetly melodic stuff, with all the replay value you’d hope for from a band that got its start from a chance meeting at a playgroup. Try some samples at the Baby Grands’ MySpace page, or have a look at the good time had by all at their record release party last November: