This paper examines popular sound media produced for children through an evaluation of the global presence and nearly 25-year career of The Wiggles. It will contextualise their ascendency to worldwide dominance within children’s music beginning with Australian ‘origins’, through to their current influence and contribution to an American childhood. By examining children’s sound media, inherent tensions between the Wiggles national origins and their present day global appeal will be critically explored.
Because of their worldwide success, The Wiggles provide a unique opportunity to explore children’s convergent sound media production within a global outlook, to critically scrutinise the consumption of children’s popular sound media across Australian and American national perspectives. This paper examines The Wiggles beyond the narrow confines of a critically marginalised genre like children’s entertainment, while recognizing its prominence within a profitable global industry.
While children’s musical cultures have traditionally been examined through educational, ethnomusicological and folklore perspectives, little attention has been paid to the broader sound media culture, especially commercially popular cross-media. Comprehending The Wiggles oeuvre within newer frameworks such as material, media and sound studies as well as popular music, will redress a consistent scholarly under-acknowledgment.
Questions explored include: Do The Wiggles characterise a specific Australian or a more homogenised childhood experience? What distinguishes The Wiggles from other popular children’s media and entertainment producers? How might we understand children’s culture as represented by The Wiggles in relation to international influences, including how they fit within the historical chronology of American children’s music?
This paper contextualises the sound media produced by The Wiggles, and demonstrates how a broader material perspective alongside a historical overview of consumption practices, can reveal much about the soundscapes of not only an Australian, but an American childhood as well.
About the presenterMatthew Holmes
Matthew Holmes is currently a PhD student at the University of Melbourne examining the history of Australian children’s sound media from the postwar years through to today’s convergent and diversified edutainment industry. He has practiced as a music therapist for many years utilising a wide range of children’s music repertoire, which sparked a scholarly interest in both the historical development and consumption practices of this cross-media genre.