Anthony Field is probably better known to under-35s - and their appreciative parents - as the Blue Wiggle, part of the phenomenally popular Australian children's music group The Wiggles.
He's the senior member of the group, and one of the originals from when it all kicked off in 1991.
“What a great ride, I don’t think I’ve had a bad day at work,” Field told Kathryn Ryan.
Photo: Supplied
What makes The Wiggles so magical? Field says the music was child centered.
“Whenever we wrote our music we thought about our audience and what their developmental levels might be and what interests them.
“Little things like, we did a song called ‘Can You Point Your Fingers And Do The Twist?’ If I was writing that without the education I learned at Macquarie University, I would have written, point your finger and do the twist, but we learnt that children love challenges.”
They learnt a lot of great language and management skills at university, he says, and it helps when there are large crowds of under-5s in the audience.
“We feel we don’t talk down to children, we talk in a language they understand. They’re different thinkers to adults and we’ve got to reflect that.”
The group’s instantly recognizable colour skivvies were chosen, Field says, because if a child couldn’t remember their names, they’d be able to remember the colour they were wearing. Skivvies were also a popular choice for school kids at the time and were something affordable for people to replicate.
The Wiggles output is prolific - there are 59 studio albums alone - not to mention a new YouTube offering called Fruit Salad TV.
Field is proud that in the past year the group has made changes to better reflect their audience.
He says there are eight Wiggles in the lineup for the new series – four women and four men from a range of cultural backgrounds.
Photo: creative commons - wikicommons - Spasmsmash
At the height of their fame, The Wiggles played 13 sold out shows at Maddison Square Garden - “That is crazy.”
“What happened is we were playing all around the United States and we actually didn’t see the sun for six weeks because we’d go into the venue, do the shows during the day and night, then we’d drive.”
Anthony says he got really depressed during that tour despite it being uplifting on stage.
“That was probably the worst time of it all, but it’s been fantastic.”
When bush fires wreaked havoc in Australia a few years ago, The Wiggles put on a bushfire appeal concert.
“And I thought let’s get The Wiggles, the originals, back together and play in a pub for adults. And it was absolutely wild.
“These 30-year-olds, 20-year-olds who grew up with The Wiggles were going crazy.”
It was a big success and in Melbourne, 14,000 people came to see them.
At one show Captain Feathersword had underwear thrown at him.
“The thing is, they’re not drinking cordial and I swear it was all joy,” Field says.
Field is teaming up with the OG Wiggles, the original gang of himself, Jeff, Murray and Greg - for two special shows for grown-ups in New Zealand.
