Get Yer Ya-Yas Out! The Wiggles

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THE WIGGLES ARE sometimes called the Fab Four of children's music. But Jeff Fatt — aka, the Purple Wiggle — said you're more likely to find the Australian band warming up with cover versions from another '60s Brit-pop combo.

"We might jam on some Rolling Stones numbers, or Booker T and the MGs," Fatt said. "More Stones than Beatles at sound check, or any of those classic '60s sorta thrash, sort of guitar-type bands. That was pretty well the style of music that The Cockroaches played in the '80s."

Fatt and Anthony Field played in the garage-rock group The Cockroaches, which took its name from the one used by the Rolling Stones when it played secret gigs, and released five albums before breaking up. Then Field, original Wiggles Murray Cook and Greg Page — since retired due to illness and replaced by Sam Moran — met while studying early childhood education, and they called Fatt in 1991 to help record an album for their university project.

"When Anthony asked me to play on this album of children's music, I thought I'd just go along and amuse him," Fatt said with a laugh. "It was a very throwaway sort of thing."

Now, 18 years and millions of dollars later The Wiggles are one of the most popular children's brands in the world, and their happy teaching music, TV, videos and books have encouraged the under-7 set to eat healthy, dance and read — a lot.

Literacy is one of the reasons The Wiggles teamed with Reach Out and Read for its "Go Bananas Live!" tour. The program helps medical professionals give out books to kids and advise parents to read aloud to their children.

"It's such a fantastic program, the whole point about reading to your children," Fatt said. "It really does give them the best start before they commence their schooling. It has been shown that it really aids their literacy."

Despite the Wiggles' surefire touring success, the group continues to better its production values and evolve its performances. "Compared to last year's tour, the show's taken on more of a circus and acrobatic, gymnastic dynamic," Fatt said. But don't fear: You will still hear "Fruit Salad" and the Purple Wiggle will still fall sleep. "We always try to pitch things at a child's level, because children are very egocentric — the world revolves around them."

But the rock 'n' rollers in the Wiggles know that parents have to listen to their music — over and over and over again — and they try to make it appeal to big people, too.

"The great pop songs of the '60s never used to go on for any much longer than 2 [minutes]," Fatt said. "Those sort of things appeal to children, who have short attention spans, and ... if you have a classic repetitive melody or lyric in a song, people who have children will be able to enjoy it, too — up to a certain point [laughs]. ... We try to make it as enjoyable as possible, anyway."

» Verizon Center, 601 F St NW; Thu., Nov. 5, 2 p.m. & 5:30 p.m. (two shows), $10-$40, 202-661-5000. (Gallery Place-Chinatown)

» RELATED: AC/DC dislodges The Wiggles from the top slot as Australia's richest entertainers. [The Age, Nov. 4, 2009]

Photo courtesy Washington Sports & Entertainment