Gabba Gabba Hey!

Posted May 27 at 04:18 PM

Children’s television just got way cooler. If there was any question as to where indie music has gone, it’s moved to Nickelodeon.

"Yo Gabba Gabba," a show on Nick Jr, Nickelodeon’s children’s programming, regularly features guests that would make even the most discerning non-conformist excited. In just its first season, the show has featured the Shiny Toy Guns, Supernova, the Shins, Biz Markie and the Postmarks.

Christian Jacobs and Scott Schultz, who also front the Southern Californian ska band, the Aquabats, created the show. It’s hosted by DJ Lance Rock, an orange jumpsuit-clad man, who now makes appearances and opens for the Aquabats on tour.

The underlying soundtrack resembles something Cut Chemist or Squarepusher would compose, and the show hypnotizes the audience with flashing colors and short animation sequences that are perfect for the attention-span deprived.

But the real question is what affect is this having on today's youth? Will watching "Yo Gabba Gabba" cost them their innocence?

Perhaps.

Maybe I’m just feeling nostalgic (I am 19, and therefore very old), but I remember when being a kid was simpler than than indie rock. I’m afraid the children of today will grow up comparing their record collections with their friends instead of blowing stuff up and making fun of girls.

I don’t think I can handle a five-year old coming up to me with a more vast knowledge of Belle & Sebastian’s back catalogue than I have.

But there’s something even more disconcerting about this show, and that is, when did Nick Jr. become a more reliable source for music than MTV or VH1? Music videos have been pushed to early unwatched timeslots in favor of Tila Tequila’s sexual promiscuity and B-List celebrities learning magic.

I can’t handle this, so I think I’m just gonna watch Dora the Explorer and hope that at some point, Conor Oberst serenades me. - Dan Faughnder, 209Vibe street team