Kids’ Rock Group Is Zoo’s Worth of Fun

With lasers overhead and a backbeat shaking the walls, the lead singer struts on a fog-covered stage in black leather pants, a spike hairdo and headset.

Live and uncaged, it’s . . . the Animal Band!

The electric guitars, the noise level, the showmanship are familiar, but wait: What’s with this group’s lyrics?

I’m thinking of a number

every kid ought to know.

It’s called 9-1-1,

everywhere you go.

Without irony, the singer says, in effect: Be ready in case of an emergency. And how about these other messages in the group’s songs: read books, recycle, wear a bicycle helmet, clean your room.

It’s far from the usual rock concert fare, but audiences can’t get enough of the Animal Band. The reason is simple. The avid listeners are the elementary-school, milk-and-cookies crowd.

“We want to be known as someone who can captivate an audience with positive things,” said Jim Moore, 45, who writes the songs and sings lead. “We don’t use foul language. We don’t have to do any of those kind of things to bring the house down.”

Three sold-out concerts, starting this month, open the band’s 1998 “Dreams and Jelly Beans” tour of 47 U.S. cities.

Among the thousands of acts aimed at children, the Animal Band is respected “because of their talent and because they understand kids,” said Howard Leib, president of Children’s Entertainment Assn., a trade group in New York.

Song titles show that understanding--for example, “Going to School Blues” and “Are We There Yet?”

Some songs teach lessons. “9-1-1” helped save a life. After listening to the Animal Band’s recording, a 4-year-old Chattanooga boy called 911 when his father suffered a heart attack.

Much of the act is pure fun.

Dressed in zany fashions that include zebra stripes, dinosaur spikes and a tiger jacket, the Animal Band plays songs ranging from the foot-stomping “Rockasaurus Pop” to the reggae lullaby sound of “Pajama Island.”

Moore gets kids and adults to hop like a frog, swing like a monkey, flap their “chicken wings” or engage in a friendly “crocodile chop.”

He brings kids onstage to play “air guitar” with the band, and invites such guests as full-suited firefighters and police bicycle patrols who ride down the aisles during “You Better Wear a Helmet.”

Growing up in South Pittsburg, Tenn., Moore always dreamed of entertaining screaming crowds but gave up the idea during college.

In the 1980s, he operated an eyeglass-design business in Ocala, Fla. He only picked up his guitar to croon old Eagles hits to his two young children.

In 1988, his daughter, then a third grader, volunteered him for a concert at school.

“I was scared to death,” Moore said. “I decided to sit down and write a song the kids could relate to. . . . It was a big hit with the kids and teachers and made me want to start writing again.”

The song, titled “All-Animal Band,” was about a group of animals that form a band.

The family moved to Nashville in 1990, where Moore performed at the Bluebird Cafe, a springboard for aspiring country artists. One day, a producer said, “Your adult stuff is OK, but you’ve really got something there with your kid stuff.”

Moore advertised for musicians and put them in wacky outfits. Their popularity soared.

Today, after seven years, the Animal Band has a 50,000-member fan club and has toured from Las Vegas to the White House.

Its sponsors include Gibson Guitar USA and Herman Goelitz Inc., makers of Jelly Belly jelly beans. The National Head Injury Foundation, impressed with the song about biking with helmets, has named the group its official “spokes-animals.”

Many kids first encounter the band in the classroom; its music is used as a teaching aid in more than 10,000 schools.

Kathy Russ, a music teacher in Mount Juliet, Tenn., said she has used the recordings since 1990.

“The music is just so wholesome. It teaches family values, respect, safety--all good things,” she said.

Besides, she said, shifting style from song to song--sometimes blues, sometimes country, sometimes tender ballad--the band offers something essential for elementary teachers.

“The kids don’t get bored.”