'Yo Gabba Gabba' Gets Love From Rock's Biggest Names

The 2010 edition of Coachella featured 130 bands, including some of music's biggest names, from Jay-Z to Them Crooked Vultures. But the top attraction backstage was, without a doubt, the characters of Nick Jr.'s 'Yo Gabba Gabba.' That's right -- when it came to the most requests for pictures, the 'Yo Gabba' characters won in a landslide, as even the musicians were fans.

"Dave Grohl and Josh Homme from Them Crooked Vultures had a barbecue they invited us to come to, all the characters and DJ Lance Rock," 'Yo Gabba' co-creator Christian Jacobs told Spinner backstage. "It was kind of like their kids and them had stars in their eyes. We hung out with Diplo and had the Major Lazer crew and Passion Pit. John Mayer was here yesterday and was hitting up ['Gabba' character] Muno to hang out."

The show came to Coachella at the request of Goldenvoice president Paul Tollett, who is an old friend of Jacobs, and the festival gave the 'Yo Gabba' crew a nice test run for the fall. "We're doing a full 60-city tour in the fall," Jacobs said. "We did some preliminary shows last year, a couple shows in the major market just to test the waters and the response was just bonkers, even from the artist community and celebrities, from Keri Russell to Snoop Dogg. We had Dinosaur Jr. and DMC make an appearance at one show. That's crazy: Run-DMC and Dinosaur Jr. on the same stage. Where does that happen? I guess at 'Yo Gabba Gabba.'"

With so many celebrities now with kids of their own, the 'Yo Gabba' guys are a huge hit, allowing Jacobs, who was the lead singer of the Aquabats for years, to live out a lot of his musical fantasies. "We've fulfilled so many having bands we look up to and respect be a part of the show, like Devo, Weezer, Flaming Lips," Jacobs said. "We've had some incredible talent that everyone knows their names and people that are just coming up."

And there is more on the way. "We've got some big plans for guests. There are a couple that are dream guests that we're close to getting," Jacobs admitted. But he does have some big aspirations still that are further out he's willing to share. "I would love [to] have Bill Murray come onstage and hit some golf balls into the crowd," he said. "The list goes on and on. Muse would be amazing; Pavement, one of my favorites of all-time; Gorillaz we've been trying to get on the show forever."

One thing Jacobs appreciates is that no matter who the guest, they've been respectful of the show. "Everyone knows how to appropriate themselves to the kids. They're doing it for the kids; that's what makes it great," he says. "There might be some bands on the list that might be a little racy, but everyone's been pretty cool because that's the age, pre-school, where it's pure and innocent and that's a fun time to we all like to remember back to, the age of discovery."