Who Is DJ Lance Rock
DJ Lance Rock on Yo Gabba Gabba!
As a father of a 2 year old I’m subject to a lot of bad children’s television programing. Normally I can tune it out and concentrate on whatever PHP book I’m reading that week, but one program that caught my eye was Yo Gabba Gabba!
If you’ve never had the privilege to see Yo Gabba Gabba! you truly are missing out. The show is about five toy monsters that are brought to life by a man, DJ Lance Rock, in a bright orange spandex jumpsuit and sporting a puffy orange hat and thick rimmed black sunglasses. Everyone sings and dances while teaching the children good life lessons like ‘don’t hit your friends’.
Jack Black dancing on Yo Gabba Gabba! | Image borrowed from smotherhood.biz
The episode I saw guest starred Jack Black. Jack was flying a talking scooter which ran out of gas and landed in the strange Yo Gabba Gabba! land, and yes I did say flying. In an effort to find more gas he sings and dances with the different characters of the show. I don’t want to spoil the ending for you, but I will tell you that Jack ends up in a bright orange spandex jumpsuit as well.
Jack Black on Yo Gabba Gabba! | Image borrowed from Nick Jr. nicknz.co.nz
The reason I started paying attention is because I’m a fan of Jack Black. But while watching this I started to wonder who this DJ Lance was, and why would someone like Jack Black be on his program. He must have been someone famous in the music world before Yo Gabba Gabba! offered him more money.
Whenever I want to know about anything I go to Wikipedia first. Wikipedia knows everything.
Lance Robertson | Image borrowed from nocostl.com
According to Wikipedia, DJ Lance Rock was born Lance Robertson in St. Louis, MO. He graduated from Hazelwood East High School in 1983. Why am I telling you this about him. Well, for starters, I live in St. Louis and had a lot of friends that went to Hazelwood East. After reading this I was hooked. DJ Lance just became very interesting to me.
In the 90′s Robertson was the singer in a rock band, My Other Self, and owned a record store called Deep Grooves. Eventually he moved to LA to work at Amoeba Records and became well known in the local indie rock scene with the band The Ray Makers. While with the Ray Makers he met anther local musician Scottie Schultz from the band the Majestic. Schultz eventually co-created as show NOGGIN, now Nick Jr., called Yo Gabba Gabba! and called on his old friend Lance Robertson to host it for him and the rest was history.
Now this once indie rocker hosts a show featuring stars such as Jack Black, The Shins, Shiny Toy Guns, Tony Hawk Andy Samberg and the hobbit himself, Elijah Wood. This is truly a case of a ‘local boy done good’.
So if you get the opportunity to watch DJ Lance Rock on Yo Gabba Gabba!, and you just so happen to be from the St. Louis area, root on the local boy and know that anything is possible.
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He went to my high school…weird… kinda cool…
I just wondered if he was gay?
You know, I really don’t know, but I think it might just be his gimmick. But either way, he’s REALLY good at what he does. My son just saw a commercial for a Live Yo Gabba Gabba! performance that’s coming to town, and he really wants to go. So DJ Lance Rock must be doing something right.
mgmt was on too! he has so many cool artists on there it’s crazy!
Reading this shows that people care in this racist, homophobic society. Yo Gabba Gabba is a great show. My three year old grand daughter love DJ Lance Rock and all the characters.
Yo Gaba Gaba is an awesome show, I love it and usually hate all those kids shows, it’s the coolest kids show out there and the music is AWESOME!!! lol
I agree. The first time I saw Yo Gabba Gabba! I didn’t know what to think, now it’s more than grown on me. DJ Lance Rock has changed, in my mind, from a strange guy in an orange suit to someone nearly cool. I’m even excited about the Weird Al episode. As far as I know it has already aired, but I still haven’t seen it yet.
I have a 1 & half year old daughter who LOVES yo gabba gabba. I have watched it many times and think that it is a very entertaining show for kids (and parents). When I caught the episode with Jack Black I laughed through almost the whole show, he was so funny! My favorite part was when he had on the orange spandex suit, hilarious!
Oh yeah! By far one of the highlights of my life has been seeing Jack Black in the Orange Spandex Jumpsuit on Yo Gabba Gabba!
When I first saw an episode of Yo Gabba Gabba, I thought…”Who is this guy and how did he get his own show?” THEN…I bought a dvd that had an episode of YGG and my 2 year old is HOOKED! As an adult, you can’t help but laugh and talk about how rediculous it seems when you are first exposed…but….you quickly get sucked in and are just as hooked as your toddler. LOL!
I too am from the St. Louis area and just recently found out about DJ Lance. My 3 year old also loves the show! And I can’t help but watch it because its so bizarre!
I just saw the Jack Black episode and I was cracking up the entire time!
Very few kids shows exist that are tolerable to adults as well. So I’m grateful for shows like Yo Gabba Gabba and Spongebob, or I probably would have lost my sanity some time ago!
I have an 14month old niece that has been watching Yo Gabba Gabba since she was 6months and she loves it! she gets a big smile one her face when she sees Dj Lance Rock! i even wach with her it so cool and fun< you learn,laugh all at once1 the whole family is hooked to the show. Its the best childrens show out there and hope it stays around for a long while! GO YO GABBA GABBA! IT ROCKS!
LOL this show is off the hook. I watch it with my 3 year old daughter and she just goes in a daze when it comes on (kinda scary i must say). Has anyone seen the episode when they (Muno) sing the song “I like bugs”.LOL. DJ Lance is an old head but he looks great! This show also reminds me of Wonder Showzen which used to come on MTV2 but for adults only.
Thanks for letting me know the background story on DJ Lance Rock. My 2 year old gets so worked up when Yo Gabba Gabba comes on. My favorite song is “Don’t Bite Your Friends” – cracks me up.
I’ll never forget the first time my kids and I caught Yo Gabba Gabba. I was too stunned to turn the channel, even though it all seemed too ridiculous for words…and my kids fell in LOVE with the show. I started liking it, too. It teaches my kids things like, “Cleaning up your toys is FUN!” (THANK YOU, Plex) and the famous “Don’t hit your friends!” DJ Lance kicks some major butt. I wish I were as happy as he always is, and that I got to wear such a spiffy hat.
Hi! I met Lance in high school in St. Louis. We were friends immediately! He is a wonderful man and I hope only good things for him! He is also a VERY busy man! My kids were a bit older when the show came out and I live in the Middle East now so we have only seen a couple of shows when we were home this summer in St. Louis. I got to see him after so many years and it was like we were in high school again! Keep the love strong as I want only success for him! I will have to buy the DVD’s to truly experience the program! I’m happy to read that a lot of you adults really like the show. I am a bit ignorant there. Keep watching YGG!!
That’s great! and a relief. One of my biggest concerns with meeting a celebrity is that they could be a jerk. And sure, I understand that you have millions of people bugging you all of the time, but I shouldn’t have to worry you’ll scare my 3-year-old when we see you at the local supermarket and want to come say ‘hi’ or take a picture. It’s nice to hear that DJ Lance is a good guy, and I’m sure he’s quite busy with tours, television show and god know what else.
The best of luck to you in the Middle East and I would highly recommend picking up the Yo Gabba Gabba! DVDs, especially since you know DJ Lance personally. And if you think of it, next time you see him, tell him that a 3-year-old and his dad say ‘hi’.