Kids Music

I feel the same way about Zane's and Berkner! I find them irritating, actually. There are a few children's albums by the great folk singer Pete Seeger that are participatory. Look up his kid stuff on amazon. I have all of them but I can't remember which ones have more call and response type stuff. Every last one of them is excellent, though.

Wee Sing is classic, I especially love the Silly Songs album:

http://weesing.com/Books-Music/Wee-Sing-Silly-Songs

My kids LOVE The Fresh Beat Band!! They have a few songs that are follow the direction type songs like Freeze Dance, but most of them are just fun to dance to but aren't wild and crazy. I don't think they are annoying kids' songs and not too babyish. They are all really positive and kid appropriate.

Wee Sing has a music around the world CD that my kids loved. It features songs in their native language, then repeated in English. Ben and Leo Sidron (both jazz musicians) released a fun album some time ago called El Elefante. Some material in English, some in Spanish, some to sing along to, some to dance to, some to listen to. And as an added bonus, this is music that the adults can actually stand.

They Might Be Giants have several kids' albums, too. My gang has loved Science Is Real, which comes with a DVD of videos for the songs. (Okay, I'll 'fess up, I love it, too!) Plus they learned the difference between a meteor and a meteorite. Steer clear of this one, though, if you don't plan to teach them about evolution.

And while they aren't really sing along songs, my kids adore the Beethoven's Wig CDs. These take well-known classical music and pair it with lyrics that are instructive, silly, or both. We've had these since they were small, and my kids still walk around singing them.

They Might Be Giants.

"The sun is a mass of incandescent gas, a gigantic nuclear furnace ...."

Now that song is going to go through my head all day.

Have you looked up music by Hap Palmer? He's been around a long time, and his music for children seems to be well respected.. Check on Amazon. The only titles I can think of right now are "Walter, the Waltzing Worm" and "Rhythms on Parade." It's worth a try.

Pandora is free and has some kid stations. Take a listen on your smart phone and maybe they'll play something you like, then search the artist. You can also "like" songs and hear more of the same style.

Also, Kindermusik or Musikgarten might have some good leads.

There's a couple of songs my son likes by Mr. Eric & Mr. Michael: Super Silly Tango and We Will Stomp.

My kids LOVED the Beatles when they were little (I did when I was little too!) Yellow Submarine, Rocky Raccoon, Lucy in the Sky, Twist and Shout, Ob La Di, Ob La Da, plus so much more.
We also listened and sang along to a lot of rock and roll and classic show tunes, not just Disney classics, but Broadway stuff, like Annie, Grease, Little Shop of Horrors, etc.
Kid music is fine but kids like and enjoy ALL kinds of music, so explore it all, and expose them to what you like as well.

What about the Kidsz Bop? It's geared towards ages 5-12 and is age appropriate versions of popular music. Amazon has it ...

http://www.amazon.com/Kidz-Bop-24-Kids/dp/B00CQUNQFS

The Wiggles are fantastic at getting kids up and active, following "dance" moves. We have been a Wiggle family for years now ;)
Lakeshore Learning has a section of kids CDs that are worth looking through. If you have a store near you I highly recommend taking a look. They are online as well.
There are modern pop songs that have a dance that go along with them sort of like how the macarana (sp?) had one back in the day. Maybe putting together a CD of songs like that would be fun. Disneyland will play a bunch of them for their dance party things.

You might try Googling "Gullah Gullah Island songs."
Gullah Gullah Island, was a kid's TV show, that is no longer on.
My kids liked it.
But they had nice great interactive nostalgic, non-hyper songs for kids that were fun.
I believe you can see/hear some of the songs on YouTube etc.

Jim Gill is really good too.