*click* *whir* WOOF *click* *whir*
Ready to face the adventure of another exciting week? No? Well, don’t you dare hit that snooze button, because it’s Monday! That’s the day The Nest sets the alarm clock to go off to another lost hit we woke up from that hyperbaric chamber of forgotten music we like to call the Dusty Vinyl Archive! DJ Scratchy is always crowing like a rooster, while the Sponkies are looking for the prize in their box of cereal. It’s time for us to let the dogs out…
Was there ever a time in pop music that was more funky than the Clinton Administration? No, we’re not talking about the President… the man of the hour is the truly unique American treasure known as George Clinton.
Wazzup?
During the 1970’s, Clinton’s concurrent bands Parliament and Funkadelic, who are usually referred to together as Parliament-Funkadelic because it sounds cooler, were establishing the funky sound of that decade that totally went with the cheesy ass fonts and fashions of the time. By the time the more conservative 80’s rolled around, Clinton’s act of lowering spaceships onto the concert stage while dressed like a Rastafarian clown was growing tired with the Alex P. Keaton public… so he disbanded both groups and in 1982 released a solo album that embraced the more modern version of funk that was all the rage on the post-disco club scene, called Computer Games.
Sure! What’s the worst that could happen?
That album would have largely been forgotten about had it not spawned one of the quirkier hits of the 80’s (and boy, is that saying something), “Atomic Dog”…
“Atomic Dog” hit #1 on the Billboard R&B chart, yet somehow failed to make the Hot 100 at all. But it did have that goofy video with cheesy animated effects that got some play on MTV, and it’s firmly in the C-list of 80’s anthems today. I guess if you’re going to name your album Computer Games and show how off how modern your sound effects are, you may as well stage the video in that 80’s utopia of technology known as the arcade…
Life before smartphones was actually cool!
The song’s zany lyrics with numerous repetitive lines was apparently made up on the spot by Clinton in the recording studio while being maybe a few sheets to the wind. But where would we be without a little “Bow wow wow yippie yo yippie yay,” and the perfectly reasonable explanation for male sexual behavior “Why must I feel like that, why must I chase the cat? It’s nothing but the dog in me.”
Woof!
Be sure to return next Monday for another lost song we let out of its cage…
Evil Squirrel's Nest 
aaah seams snoop dog snitched the bowwowwow- thing from george clinton… we remember that time..it was a better one we think… Super Mario was much better to play with friends and blastered in a dark hedge tavern ;O)
You know how rappers are… they steal from everyone then call it original. I loved the days hanging out in the arcade at the bowling alley…. pestering my Dad for more quarters!
Bow wow indeed.
Woof!
Goodness – I somehow managed to make it through the 80s without hearing that one but it’s definitely interesting in the video department! The only atomic dogs we know of are Da Phenny and Da Nellie and I’m sure their Mom would testify to them being just about as atomic as she can stand. HAHAHA
Pam
That should mean their backyard is full of rich uranium deposits!
Bow wow wow yippie yo yippie yay…who let the dogs out?? Groovy tune and beat.
Four paws up!
Hey, I had a black and turquoise dress like that! Good times. Fun song. Wow I haven’t heard that in YEARS. Thank you. My dog thanks you. Very cool.
It’s probably the tamest fashion in the whole video….
That was the craziest fucking video that I’ve seen in a long ass time. Makes me wanna play with an old Atari for some reason, then get laid.
I always felt deprived that we never had an Atari. One of my friends had Pitfall, and never let me play it… I could only watch.
What a douche.
Your robot dog reminded me of another lost song:
I don’t think robot dogs are in vogue anymore…. they’re too ancient technology wise. They were the hot item the year I stocked the toy department for Christmas, which was 20 years ago. Yeah, those kids are all buying hoverboards and Poopsie dolls for THEIR kids now….
I only made it through the first minute. Never reached the “Hot 100”? Hard to believe. Ahem.
That Clinton sounds like one crazy dude.
It supposedly missed by just one spot…. but in your neck of the woods, it made it up to #94! It doesn’t really get started until a minute, so I’ll just say you must have missed all of the good parts!
I think George Clinton may be the musical version of Fuzzywig…
Atomic Dog is okay, but the BEST is by Funkadelic. No Parliament on MAGGOT BRAIN from 1971. Around here it’s still played at midnight every, I believe, Friday night, on the rock stations.
Bow wow wow yippie yo yippie yay indeed.
Wow, what a name. The only Parliament song I know if “Flash Light,” which I really like…
Maggot Brain is over 10 minutes long and if you didn’t know it was Funkadelic you probably would never guess.
Flashlight is one I don’t know!