Atomic Dog

George Clinton's P-Funk reached its commercial and conceptual height during the late 1970s after the release of Mothership Connection in 1975 and a series of spectacular concert tours. Each of these concerts ended with a climactic descent of a giant spaceship from the rafters. However, as the band and their concept of funk grew, the organization became entangled in internal dissension, legal disputes, and creative exhaustion.{{Cite web |url=http://music.eserver.org/text/Friedman-Making.it.Funky.html |title="Making it Funky" by Ted Friedman |access-date=2009-09-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120227015509/http://music.eserver.org/text/Friedman-Making.it.Funky.html |archive-date=2012-02-27 |url-status=dead }} "Atomic Dog" was the P-Funk collective's last single to reach #1 on the U.S. R&B chart.

According to Clinton, most of the song's lyrics were ad-libbed during the recording process.[https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6505058 George Clinton, Still Radiating the Funk]

"Atomic Dog" is regarded a classic in black popular music.[https://www.bet.com/photo-gallery/ar9i5y/25-influential-hip-hop-samples/u8gz9h "BET's 25 Influential Hip Hop Samples"] The song's music video was nominated for two Billboard Video Music Awards, one for best special effects, and another for best art direction.{{cite magazine |title=Billboard Congratulates the Video Music Awards Nominees|url=https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-Billboard/80s/1983/BB-1983-11-05.pdf|access-date=May 4, 2019 |magazine=Billboard |volume=89|date=November 5, 1983|page=36}} However, the video lost to Billy Joel's "Pressure" and Herbie Hancock's "Rockit", respectively.{{cite magazine |title=Jackson Cops Five Music Vid Awards |url=https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-Billboard/80s/1983/BB-1983-11-26.pdf|access-date=May 4, 2019 |magazine=Billboard |volume=89|date=November 26, 1983|page=1}}

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| quote = “When I created Atomic Dog in 1982, I had no idea how it would’ve connected to Omega Psi Phi. Now that I’m a part of this iconic brotherhood, it is only right to celebrate the only funkin’ way I know how.”

| source = – George Clinton {{cite web|url=https://fox59.com/business/press-releases/ein-presswire/671202285/george-clinton-releases-official-video-for-omega-psi-phi-remix-of-atomic-dog-for-its-40th-anniversary/|title=George Clinton Releases Official Video for Omega Psi Phi Remix of "Atomic Dog" for its 40th Anniversary|date=November 27, 2023|website=Fox59|access-date=October 15, 2024}}

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"Atomic Dog" is considered the unofficial theme song of the fraternity Omega Psi Phi. Fraternity brothers are "known to take over any space, anytime, anywhere when 'Atomic Dog' is being played."https://fox59.com/business/press-releases/ein-presswire/671202285/george-clinton-releases-official-video-for-omega-psi-phi-remix-of-atomic-dog-for-its-40th-anniversary/

The song has been included in trailers and TV spots for many films (many dog-related), including 101 Dalmatians, 102 Dalmatians, Rugrats Go Wild, Hotel for Dogs, The Shaggy Dog, Finn on the Fly, Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Boomerang, Scooby-Doo, Menace II Society, Trolls World Tour, Turner & Hooch, and Joe Dirt. The song also appears in a 2019 TV commercial for Etrade{{cite web|url=https://www.ispot.tv/ad/IlrQ/etrade-top-dog-song-by-george-clinton|title=E*TRADE Core Portfolios TV Commercial, 'Cruise Control' Song By George Clinton|work=ispot.tv|access-date=April 30, 2019}} and briefly in the 2001 film See Spot Run.

"Atomic Dog" was the subject of Bridgeport Music, Inc. v. UMG, Inc., et al. (Case No. 07-5596, 6th Cir. 2009),{{cite web | url = http://www.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf/09a0383p-06.pdf | title = Bridgeport Music, Inc. v. UMG, Inc., et al. (Case No. 07-5596) | author = U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit | date = 2009-11-04 }} a lawsuit filed in 2007 by Bridgeport Music, the holders of the composition rights to "Atomic Dog" against Universal Music Group and the producers of "D.O.G. in Me", a song recorded by the R&B and hip-hop group Public Announcement and included on their 1998 album, All Work, No Play. In its complaint, Bridgeport claimed that "D.O.G. in Me" infringed its copyright by repeating the phrase, "Bow wow wow, yippie yo, yippie yea" and the sound of rhythmic panting throughout the song, and by repeating the word "dog" in a low tone of voice at regular intervals as a form of musical punctuation. A jury found that the defendants had willfully infringed Bridgeport's rights and awarded statutory damages of $88,980. In a November 2009 decision affirming the lower court ruling, Circuit Judge Martha Craig Daughtrey of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit described the circumstances surrounding the creation of "Atomic Dog":

: Songwriters David Spradley, Garry Shider, and George Clinton created "Atomic Dog" in a recording studio in January 1982, working without a written score... Testimony at trial indicated that the song was composed spontaneously – Spradley recorded the initial tracks in the studio and recalled that "when George arrived he had been partying pretty heavily so he was, you know, feeling pretty good," and was unsteady at the microphone. Spradley and Garry Shider "got on either side of him. We just kind of kept him in front of the microphone" while Clinton recorded the vocal tracks that same night... Testimony by David Spradley... also demonstrated that Clinton exercised some degree of creative control over the panting by instructing the performers to create a certain rhythm.

The court further described the "Bow Wow refrain" as the best-known aspect of the song – "in terms of iconology, perhaps the functional equivalent of 'E.T. phone home'" – and held that the jury did not act unreasonably in concluding that there was substantial similarity between the two works.

{{Reflist}}

• Bulmer, John. Devil Music: Race, Class, and Rock And Roll. Troy, New York: Russell Sage College Press.
• Friedman, Ted. "Making it Funky: The Signifyin(g) Politics of George Clinton's Parliafunkadelicment Thang." 1993.
• Vincent, Rickey. Funk: The Music, The People, and the Rhythm of One. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1996. {{ISBN|0312134991}}.

• [{{AllMusic|class=song|id=t702343|pure_url=yes}} Song Review] at Allmusic
• [http://mother.pfunkarchive.com/motherpage/list-samples.html Songs That Sample "Atomic Dog"]

{{George Clinton}}

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Category:1982 singles

Category:1982 songs

Category:George Clinton (funk musician) songs

Category:Songs written by George Clinton (funk musician)

Category:Capitol Records singles

Category:Electronica songs

Category:Songs written by Garry Shider

Category:Songs about dogs