Every week, we dig in the archives for videos that we find noteworthy, memorable, or just unbelievably stupid. And then, Jon McMillan breaks ‘em down for you. Why Video Hangover? Because when you watch as many videos as we do, you’re going to feel it afterwards.
“Dog Police”
Dog Police, 1982 (?)
Where are you coming from?
Apologies in advance for getting this stuck in your head
Those of you with long memories might remember the Dog Police fondly from the early years of MTV, when it was a staple of left-field segments like “The Basement Tapes” and “Al TV.” Those of you with short memories might watch Dog Police and wonder why people think fondly about the early years of MTV. She’s a dog, get it? A TOTAL DOG! But the crassness of the joke is more than balanced out by the nuanced performances of, say, the dwarf waiter, who tries to steal the dog-girl while the idiot lead singer is in the bathroom, and the guy in the yellow jumpsuit, who plays the keytar and looks just like William H. Macy. And, as spoofs (man, I hate that word) go, the production values are surprisingly passable. The bit of fast-forward magic in the chorus is an ingenious, low-budget move (see it at 1:32) that nine-tenths of the hack directors who clutter YouTube would do well to emulate. Of course, that doesn’t excuse the shot of the dog’s mouth at 1:26, which might be one of the most horrific and unnecessary closeups of all time.
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Holy crap! What ever happened to these guys?
Hahaha I just found out about this video, from the lead singer actually. I attend Southwest Tennessee Community College in Memphis, TN. As it turns out, the fellow who has been my mentor for a year on bass, guitar, and vocals is the bass player in pink, and the very knowledgeable drum/music theory professor is the lead singer. Trust me, this isn’t exactly something they’ve been bragging about, but Tom Lonardo (lead singer) showed it to a couple of students for some giggles this morning. The bassist is Sam Shoup. Both of these guys are very sought-after Memphis musicians in their respective talents. Sam arranges for the Memphis Symphony Orchestra, the Orpheum theatre, and plays for the Memphis Opera when he’s not sessioning at Ardent Studios. Also, he is currently the director of the Jazz Ensemble at Southwest. I’m not sure what all of Tom’s endeavors include, but he is always playing around Memphis somewhere or lecturing at Southwest. Both of these guys have very generously set aside time to teach the eager young musical minds of tomorrow when they’re not doing their thing out in the world.
oh my GOD, this video has defined the past six months of my life! and just as my friends and i manage to forget it exists, now i go on stereogum and it’s THERE!
God bless you for posting this.
whale – hobo humpin’ slobo babe. yikes.
I beleive I only saw the video once in the 80;s on AL-TV. Weird Al’s video show on MTV. Was the name of the band Dog Police too? Who were they? Where were they from? Were the just a one no-hit wonder? This is important stuff!
I directed this video in Memphis in, I think, 1984. It was produced by Wayne Crook, the dog masks were created by an amazing guy named Bill Kopfler, and the cinematographer (16mm) was Larry McConkey, who overcame this experience to become one of the most revered Steadicam ops in the world — 100+ features and still going strong. Proof of his skill: the chorus shot at 1:32 is NOT fast-forward, it’s real time. Larry ran backwards with the Steadicam, turned a corner, then down 4 steps at the end of the shot, all the while keeping perfect framing. As I recall, he nailed in either 2 or 3 takes! Maybe not as unbelievable as Larry’s legendary two and a half minute Copacabana shot in Goodfellas, but amazing nonetheless!