Dog Police (Music Video 1983)

Knights of the Lost Media (Rare and Obscure TV/Film)
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Dog Police is a short-lived 1980s new wave band from Memphis, Tennessee that briefly gained notoriety for the music video of their 1982 single, "Dog Police". In 1983, the video was featured on MTV's late-night show Basement Tapes. The video played in light rotation on MTV through February 1984.

The band was a side project of the Tony Thomas Trio, a Memphis jazz band that began performing together in 1979. The "Dog Police" video aired on USA Network's Night Flight in July 1984, and Weird Al Yankovic's MTV show Al TV in September 1984.

In 1990, an eight and a half minute television pilot was produced, titled The Dog Police, which used a modified version of the song as its theme. The cast of the pilot included Jeremy Piven and Adam Sandler, and it was filmed just before Sandler's breakthrough on Saturday Night Live.

The Tony Thomas Trio is a Memphis jazz band that formed in 1979, including keyboard-vocalist Tony Thomas, bassist Sam Shoup and drummer Tom Lonardo. The band's music has been described as "late 70s-era progressive-tinged fusion jazz-rock," similar to The Mothers of Invention.

As a side project, the trio formed a novelty new wave band called Dog Police, using the pseudonyms Clark Radio (Thomas), Squeek Owens (Lonardo) and Random Ax (Shoup). The band was inspired by new wave pioneers Devo.

In 1982, the band released a self-published album, Dog Police, with ten songs, including "1-800" (which also had a music video), "Are You Middle Class Enough?", "I'm Butch" and "Positive Reinforcement." The album was re-released in 2019 on vinyl and digitally by Toxic Toast Records, with the re-release including two bonus tracks.

The Tony Thomas Trio has released several non-canine albums under its correct name, including LST on Jazzoid (1979)[9] and Progreso from Genuine Memphis Music (2010). The trio has also performed with Ella Fitzgerald and the Duke Ellington Orchestra, and has recorded many commercial jingles.

The song tells the story of a young man who takes a woman out for a blind date. He describes her as "a chick from the canine scene" who scratches a flea when she gets out of his car, but he appears to be enamored with her nonetheless. They have a seat and order drinks at the Lone Star bar, but when the man comes back from a brief trip to the bathroom, he finds that his date is being arrested by the Dog Police. The second verse implies that the man went on to have "puppies" with his date.

A misogynist premise, but delivered with gusto.

It has been pointed out that the chorus has the same lyrics as the theme for "Spidey Super Stories," the Spider-Man segment that aired from 1974 to 1977 on the educational children's TV show The Electric Company.

In the video, Tony Thomas plays the man on a date, picking up a beautiful woman wearing a dog mask. When the Dog Police show up, the three band members perform as hound-faced detectives in trench coats. The three are also seen on stage, singing in bright-colored outfits; at the end of the video, they mix the costumes, wearing the dog faces and hats but dressed as band members from the neck down.

The "Dog Police" music video was produced by Wayne Crook and directed by Joe Mulherin, with costumes and dog masks by William "Bill" Knopfler and cinematography by documentary filmmaker Larry McConkey. The club scene was shot in the Madison House, a Memphis club.

Видео Dog Police (Music Video 1983) канала Garrett Gilchrist