"Genius of Love" by Tom Tom Club versus "Atomic Dog" by George Clinton

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For all I know this has been done before, but search is borked, so don't mind me. Anyway, it just hit me the other day how similar these are - similar tempos with that HUGE snare beat, bright summery feel masking potential seamy side, arrangement thick with random kitchen-sink fills and unexpected hooks around every corner. I certainly couldn't ever pick one or the other, and I'm a general sucker for songs with this "sound" - see also "Return of the Mack" for one example. But say YOU have to pick one of these giant-size classics - one to survive, one to fall into the abyss? What'll it be?

― Doctor Casino (Doctor Casino), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 01:12 (nineteen years ago)

Tom Tom Club namechecks George Clinton (and borrows the band he'd been cultivating for over a decade) for cred. There is no need for George Clinton to namecheck Tom Tom Club, and he cultivated the damn band.

Just walkin' the dog...

Although either or both are great to hear almost any time, of course.

― It's the lazy and immoral way to become super hip. (Austin, Still), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 01:18 (nineteen years ago)

vs. More Bounce to the Ouce

― jaxon (jaxon), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 01:29 (nineteen years ago)

george clinton circa atomic dog = wack beyond wack

tom tom club = tons of cred

zapp + roger = crucial, maybe not as much as tom tom club but more so than george clinton

― HUNTA-V (vahid), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 01:56 (nineteen years ago)

George Clinton by a million trillion miles ... and Zapp beats Tom-Tom Club too, easily

― Stormy Davis (diamond), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 02:17 (nineteen years ago)

Geez. Gun to my head, I'd have to go with Tom Tom but just barely. They're both in the top 1 1/2 or so songs of all time.

― Rodney is a group! (R. J. Greene), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 03:58 (nineteen years ago)

Zapp's "I Can Make You Dance" > George Clinton's "Loopzilla" > Tom Tom Club's "Genius of Love" > Zapp's "More Bounce To The Ounce" > George Clinton's "Atomic Dog"

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 04:02 (nineteen years ago)

"genius of love" for many reasons, one of which is that it reminds me what great taste in music mariah carey has

― your daughter is one (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 04:11 (nineteen years ago)

the records from which the top two songs in question come from are in my "why the hell can't i find these seemingly common records" records. i finally found the tom tom club record and it had their other album in it! i eventually settled on getting it on mp3 (just about a month or so ago) and it's damn impressive. way better than Close to the Bone

― jaxon (jaxon), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 04:24 (nineteen years ago)

jaxon OTM! I only just found the Tom Tom Club album last week after a couple years of constantly finding the wrong Tom Tom Club record in used bins. They seem to have one or two albums that kind of look the same, a problem that also plagues George Clinton in this period!

"Loopzilla" is awful! The main reason I ended up selling Computer Games in my last yard sale. Never been a big fan of the "Look, all these hooks are in one song!" type of medley - with the exception of "Whistler's Delight" they're all mostly self-indulgent and structurally suspect crap.

― Doctor Casino (Doctor Casino), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 04:45 (nineteen years ago)

GENIUS

― PETE SMITH!!!! (plsmith), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 04:47 (nineteen years ago)

very tough

been digging "Atomic" more recently, but ultimately it's gotta be "Genius"

― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 06:10 (nineteen years ago)

i have the 12" version of genius of love but it doesnt have the japanese talking girl on it :(

― chaki (chaki), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 06:29 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah, now that I think of it, "Genius of Love" is easily better than "Loopzilla." I don't know what I was thinking.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 07:01 (nineteen years ago)

I have only ever owned the 12" version of "Genius Of Love". What's all this about a Japanese talking girl?

I favour "Loopzilla" over "Atomic Dog", but "Genius Of Love" over both.

― mike t-diva (mike t-diva), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 08:11 (nineteen years ago)

i will never stop being surprised at the number of people i respect who like the tom tom club

― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 08:14 (nineteen years ago)

genius of love. but it's close.

― GOD PUNCH TO HAWKWIND (yournullfame), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 08:24 (nineteen years ago)

I have only ever owned the 12" version of "Genius Of Love". What's all this about a Japanese talking girl?

dude its like the best part

― chaki (chaki), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 08:29 (nineteen years ago)

in before Geir

― ;_; (blueski), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 08:49 (nineteen years ago)

"Atomic Dog" is good, but oh how much better it would be if it had Eddie fucking Hazel on it. Still beats "Genius of Love" though.

I didn't know there was a video for "Atomic Dog"! It's awesome! Why don't they ever play it on VH-1 Classic?

― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 09:40 (nineteen years ago)

damn, i can't imagine not discovering atomic dog via the video. i remember seeing that when i was a kid and being blown away and freaked out and all.

― GOD PUNCH TO HAWKWIND (yournullfame), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 12:22 (nineteen years ago)

genius of love

it's my ringtone too!!

― jack (sweatypalms1234), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 12:24 (nineteen years ago)

i don't know if anyone ever noticed, but "my humps" is a complete ripoff of the call-and-response intro to "genius of love"

― killa bee (killabee), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 13:38 (nineteen years ago)

Is anyone else baffled and appalled by the pronounciation of "Smokey Robinson" in Genius of Love? Should that bother me as much as it does?

― J. Grizzle (trainsmoke), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 13:56 (nineteen years ago)

― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 14:01 (nineteen years ago)

I'd say Genius as it's one of two songs I've bought on iTunes.

― strom (strom), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 14:14 (nineteen years ago)

Is anyone else baffled and appalled by the pronounciation of "Smokey Robinson" in Genius of Love? Should that bother me as much as it does?

aw, it's cute. don't be baffled, she was just trying to fit it into the rhythm... the song is so goofy anyway, maybe that part is ironically clunky?

― your daughter is one (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 14:23 (nineteen years ago)

"Atomic Dog," easy.

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 14:25 (nineteen years ago)

I actually actively dislike Genius of Love and skip it whenever I'm watching Stop making sense. Atomic dog by a country mile.

― struttin' with some barbecue (jimnaseum), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 14:25 (nineteen years ago)

"Genius of Love" at home, "Atomic Dog" in da club.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 14:40 (nineteen years ago)

Atomic Dog, how can this even be a question.

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 15:07 (nineteen years ago)

"Bop Gun," easy

― deej.. (deej..), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 15:09 (nineteen years ago)

this thread is like my 10pm-11:30pm DJ set.

― PappaWheelie: Giving out breaks to the needy since September 25th, 2006 (PappaWh, Tuesday, 17 October 2006 15:10 (nineteen years ago)

(to which some bartenders tell me to stop as "we're not selling beer to 40 yr old black men", despite the 21 year old white girls dancing...)

― PappaWheelie: Giving out breaks to the needy since September 25th, 2006 (PappaWh, Tuesday, 17 October 2006 15:20 (nineteen years ago)

you need to punch some bartenders

― Haikunym (Haikunym), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 15:53 (nineteen years ago)

"Atomic Dog" nasally rapes "Genius of Love" with a riced-out nailgun, anyone who disagrees is worthless poffle.

― I miss Alex in NYC (nickalicious), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 15:56 (nineteen years ago)

bartender punch vs. donkey punch

― jaxon (jaxon), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 16:22 (nineteen years ago)

bop gun ice cube remix

― and what (ooo), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 16:25 (nineteen years ago)

by SIR JINX

― and what (ooo), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 16:26 (nineteen years ago)

tom tom club video is so much better than atomic dog. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evWsOmdeY78

― jaxon (jaxon), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 16:48 (nineteen years ago)

"Bop Gun," easy
-- deej.. (clublonel...), October 17th, 2006 11:09 AM.

― deej.. (deej..), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 16:57 (nineteen years ago)

"sir jinx"

― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 17:01 (nineteen years ago)

>"we're not selling beer to 40 yr old black men"...

This is effin' hilarious, as a club owner said almost this EXACT same thing to me when I used to DJ and my playing "Atomic Dog" was causing too much dancing (and woofing) by teh black men.

― Daniel Peterson (polkaholic), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 19:07 (nineteen years ago)

i wish i was a 40 year old black man

― jaxon (jaxon), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 19:18 (nineteen years ago)

I choose "Genius Of Love" because it hangs together better. "Atomic Dog" is also great, but has some weird bits that I just cannot quite get into.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 19:19 (nineteen years ago)

yeah, like a rhythm section

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 19:21 (nineteen years ago)

Well, so does "Genius Of Love" and that is no problem as long as both keep to a straight 4/4 beat rather than all the annoying syncopations of today's R&B drums.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 22:16 (nineteen years ago)

today's R&B drums, in 1982

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 22:24 (nineteen years ago)

JAMES BROWWWWWWWWN JAMES BROWWWWWWN! = dealbreaker.

Atomic Dog owns in so many ways.

― Whiney G. Weingarten (whineyg), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 22:57 (nineteen years ago)

this argument thus far has sidestepped what i feel is really the dealbreaker, what really makes Atomic Dog one of the greatest singles of all time. while "Genius of Love"'s got some great lyrics about funkin for funk's sake, "Atomic Dog" is a poignant address to the male condition. "why must i feel like that? why must i chase the cat?" indeed... it tears him apart and all he can do is howl at the moon, but the motherfucker's so cool it comes out "bow wow wow yippie oh yippie ay"

― people explosion (Sonny A.), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 23:16 (nineteen years ago)

But surely "Genius" is just as poignant in its way! On the surface it's all summer fun but there's an element of denial in the lyrics - even though she says she's "not sleeping," what seems to stick is the idea that it's a dream, that in reality she's not actually with the Genius of Love at any point in the thing. He's gone for the weekend, she misses him, and ultimately the narrator urges us in the second person to pass on a message. Where is he? The jail of the first line? Or is he dead, in the "heaven" alluded to several times? Too much cocaine? The way she cries out "Who needs to think when your feet just go!" is almost too insistent...she wants to forget, to not think so hard, to be able to lose herself in Bootsy and James Brown and for the length of the song we all do, but there is wistful sadness beneath it all, I daresay, I daresay....

― Doctor Casino (Doctor Casino), Wednesday, 18 October 2006 00:05 (nineteen years ago)

bohannon, bohannon, bohannon, bohannon...

― GOD PUNCH TO HAWKWIND (yournullfame), Wednesday, 18 October 2006 01:00 (nineteen years ago)

On the surface it's all summer fun

ts: "genius of love" v. "steal my sunshine"

― your daughter is one (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 18 October 2006 01:18 (nineteen years ago)

That works too. I knew a guy in high school who once asked me who did that "You're Still My Sunshine" song, for some scheme or another to make up with his girlfriend after a fight. Thought was in the right place, I guess...

― Doctor Casino (Doctor Casino), Wednesday, 18 October 2006 01:43 (nineteen years ago)

I know I'm probably the only one on ILM who believes this, but I prefer Snoop Dogg's "Who am I? (What's my name?)" to the Mariah Carey song that samples Genius of Love, although that one is great too.

― Period period period (Period period period), Wednesday, 18 October 2006 05:05 (nineteen years ago)

TRY "GENUIS OF LOVE" versus "RIP IT UP" by orange juice. the overdubs are uncannily imitated.

― corey c (shock of daylight), Wednesday, 18 October 2006 06:56 (nineteen years ago)

i am sort of amazed that people like "atomic dog" better

― HUNTA-V (vahid), Wednesday, 18 October 2006 07:04 (nineteen years ago)

I am sort of amazed at pretty much every opinion you have, Vahid, so I guess the feeling is mutual.

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Wednesday, 18 October 2006 07:25 (nineteen years ago)

Donut (you are donut, right?) OTM about the Snoop > the Mariah (which is still great).

― Rodney is a group! (R. J. Greene), Wednesday, 18 October 2006 13:36 (nineteen years ago)

Without George, there is no Genius of Love. I love them both, but my heart belongs to the real President Clinton. Cotton Candy vs. Guinness and Guinness wins every time.

― J Arthur Rank (Quin Tillian), Wednesday, 18 October 2006 19:55 (nineteen years ago)

the details of recording Atomic Dog in the P-Funk "Off the Record" book are pretty funny - George doing his vocal unaware that the drum tracks have been mistakenly looped backwards, etc.

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 18 October 2006 19:57 (nineteen years ago)

Without George, there is no Genius of Love. I love them both, but my heart belongs to the real President Clinton. Cotton Candy vs. Guinness and Guinness wins every time.

Fact: a student can never outdo his teacher.

― Confounded (Confounded), Wednesday, 18 October 2006 19:58 (nineteen years ago)

bullshit

― your daughter is one (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 18 October 2006 21:13 (nineteen years ago)

(not that george clinton isn't great, it's the "fact" part i object to)

― your daughter is one (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 18 October 2006 21:14 (nineteen years ago)

the only completely relevent song Tom Tom Club ever did

vs.

a very good song by a guy who wrote only a few hundred better ones

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Wednesday, 18 October 2006 21:31 (nineteen years ago)

"Atomic Dog" by miles, though I love "Genius of Love."

― Pete Scholtes (Pete Scholtes), Wednesday, 18 October 2006 22:46 (nineteen years ago)

This thread has led inevitably to Guinness-flavored cotton candy, so I pronounce it a success.

― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Wednesday, 18 October 2006 23:00 (nineteen years ago)

Zapp's "More Bounce to the Ounce" >> than both "Atomic Dog" and "Genius Of Love."
"MBTTO" in fact is the funkiest song of the '80s.

― opalescent arcs (Da ve Segal), Thursday, 19 October 2006 03:36 (nineteen years ago)

where does gap band's 'you dropped a bomb on me' or one way's 'cutie pie' play in this?

― Dionne Warrick Dunn football psychic hotline (Matt Chesnut), Thursday, 19 October 2006 03:47 (nineteen years ago)

i was referring to the sir jinx remix of ice cube - bop gun

― and what (ooo), Thursday, 19 October 2006 03:52 (nineteen years ago)

Wow. That student/teacher bit was way off.

― wolfwolfwolf (wolfwolfwolf), Thursday, 19 October 2006 04:38 (nineteen years ago)

the only completely relevent song Tom Tom Club ever did

the entire record is great, Wordy Rappinghood is a total classic, Pleasure of Love and Man With the 4-Way Hips...all awesome.

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Thursday, 19 October 2006 06:18 (nineteen years ago)

"Pleasure of Love" and "Man With the 4-Way Hips" aren't on that album, to be fair.

― Doctor Casino (Doctor Casino), Thursday, 19 October 2006 16:38 (nineteen years ago)

I know. I was saying the entire album was great, AND stuff not even on that album were also great.

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Thursday, 19 October 2006 16:53 (nineteen years ago)

Wow. That student/teacher bit was way off.

You guys are sharp... you totally got me.

― Confounded (Confounded), Thursday, 19 October 2006 18:09 (nineteen years ago)

waitwaitwait
hold on a second

both Tom Tom Club AND Thompson Twins have albums called Close to the Bone?

WHO LET THIS HAPPEN?!?

― bernard snow (sixteen sergeants), Thursday, 19 October 2006 18:19 (nineteen years ago)

Geir.

― occasional mongrel (kit brash), Thursday, 19 October 2006 20:29 (nineteen years ago)

one year passes...

I've been listening to "More Bounce To The Ounce" like six times a day. Jesus Christ, what a great song - almost nothing happens in it, but they hit upon a hook so sweet and shimmery and irresistible that you still want to hear it again after nine minutes of it.

― Doctor Casino, Wednesday, 16 April 2008 22:53 (eighteen years ago)

Doo Wah Ditty >> More Bounce To The Ounce

― Lolpez, Thursday, 17 April 2008 19:27 (eighteen years ago)

Re Upthread: I am innocent. I am guilty, however, of trying to convince The Cocteau Twins to released an album called "Close To The Bone". ;)

― Geir Hongro, Thursday, 17 April 2008 20:48 (eighteen years ago)

the only completely relevent song Tom Tom Club ever did

I really can't believe I wrote that, though I would still say "Genius of Love" > most everything else they did.

― Eric H., Thursday, 17 April 2008 20:56 (eighteen years ago)

Doo Wah Ditty >> More Bounce To The Ounce

Hahaha, yeah, I've moved on to that one! It's like some distant cousin of the hook from "Get On Up" by the Esquires.

― Doctor Casino, Friday, 18 April 2008 14:02 (eighteen years ago)

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