HISTORY OF POP AND ROCK MUSIC - part 499

PART 499



GEORGE CLINTON - Atomic Dog (1982)
GAP BAND - Early In The Morning (1982)
CARL CARLTON - She's A Bad Mama Jama (She's Built, She's Stacked) (1982)
DAZZ BAND - Let It Whip ( 1982)
ROY AYERS - Hot (1985)
GAP BAND - Disrespect (1985)
CAMEO - Single Life (1985)
CAMEO - Word Up (1986)



"Atomic Dog" is a song by George Clinton from his 1982 album "Computer Games". The track was released as a single in September 1982 and became the P-Funk collective's last to reach #1 on the U.S. R&B Chart. The single failed to reach the Top 100 of the Pop Chart at all, though it has arguably attained greater popular stature over the past two decades due in part to its having been sampled in dozens of rap songs.
"Early in the Morning" is a song originally performed by The Gap Band and written by member Charlie Wilson and producers Lonnie Simmons and Rudy Taylor. It was released as a single in 1982 and went on to become their biggest hit on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number twenty-four, and also topped Billboard's R&B chart for three weeks. The single also peaked at number thirteen on the dance charts. The song became a hit again when Robert Palmer covered it in 1988. This version peaked at #19 on the Billboard Hot 100 and is to date the highest charting version of the song on that chart.

"She's a Bad Mama Jama (She's Built, She's Stacked)" is a single by Carl Carlton. The song was written by Leon Haywood and became a major hit, peaking at #2 on the soul chart and earning Carlton a Grammy Award nomination for Best R&B Vocal Performance, Male. in 1982. The track peaked at #22 in the U.S., and #34 in the UK Singles Chart. Carlton's subsequent album, Carl Carlton, went gold in 1981. "She's a Bad Mama Jama" has since become a staple of compilation albums and soundtracks and is often sampled in rap music.

"Let It Whip" is a 1982 hit single by the Dazz Band and their biggest hit, peaking at number one on the R&B chart for five non-consecutive weeks. The single also reached number two on the Dance chart and number five on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The song won the Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals in 1983.

Roy Ayers (born September 10, 1940) is an American funk, soul, and jazz composer and vibraphone player. Ayers began his career as a post-bop jazz artist, releasing several albums with Atlantic Records, before his tenure at Polydor Records beginning in the 1970s, during which he helped pioneer jazz-funk.

"Single Life" is a song by Cameo. Released as a single from their album "Single Life", the single was released on February 15, 1985. It became a top 5 R&B hit and a top 40 Dance hit in America.

"Word Up!" is a funk/hip hop song written and originally recorded by Cameo in 1986. Due to its heavy play on American dance and R&B radio, as well as music video play on MTV (which has LeVar Burton as a police detective trying to arrest the band), the single became the band's most well-known hit. From the album Word Up!, "Word Up!" was Cameo's first US Top 40 hit, peaking at number six on the Billboard Hot 100 and also spent three weeks at number one on the US Hot Black Singles chart and one week at number one on the US Hot Dance Singles chart. In the UK it spent thirteen weeks in the top 40, peaking at number 3 in September 1986. The song was written by Lawrence Ernest Blackmon & Thomas Michael Jenkins. Like the band's previous single, "Single Life," "Word Up!" features a sample of the opening notes of Ennio Morricone's theme to The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.