YOU ARE HERE: zharth.net / Zharth's Music Log / Week 133 (Dogs)
(Originally finalized on April 10, 2025)
Preface: I've got a couple of loose ends to tie up, so this week we're going to do a spin-off of one of my themes from last quarter. Of all the animals represented in the Chinese Zodiac, the dog was the most represented in song titles. And it makes sense - after all, dogs are man's best friend. Or so they say.
Monday: Pink Floyd - Dogs [Animals, 1977]
Comments: Pink Floyd released four albums from 1973-1979, and three of them were smash hits - Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, and The Wall. But the remaining one - a concept album inspired by George Orwell's sociopolitical allegory Animal Farm - is just as good as the other three; it just doesn't have any radio friendly singles. Aside from a short intro and outro, the album consists of just three songs, each spotlighting a different farm animal. Dogs (representing the muscle in a totalitarian regime) is the longest one.
Tuesday: Nazareth - Hair of the Dog [Hair of the Dog, 1975]
Comments: This title track from the hit album with the badass cover art from 1975 is one of classic rock's most mistitled songs (along with The Who's Baba O'Riley, a.k.a. "Teenage Wasteland"). It's also one of Nazareth's two biggest hits - and although I'm not that familiar with this Scottish band, it's safe to say that it's the one that better represents their hard rocking sound (although the ballad Love Hurts does have its own special appeal).
Wednesday: Aerosmith - Walkin' The Dog [Aerosmith, 1973]
Comments: One thing Aerosmith has in common with The Rolling Stones (it's not the only thing) is that, curiously, both bands' debut albums conclude with a cover of the dance floor staple Walking The Dog, by charismatic entertainer Rufus Thomas - once dubbed "The World's Oldest Teenager" (listen to the original, and The Stones' version). Although recorded almost a decade apart, one can't help wondering if this is more than just a coincidence. Three albums later, Aerosmith would record another dog-related song: Sick As A Dog.
Thursday: Ted Nugent - Dog Eat Dog [Free-For-All, 1976]
Comments: I don't know how I nearly overlooked this song - it appears on the same album as a song I picked for my original Animals theme. It's not quite as popular as the title track from Ted's subsequent album, Cat Scratch Fever (this avid hunter and gun rights fanatic really loves his animal metaphors), but it possesses all the unbridled energy and guitar virtuosity that makes the Motor City Madman's music a guilty pleasure of mine, in spite of his personality and politics.
Friday: AC/DC - Givin The Dog A Bone [Back In Black, 1980]
Comments: You know who else recorded a song titled Dog Eat Dog? That's right - AC/DC did! I love it when the songs I pick for my themes synergize well. AC/DC goes great with the likes of Aerosmith, Ted Nugent - and what 'til you see who's coming up next! But to avoid repetition, here's a different song, from the album that turned tragedy (losing their original singer) into monumental success. It demonstrates that even this band's "filler" tracks were still hard-working rockers. It just bugs me that they deliberately omitted the apostrophe in "Givin"...
Saturday: Led Zeppelin - Hot Dog [In Through The Out Door, 1979]
Comments: I would have preferred to have featured Black Dog, the opening track to Led Zeppelin's legendary fourth album, but I already shared it on my Paint It Black theme. So, instead, we've got this amusing country/rockabilly number from Zep's last studio album before John Bonham's death tore the band apart. With drummer and guitarist both already suffering from the tolls of drug addiction, it's not the band's strongest offering.
Sunday: The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Hound Dog [BBC Sessions, this track recorded 1967]
Comments: When Elvis Presley released Hound Dog in 1956, it was an astronomical hit, to the point of eclipsing how much of a sensation it was when blues belter Big Mama Thornton released her original version of the song four years prior. It had inspired so many covers and "answer songs" that the version Elvis was duplicating wasn't even the original arrangement! While recording a session at the BBC in 1967, The Jimi Hendrix Experience got loose and had what sounds like a ball playing their own rendition of the classic.
Honorable Mention: Johnny Winter - Mad Dog [Guitar Slinger, 1984]
Comments: Aside from the aforementioned Black Dog, there were a couple of other songs I had to pass over for this theme, because they've already been shared - Stillwater's Fever Dog, and The Stooges' I Wanna Be Your Dog (which was chosen as an Illicit Desire). But since I opted out of sharing a track from this album during my theme dedicated to the year of Nineteen Eighty Four, here's Mad Dog from Johnny Winter's mid-'80s stint with Alligator Records.