Amazin stuff,is it no? There's a chance for me yet!!
,Baha men click
Who Let the Dogs Out? The Baha Men are out of the gates and they cannot be stopped. Caught up with their profile to see what they are all about. Woof! Woof!
On August 31, 2000, in a "New York Times" article, Steve Greenberg, who released the Baha Men's album on his independent label S-Curve, said "The song's been floating around for two years, the band has been floating around in some version for 30 years, and the label's 12 weeks old. It's the most unlikely hit ever. I couldn't even get arrested with this band on a major label." Strauss concludes, "If the band's story offers any lesson, it is that there is no such thing as a final chapter in a pop music career. [The fact that] the Baha Men [became]a teeny-bopper sensation long after having been written off by the music business, [proves] the sweetest prizes in popular music sometimes go to those who stay in the game."
The Baha Men formed the group High Voltage in 1979, but they changed their name to the Baha Men after encountering an other band with the same name. Most members of the original Baha Men have come and gone over the years and they nearly lost their original lead singer, Nehemiah Hield, when he decided to join Lenny Kravitz's band as a backup singer. As luck would have it, three new members breathed new life into the group coming in at the age of 23. One of them, Omerit Hield is Nehemiah Hield's nephew. This is a stark contrast to Baha Men founder Isaiah Taylor, who is 51. But age had no negative effects. As it stands, the band's complete line-up features Rick Carey, Omerit Hield, and Marvin Prosper, the lead singers, Herschel Small and Patrick Carey, the guitarists, Colyn "Mo" Grant, Anthony "Monks" Flowers and Isaiah Taylor, the percussionists and Jeffrey Cher on keyboards.
The Baha Men specialize in a mixture of pop, funk, and Bahamian junkanoo music. Junkanoo blends dance music with the rhythms of West Africa. The mainstays of junkanoo are the goatskin drums (played only while a fire burns inside them), cowbells, whistles, and horns. Junkanoo originated in the days of slavery. The slaves would dance in the streets and celebrate until the next day. The name "Junkanoo" is derived from the name John Canoe, a rebel slave who led a revolt using African rhythms for a battle cry. Street festivals honoring John Canoe remain a tradition in the Bahamas.
The Baha Men's single "Who Let The Dogs Out," written by Anselm Douglas for the 1998 Trinidad carnival, has brought the band from the shadows into the limelight. Isaiah Taylor originally opposed releasing the song in America.
He believed the song to be too specific for the Caribbean region for audiences in other countries to understand. He finally relented due to pressure from Steve Greenberg, to this day, Taylor is very thankful that he gave in to Greenberg's insistence.
"Who Let The Dogs Out" is being hailed as the summer anthem of 2000. It is featured on the "Rugrats in Paris" soundtrack and has become the latest sports arena craze. The San Francisco Giants adopted "Who Let The Dogs Out" as their theme song and began playing it at the end of each game. According to Susan Whitall of The Detroit News, "Fans would start to woof before the last pitch had even been thrown, ending in a cacophony of barks as the game wound down and the music was finally played." The Seattle Mariners chose "Who Let The Dogs Out" for their victory anthem, and player Alex Rodriguez took on the hit as his personal theme song. Strauss says, "And the tale of the making of that hit is one that crosses borders and spans generations, changing the fortunes of a Trinidadian soca singer [Douglas], a Bahamian junkanoo band, and a record executive who would not give up [Greenberg]."
The band's founder Isaiah Taylor is proud of the fact that his hit song can be heard at "every arena at all the sporting events." He admits, however, that as a child he had no interest in music and would skip music classes in school. But, he says, he could not escape his destiny.
The Baha Men toured with 'NSync in November of 2000, and they plan a world tour for 2001. Eight songs have been written toward a new album; and reviewers and fans alike are waiting to see if the next album will be as successful as the first. Taylor told Colin Devenish of LiveDay,
"the 'Dogs' is a different type of song. It's catchy, but that's in an arena by itself. We have other songs that will also be just as good [which] won't be that catchy for the arenas but will still be good in terms of lyrics and music." For the Baha Men, there fate can't be stopped.