Who Let the Dogs Out?

"Who Let The Dogs Out?"
Single by Baha Men
from the album Who Let the Dogs Out and Rugrats in Paris: The Movie soundtrack
Released	July 25, 2000
Format	CD single
Recorded	2000
Genre	soca, junkanoo
Length	3:18
Label	Edel Records Artemis Records S-Curve Records Maverick Records Nick Records
Writer(s)	Anslem Douglas, Patrick Stephenson and Leroy Williams
Producer	The original producer was Scott Brooks, who signed it over to Barrett Schroeder
Certification	Platinum (BPI)
Baha Men singles chronology
"That's the Way I Do It" (1997) "Who Let the Dogs Out?" (2000) "You All Dat" (2001)

"Who Let the Dogs Out?" is a song written and originally recorded by Anslem Douglas (titled "Doggie") for Trinidad and Tobago's Carnival season of 1998. It was heard and taped on a float by hairdresser Keith from the London salon Smile, who played it to Jonathan King, who recorded it and released it under the name Fatt Jakk and his Pack of Pets. It then came to the attention of King's friend Steve Greenberg, who produced it with a group he was promoting called The Baha Men. The Baha Men covered the song and placed it in the movie Rugrats in Paris: The Movie and on its soundtrack album and then released it as a single in 2000, when it became the band's first hit in the US and the UK. It reached #40 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States and #2 on the UK Singles Chart in the United Kingdom. It was the 4th biggest-selling single of 2000 in the UK, and went on to become the highest-selling single of the 2000s not to reach #1. It was also a big hit in Australia, where it reached #1. The track went on to win the Grammy for Best Dance Recording on the 2001 Grammy Awards.

In a poll conducted in 2007 by Rolling Stone to identify the 20 most annoying songs, this song was ranked third. It was also ranked first on Spinner's 2008 list of "Top 20 Worst Songs Ever". Most recently, in 2010, Matthew Wilkening of AOL Radio ranked the song at #2 on the list of the 100 Worst Songs Ever, exclaiming, "We try to forgive, but admit to daydreaming about supergluing an iPod with this [song] on it to Michael Vick's head."

The Anslem Douglas version was played throughout the English-speaking Caribbean and in cities with large Caribbean populations in 1998. After the Baha Men re-released the song, it became a ubiquitous sports anthem at stadiums and arenas throughout the world based largely on the efforts of a sports marketing company hired by the song's producer, Steve Greenberg. Pro Sports Music Marketing founder Frederic Traube created the concept of introducing and marketing the song to sports stadiums.

Performances at sports events

The first use of the song at an American sporting event was at Mississippi State University. The university's mascot is the Bulldog, and the university school first played the song during football games in the fall of 1998 using the version sung by Chuck Smooth. It was accompanied by the crowd singing along and the team performing a dance on the field called "The Dawg Pound Rock" just before a kickoff. Later the Southeastern Conference ruled that they could not perform the dance on the field, so the team moved it to the sidelines. Several other teams followed suit, and the song quickly became a national phenomenon.

In June 2000, Gregg Greene, then Director of Promotions for the Seattle Mariners, was the first to play the Baha Men's version of "Who Let the Dogs Out" at a Major League Baseball game. He debuted the tune as a joke for the team's backup catcher, Joe Oliver. Two days later, shortstop Alex Rodriguez requested the ditty for his batter introduction music and the song quickly became the Mariners team anthem. The Baha Men played live at Safeco Field during a Mariners game in September 2000. The New York Mets, however, claimed that they were the first MLB team to adopt the song (ESPN.com later commented, "This is a little like scientists arguing over who discovered a deadly virus"). The Baha Men recorded a version of the song that changed the chorus to "Who let the Mets out?" and all the lyrics to reflect the team and its players, which was played at Shea Stadium throughout the Mets' 2000 postseason run, including a live performance on the Shea Stadium field before Game 4 of the 2000 World Series against the New York Yankees. The song was written by David Brody of Z100 New York and recorded by the Baha Men initially for Z100. Brody then gave the song to the Mets to play at Shea. Brody has also written songs for the 2006 and 2007 Mets. Richard Hidalgo used the original song as his entrance music while playing for the Houston Astros. The song was the theme song for Monster Mutt & Monster Mutt Dalmatian (Monster Trucks) from 2003–2008 while freestyling on the Monster Jam circuit.

The song was also used by the Baltimore Ravens football team on their run to the Super Bowl in the 2000 season.

For several years, the Canterbury Bulldogs of the NRL, the premier rugby league competition in the world, regularly played this song at home games; its use was discontinued in 2009.

Finnish ice hockey team Espoo Blues use the song as their goal song.

New York - Penn League baseball team the Batavia Muckdogs also use the song to this day. It was also a stadium anthem during the league's Mahoning Valley Scrappers's McNamara Division championship run in 2000.

The song is used at games for the Arizona Sundogs, a minor league hockey team located in Prescott Valley, Arizona. Their mascot is a dog named Bernie.

The song is used at the beginning of games for the Phoenix Coyotes as the mascot, Howler, skates the length of the ice.

The song is also used at the beginning of each of the periods at the American Hockey League's Hamilton Bulldogs games. Their mascot is named Bruiser.

In the UK, the song was quickly appropriated by Liverpool supporters under then-manager Gérard Houllier. Regular chants of 'Hou led the reds out' by Liverpool fans (a reference to Liverpool's cup treble in 2001) were followed soon after by opposition fans' chants of 'Hou had a heart attack' (a reference to Houllier's illness in October 2001). The song is played after every goal which Dougie Freedman scores for Crystal Palace F.C. at Selhurst Park, with fans singing "Who let the Doug out? Who? Who?" with reference to him. Similarly, Chelsea F.C. fans sing "Who let the Drog out? Who? Who?", in reference to Didier Drogba. The song was also modified by Celtic F.C. supporters to "Who let the huns out? Who? Who?", aimed squarely at supporters of their arch rival, Rangers F.C. .

In the 2000–2001 NHL season, the Vancouver Canucks used a remix of this song as their goal song.

The song is used for dog type monster trucks like Monster Mutt and Brutus. This was used as the entrance song for Tom Lawlor at UFC 100. This song was used at the end of Rugrats in Paris

From 2004-2009, the Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz of the af2 used the Barking Mad mix song as their touchdown song.

Uses in films, television and live

• Rugrats in Paris: The Movie
• Rat Race
• Men in Black II
• Legally Blonde 2
• Bubble Boy
• Dream Within a Dream Tour - Live form Las Vegas (Live of Britney Spears)
• The Shaggy Dog
• Phineas and Ferb
• The Simpsons
• South Park
• A Vampyre Story
• Family Guy
• Open Season 2
• Snow Dogs
• Life is Ruff
• Shallow Hal
• Shrek
• The Hangover
• Marmaduke
• Melissa & Joey
• Barbie: A Fashion Fairy Tale
• 2011 MTV Movie Awards (Jim Carrey presenting the Foo Fighters)
• The Smurfs Dance Party (Wii Game) (Dog's lyric changed to Smurf's)
• 100 Deeds for Eddie McDowd

Charts

Chart (2000–2009)	Peak position
UK Top 100 Songs of the Decade	28

References

Preceded by Cher for Believe	Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording 2001	Succeeded by Janet Jackson for All for You
Preceded by "Teenage Dirtbag" by Wheatus	Australian ARIA Singles Chart number-one single November 26, 2000 - December 17, 2000	Succeeded by "Teenage Dirtbag" by Wheatus