Before Simon Cowell was an obscenely paid, tart-tongued TV personality, he was a hungry young Englishman who wanted to make it big in the music business. Which is why, in 1982, he appeared on Top Of The Pops dressed up as Wonderdog, a canine who barked along with a dance track called—what else?—”Ruff Mix.” Sure, it was probably easier for him to stay in character with a gigantic dog-mask over his head, but he does stay in character, which must have contributed somewhat to its reaching No. 31 on the UK singles charts. Clip (which has the hallucinogenic veneer of a VHS tape that’s been molding away in a drawer for the past 27 years) after the jump.





And here’s “Ruff Mix” in full:



Simon Cowell Singing As Wonder Dog [YouTube; HT Gawker]
Wonderdog - Ruff Mix [YouTube]
Related: An entire blog post that’s devoted to songs featuring barking dogs! God, I love Fridays sometimes.