Comments on: Where did the phrase "bow-chicka-wow-wow" originate?

Question: Where did the phrase "bow-chicka-wow-wow" originate?

blueshammer — Tue, 03 Feb 2004 07:53:43 -0800

Meme origin question: The phrase "bow-chicka-wow-wow" has become the standard way to signify "porn movie music." I remember seeing a stand-up comic in the late '80s/early '90s who spoke that phrase, and that was what got my circle of middle schoolers using it, although I doubt that was the real progenitor. But it's too specific of an expression to have been developed independently. Thoughts?

By: Orange Goblin

Orange Goblin — Tue, 03 Feb 2004 08:07:45 -0800

I say "bow-chika-wow-chicka". Not that it helps much...

By: quonsar

quonsar — Tue, 03 Feb 2004 08:09:55 -0800

it refers to the ubiquitous wah pedal effect used on virtually every recorded guitar part in the decade after it was featured in the popular song "shaft". the sound became a staple of the mindless, lame funk that was the sountrack du jour of porn.

By: ColdChef

ColdChef — Tue, 03 Feb 2004 08:17:08 -0800

I thought I was the only person who remembered that the "bow-chicka-wow-wow". I, too, am amazed that this PARTICULAR snippet has lasted so long and so ubiquitously.

If it helps, I first remember it from the MTV Half Hour Comedy Hour in a bit from a guy who was talking about the power of backstage laminates.

By: ColdChef

ColdChef — Tue, 03 Feb 2004 08:29:27 -0800

I can't seem to find the name of the comedian, but it was a white guy, and the first part of his set was about porn music (that's where he introduced the "bow-chick-wow-wow") and then later he was talking about backstage laminates. He was saying how much power was in them (I strongly believe that Mike Meyers stole this bit for the "Wayne's World" movie) and then he segued back to the "bow-chicka-wow-wow" as if the laminate was powerful enough to even get a guy like HIM laid.

That's all I remember.

By: mathowie

mathowie — Tue, 03 Feb 2004 08:48:10 -0800

Was Brian Reagan the comic? It seems like it could have been him.

By: MsVader

MsVader — Tue, 03 Feb 2004 08:51:20 -0800

The variant - "bow-chicka-bow-bow" - is used by everyone I know.

By: crush-onastick

crush-onastick — Tue, 03 Feb 2004 08:52:57 -0800

in central texas, in the last 80's, everyone i knew used "bomp-chicka-bow-bow"

By: WolfDaddy

WolfDaddy — Tue, 03 Feb 2004 08:54:05 -0800

I even once asked Cecil, and got no definitive answer.

By: ColdChef

ColdChef — Tue, 03 Feb 2004 08:56:44 -0800

I don't think it was Brian Reagan, but this was back in the eighties, so he might have looked differently.

By: me3dia

me3dia — Tue, 03 Feb 2004 08:57:37 -0800

I would guess Andrew Dice Clay. But it'd only be a guess.

By: ColdChef

ColdChef — Tue, 03 Feb 2004 09:05:43 -0800

Nope. Not the Diceman. I know that for sure. I'd probably recognize the guy if I saw him.

By: blueshammer

blueshammer — Tue, 03 Feb 2004 09:05:56 -0800

No, I would have known if it were the Diceman. Brian Reagan is a possibility, but I'm in no position to make a positive ID after 15 years.

That it's alternately remembered as "bow-chicka-wow-wow" and "bomp-chicka-bow-bow" and "bow-chicka-bow-bow" does suggest that its original appearance was spoken, rather than written. But that everyone but Orange Goblin knows it to the same cadence does suggest it's all from the same wellspring.

By: mr_crash_davis

mr_crash_davis — Tue, 03 Feb 2004 10:03:26 -0800

My memory insists it's "bow chicka bow wow", and Googlefight backs me up.

By: ROU_Xenophobe

ROU_Xenophobe — Tue, 03 Feb 2004 10:24:55 -0800

I remember it as bowmp-chikka-wah-BOWMP. But that's the sort of wrong-thinking pervert I am.

By: MrMoonPie

MrMoonPie — Tue, 03 Feb 2004 10:50:13 -0800

Ahh, memories. I was back home from college, riding in the car, me and Dad up front, Mom in the back. Dad's telling me what he's heard about various high-school friends. Roddy's in Wilmington, installing pools. Greg's a drummer at Euro Disney. And Patrick is doing independent films in DC. I turn to Dad, and give my best bow-chicka-wow-wow, which was actually more of a "bomp-bomp-CHICK a-bompa-bomp-CHICK." Mom was clueless.

Good times, good times.

By: grrarrgh00

grrarrgh00 — Tue, 03 Feb 2004 20:10:49 -0800

I've long preferred "bow chikka wang wang."

By: cheaily

cheaily — Wed, 04 Feb 2004 05:45:09 -0800

It's onomatopaeic!

By: MrMoonPie

MrMoonPie — Wed, 04 Feb 2004 11:37:25 -0800

Heh heh--aforementioned Patrick.