The Greatest Internet Video Of All Time
Nothing can stop them, they (were) Atlanta’s Air Force.
This all started a few weeks ago with a post by J.E. Skeets over at The Basketball Jones. Skeets was watching Raptors TV when they showed the Atlanta Hawks team video from back in 1986. The song is called “Nothing Can Stop Us,” and as a kid in Atlanta back in the day, it was dope. Looking at it now, it’s obviously highly derivative of Huey Lewis and the News, but back then, who knew?
Anyway, the video didn’t exist on Youtube, and these days if it’s not on Youtube, it might as well have never happened, right?
So I made some calls, did some digging, and the DVD showed up here this morning. We’ve been rushing around all morning to get this online asap.
Here it is, Atlanta’s Air Force. Enjoy the glory of Koncak’s pre-surgical jaw, of Doc Rivers imitating Stevie Wonder, of John Battle’s complex choreography, of the smoked lenses in Randy Wittman’s sunglasses.
I’ll do a post later on in The Links breaking this down. For now, enjoy…
(By the way, there’s a few seconds of dead air at the beginning — didn’t have time to edit that out. Stick with it and crank it up!)
66 Responses to “The Greatest Internet Video Of All Time”
Sep.20 at 12:42 pm
Marcel Mutoni says:
wow….just wow. needless to say, any hope of being productive today has been destroyed. thank you!
Sep.20 at 12:42 pm
Ryan Jones says:
Be glad, dear readers, that you’re not in the SLAM Dome today. Lang is whistling the this thing non-f*cking-stop.
Sep.20 at 12:48 pm
Joe says:
Weird Al on the Keyboard?
Sep.20 at 1:14 pm
Eric Neely says:
Gotta love the Shiela E drumkit. Ha. This is FANTASTIC. Gotta love the Sax solo, too. Nothing screams 80’s like an extended Sax solo. Also? Notice the length of the shorts? Arsenal rocks shorts like that in the EPL… today!
Sep.20 at 1:19 pm
jon says:
willis was not into this
Sep.20 at 1:21 pm
J.E. Skeets says:
Words … cannot … escape … train of thought … is that Big John Stud? *Bows down* Thank you, Lang.
Sep.20 at 1:58 pm
Myung says:
thanks for that, lang. some thoughts…the current celtics coach better hope his players don’t get a hold of that video…i miss fratello’s perm and the pac man logo… tom cruise with a wig is the lead singer of that group…nothing can stop us? two words: babcock, pete
Sep.20 at 2:48 pm
Dean says:
Wow …it even has a sax solo…. Lil jon has to do a remix of this …..Yeah!
Sep.20 at 2:59 pm
Lang Whitaker says:
The sax player looks like Dana Carvey in Opportunity Knocks.
Sep.20 at 3:16 pm
Matt W. says:
That was incredible. That’s all I got… I’m speechless.
Sep.20 at 3:22 pm
Chris O'Leary says:
Teams need to do this stuff today.
Sep.20 at 3:29 pm
O'Neezy says:
I love the explosion sounds everytime they make a basket. Every better is seeing Doc Rivers getin’ down
Sep.20 at 3:44 pm
Natalie says:
Scott Hasting, Ted Turner and a few Stevie Wonder impressions, I haven’t had a day like this in a long time.
Sep.20 at 3:46 pm
RM # 0 says:
NBA : FANtastic!!!
Sep.20 at 3:53 pm
raph says:
am i the only one that’s already dreaming of a video featuring the ‘06 hawks called “Now, nothing can stop us” and have a brief clip of the players tying Billy Knight to a chair with a sock in his mouth? ok…maybe i’m just a sick fuck who wishes the hawks could win. i miss Nique.
Sep.20 at 4:04 pm
albie1kenobi says:
like the Bears’ superbowl shuffle. except with basketball clips. imagine NBA teams doing this now, the fans will either love them or disown them. it’s the 21st century now, random good times like this is now considered corniness to the max. i wonder which current franchise is most likely to do something inspiring like this video. just imagine kobe in this video. he better bring “ty-ty” back. it was just weird seeing Kobe and Tyra performing on stage during the ‘99 All Star weekend.
Sep.20 at 4:38 pm
Allen says:
I frickin love the inter-frickin-net! I feel like Marty McFly. We need to start a “digitize and document the 80s” movement.
Sep.20 at 5:14 pm
A_B says:
yo albiakenobi have you looked at dallas. With their promofilms during the playoffs. Now that was lame
Sep.20 at 6:01 pm
Ananth Pandian says:
now all we need is to find a box of those tshirts those guys were wearing…cause i want one of those shirts
atlanta air force t shirts….
Sep.20 at 6:08 pm
albie1kenobi says:
good point A_B (is that a version of “smiley face”?), now I remember that ridiculous dirk & terry (and someone else) in the truck video. it’s almost as priceless as Kazaam, which I still couldn’t force myself to watch.
Sep.20 at 6:33 pm
The Basketball Jones » Found! Atlanta’s Air Force Video says:
[…] Try to take it all in, friends … “Nothing Can Stop Us”. […]
Sep.20 at 7:11 pm
CelticsBlog.com - A Boston Celtics Blog » Blog Archive » Doc Imitating Stevie Wonder says:
[…] No words can do this justice. […]
Sep.20 at 7:27 pm
perkisabeast.com Blog » Blog Archive » “Cocaine’s a hell of a drug” says:
[…] Now, we’re not saying the NBA had a coke problem in the 1980’s, unless your saying a diet coke problem, then we can legally agree with you. But, one look at this video and well….”Nothing can stop us.” […]
Sep.20 at 7:28 pm
Ben says:
Thank you thank you thank you. . . I’ve been waiting for someone to dig this up since Skeets reminded me of it! And can I just say, I need more Tree Rollins in my life!
Sep.20 at 8:22 pm
thesubwayconnection says:
damn. worst hairdos ever.
Sep.20 at 10:20 pm
Dj says:
those two chicks (cheerleaders?) in the background were kinda hott…
Sep.20 at 11:04 pm
Drolfe says:
Even with the 80s hair, 80s music and the 80s clothes, Niques windmills look way 2006.
Sep.20 at 11:45 pm
Matt says:
Sorry to steal some of your thunder, but I had to share. “Somebody” uploaded the sucker to YouTube, and I also wrote a post about it.
Sep.21 at 1:41 am
chiphead says:
pure genius
Sep.21 at 2:44 am
Gerwin says:
Everybody is talking about the good old days. Well let’s go back to them!
Thanks Lang for takking us back in time….dope!
Sep.21 at 7:26 am
RimReaper says:
maybe the hawks should bring back that explosion sound on every made basket during games… anything might help!!!
Sep.21 at 9:19 am
G and D says:
whoa… acid wash flashback
Sep.21 at 9:51 am
kdubb says:
Hey Lang,
You think that’s bad, check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbswnoacwSg This is a sign of how far off track the Hawks have gone.
Sep.21 at 10:53 am
Lang Whitaker says:
I linked to that Hawk/motorcycle clip a while back. My favorite thing about Nothing Can Stop Us might be the “cheerleaders” in those sweatsuits — those are the suits the ushers at the Omni wore. Who thought it would be a good idea to feature some arena ushers in a team video?
Sep.21 at 11:53 am
» Doc Rivers responds - SLAM Online says:
[…] Doc Rivers responds to the Greatest Internet Video of All Time…The Greatest Internet Video Of All Timeby Lang Whitaker This all started a few weeks agoReader Cecil Israel on the SLAM Curseby reader Cecil Israel First The NBA and the mediaby Marcel Mutoni Inspired by Lang’s eye-opening Q&A with KevinHoya PrideBy Jake Appleman June 30th, 2006 Jake Appleman on Hoya PrideBy Jake Appleman June 30th, 2006 LeBron, Coach K and MJby Lang Whitaker QUOTES OF THE DAY “Aw, hell no.” — ARCHIVES BY DATE […]
Sep.21 at 4:54 pm
» Speedy Claxton Can’t Outrun a Broken Hand - SLAM Online says:
[…] OK, it was barely 24 hours ago that we established the Atlanta Hawks used to be unstoppable — shoot, they were Atlanta’s Air Force. […]
Sep.21 at 9:24 pm
Alex says:
what do I search for on youtube? How so I fid this video?
Sep.21 at 11:30 pm
Carlen says:
so, my cousin just sent me this link. why? well, partly because it is the greatest internet video of all time, and partly because i am the little baby clapping my hands at the end of the video. yeah, i was a pretty cute kid.
Sep.22 at 5:52 am
Harlem World says:
Whatever happened to Jon Battle? Very underrated imho.
Sep.22 at 10:38 am
Froggiestyle says:
Dear Lang, Please be so kind as to send the first of infinite checks to my home address. That friggin clip was so long and so bad that my boss, co-workers and French President Chirac all caught me watching it. I will appreciate the checks as I am now, very obviously, unemployed. Proving an important point: that song is so bad that it breaks through cultural and linguistic barriers. Oh I almost forgot, you can send an extra check since both my eyes and ears haven’t stopped bleeding since. Yours faithfully, Broke, Jobless and Bleeding but “Nuthin can stop me” I guess. FS
Sep.22 at 10:19 pm
The Basketball Jones » Lakers: Just Say No! says:
[…] (Note: A million thanks to the little birdie named ‘Tito’ who chewed this up and regurgitated in my e-mail inbox earlier tonight. (Subject title: Sorry Hawks — The REAL Greatest Internet Video of All-Time!) […]
Sep.25 at 9:01 am
Klobb says:
Never seen this before…awesome. The sound of an explosion when somebody dunks is just awesome…just like the trailer for Rocky 5 whrn Tommy Gunn knocks somebody down. Sounds like a bomb went off!
Sep.28 at 3:31 am
DVLb0y613 says:
Two words Jon Konkak
Sep.30 at 2:06 pm
basketball tips says:
This really is the greatest video of all time. I think I’m going to have to watch this once a day from here on out. I can’t stop laughing. And by the way, what is Jon Koncak doing today?
Oct.1 at 6:51 pm
ceekay says:
…Dear god…
Oct.3 at 2:19 am
totoro says:
Oh man, you are right, this is the greatest video of all time. I had to put it on my site because of this.
Oct.13 at 6:37 pm
d.vance says:
not being harsh but it’s the greatest video of the eighties no doubt i was a big dom dom fan of mr. wilkins the way he dunks is so cold jason richardson of today reminds me of him
Oct.13 at 9:23 pm
Bigred says:
awesome, now people at school will think im a queer because im whistling ALL day long ALL DAY
Oct.18 at 10:00 pm
niQ says:
omgad. my ears are bleeding..they actually did this in 87?.. wow.. embarassing.hahhha
Oct.25 at 2:46 pm
roids says:
gayest thing ever really gay like me
Oct.25 at 5:48 pm
» The SLAM NBA Preview: Atlantic Division - SLAM Online says:
[…] With the Celts, they’ve got so much young talent, and Paul Pierce really came into his own last year…I just think this is the year it finally clicks for them and they figure out what kind of team they are. I don’t know what to make of Linkstigator Doc Rivers, though — has a coach ever gone from Coach of the Year to butt of jokes so quickly? I’m giving Doc the benefit of the doubt here, strictly based on his performance in the Atlanta’s Air Force video. […]
Nov.3 at 4:52 pm
vicious says:
so fucking cool. i need the czar’s hair cut
Nov.10 at 5:06 pm
Legit46 says:
lol da classic lol
Nov.14 at 11:31 pm
NowhereNearAtl says:
ow. my eyes. ow. my brain. all you yay ’80’s wierdos need to realize that it’s over. the 80’s sucked.
Nov.30 at 11:34 pm
ehlomint says:
This reminds me of the Houston Rockets classic video, The Rocket Strut!!!
Dec.5 at 7:55 am
SilkSmooth says:
Pure Cheese!! But what a classic…..any other teams got any????
Jan.14 at 5:03 pm
Kujaun says:
dudes…u see spud webb throw it down? that was tight
Jan.26 at 10:55 pm
Chris says:
WOW-What a great video! I wonder where all the Atlanta Hawks Cheerleaders are today?
Feb.7 at 1:58 pm
tiznoast says:
the shorts!!! the shorts!!! they BURN my EYES!
Feb.9 at 5:21 pm
jon contract says:
i thought i was supposed to say “we’re atlanta’s air force” with the first verse. lol
Feb.12 at 1:43 am
NCLegend says:
I thought Jon Heder’s first appearance was in Napoleon Dynamite, right? Wow, he’s really talented.
Feb.12 at 10:05 am
dailow says:
i’m converting the track to mp3 and using it as my “power song”
Mar.1 at 6:48 pm
Bj says:
the lyrics are horrible but the worst part is the drummer
Mar.26 at 1:55 pm
» Game Notes: Dallas at Atlanta (Road Bacon Game) - SLAM ONLINE says:
[…] –The classic 80’s Hawks video “Nothing Can Stop Us” that Lang linked to a while back is played on the jumbotron before the starting lineups are announced. That’s class. […]
Jun.2 at 9:22 am
peter says:
horrendous, but very nice dunks…
May.16 at 5:27 pm
dpak says:
And they were right - nothing could stop them. The won, like, five or six titles, right? What? No, really - none at all? Wow - I guess something could stop them.