Neutron Dance
Encyclopedia
"Neutron Dance" is a dance
/R&B/New Wave
song from the Pointer Sisters
. Released from their album Break Out
in 1984, the song hit the US Top 10, peaking at number six on the Billboard
chart, and was also featured in the Eddie Murphy
motion picture Beverly Hills Cop
.
It became the group's fourth top ten single in a row from "Break Out." A video of the song was in heavy rotation on MTV
at the time. Released at the height of the Cold War
, the song was misinterpreted by the Russian Government as a song about nuclear war.
Dance
Dance is an art form that generally refers to movement of the body, usually rhythmic and to music, used as a form of expression, social interaction or presented in a spiritual or performance setting....
/R&B/New Wave
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
song from the Pointer Sisters
Pointer Sisters
The Pointer Sisters are an American pop/R&B recording act from Oakland, California that achieved mainstream success during the 1970s and 1980s. Spanning over three decades, their repertoire has included such diverse genres as pop, disco, jazz, bebop, blues, soul, funk, dance, country and rock.The...
. Released from their album Break Out
Break Out (Pointer Sisters album)
Break Out is the tenth studio album by the American vocal group The Pointer Sisters, released on November 6, 1983 by Planet Records.-History:...
in 1984, the song hit the US Top 10, peaking at number six on the Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
chart, and was also featured in the Eddie Murphy
Eddie Murphy
Edward Regan "Eddie" Murphy is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, singer, director, and musician....
motion picture Beverly Hills Cop
Beverly Hills Cop
Beverly Hills Cop is a 1984 American comedy-action film directed by Martin Brest and starring Eddie Murphy, Lisa Eilbacher, John Ashton, Judge Reinhold, and Ronny Cox...
.
It became the group's fourth top ten single in a row from "Break Out." A video of the song was in heavy rotation on MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
at the time. Released at the height of the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
, the song was misinterpreted by the Russian Government as a song about nuclear war.
Personnel
- Lead vocals by Ruth PointerRuth PointerRuth Pointer is an American R&B singer, best known for being the eldest member of The Pointer Sisters.-Early life:Pointer was born in Oakland, California. She began her vocal training as a director of a junior choir in her father's church.-The Pointer Sisters:Joining her sisters in 1972, the...
- Background vocals by June PointerJune PointerJune Antoinette Pointer Whitmore was an American Pop/R&B singer and was a founding member/and lead vocalist of the vocal group The Pointer Sisters.-Early life and career:...
and Anita PointerAnita PointerAnita Pointer is an American R&B/soul singer-songwriter and a member of The Pointer Sisters.-Biography:...
Chart
| Chart (1984/85) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 6 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, is a chart released weekly by Billboard in the United States.The chart, initiated in 1942, is used to track the success of popular music songs in urban, or primarily African American, venues. Dominated over the years at various times by jazz, rhythm and blues, doo-wop, soul,... |
13 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks The Adult Contemporary chart is a weekly chart published in Billboard magazine that lists the most popular songs on adult contemporary and "lite-pop" radio stations in the United States... |
23 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play Hot Dance Club Play The Hot Dance Club Songs chart is a weekly national survey of the songs that are most popular in U.S. dance clubs... |
4 |
| UK Singles Chart | 31 |
| Canadian Singles Chart | 1 |
| German Singles Chart | 18 |
| Austrian Singles Chart | 19 |
| Swiss Singles Chart | 14 |
| Dutch Top 40 | 21 |
| Swedish Singles Chart | 7 |
| New Zealand Singles Chart | 17 |
| Australian Singles Chart | 4 |
Popular culture
- The popular Canadian teen drama Degrassi: The Next GenerationDegrassi: The Next GenerationDegrassi: The Next Generation is a Canadian teen drama television series set in the Degrassi universe, which was created by Linda Schuyler and Kit Hood in 1979. Degrassi is the fourth fictional series in the Degrassi franchise, and follows The Kids of Degrassi Street, Degrassi Junior High, and...
, which is known for naming each episode after an '80s hit song, named an episode after this song.
- In the Family GuyFamily GuyFamily Guy is an American animated television series created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series centers on the Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter and Lois; their children Meg, Chris, and Stewie; and their anthropomorphic pet dog Brian...
episode The Son Also DrawsThe Son Also Draws"The Son Also Draws" is the sixth episode of the first season of the animated comedy series Family Guy. It originally aired on Fox in the United States on May 9, 1999. The episode follows Chris as he is ejected from the Youth Scouts, and his father Peter drives the family to Scout...
, Peter GriffinPeter GriffinPeter Griffin is a fictional character and the protagonist of the animated comedy series Family Guy and the patriarch of the Griffin family. He is voiced by cartoonist Seth MacFarlane and first appeared on television, along with the rest of the family in the 15-minute short on December 20, 1998....
's "great-grandfather" Chief Grand Cherokee (Peter is making his existence up so as to make it look as if Peter is part Native AmericanIndigenous peoples of the AmericasThe indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
) dances the neutron dance, while singing some of the song.
- In The Golden GirlsThe Golden GirlsThe Golden Girls is an American sitcom created by Susan Harris, which originally aired on NBC from September 14, 1985, to May 9, 1992. Starring Bea Arthur, Betty White, Rue McClanahan and Estelle Getty, the show centers on four older women sharing a home in Miami, Florida...
episode "You Gotta Have Hope", the song is performed by The Del Rubio TripletsDel Rubio tripletsThe Del Rubio Triplets were an American variety/musical act who rose to notoriety in the 1980s due mostly to their campy style of dress and their goofy interpretations of standards and songs of the era....
as "The Donnatello Triplets", a trio of gold-clad, guitar-playing, country singing sisters while auditioning for a talent show that Dorothy ZbornakDorothy ZbornakDorothy Hollingsworth , is a fictional character from the TV series The Golden Girls, portrayed by Bea Arthur for 7 years and 183 episodes. Dorothy was the strong, sarcastic, sometimes intimidating, and arguably most grounded of the four women in the house...
, Rose NylundRose NylundRose Nylund was born May 1930 in St. Olaf, Minnesota. She is a fictional character featured on the popular 1980s situation comedy The Golden Girls, and its spin-off The Golden Palace. She was portrayed by Betty White for 8 years and 208 episodes.Rose was comically portrayed as naïve and simple,...
and Blanche DevereauxBlanche DevereauxBlanche Elizabeth Devereaux is one of the four main fictional characters on the 1985-1992 NBC sitcom The Golden Girls, and its CBS spin-off The Golden Palace. In the pilot episode her last name was given as Hollingsworth, but this was somewhat "corrected" in later episodes by making this her...
are organizing. The Del Rubio Triplets recorded their cover of "Neutron Dance" for their 1988 album Three Gals, Three Guitars.
- The song was also a key song in Alvin and the ChipmunksAlvin and the Chipmunks (TV series)Alvin and the Chipmunks is an American animated television series featuring The Chipmunks, produced by Bagdasarian Productions in association with Ruby-Spears Enterprises from 1983–87, and DIC Entertainment from 1988-90....
episode "The Chipette Story", performed by The ChipettesThe ChipettesThe Chipettes are a fictional group of anthropomorphic chipmunk singers first appearing on the cartoon series Alvin and the Chipmunks in 1983. In this and related materials, the Chipettes served as female featured characters in their own right, starring in numerous episodes...
.
- In StarCraft IIStarCraft IIStarCraft II: Wings of Liberty is a military science fiction real-time strategy video game developed and released by Blizzard Entertainment for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. A sequel to the award-winning 1998 video game StarCraft and its expansions, the game was released worldwide on July 27, 2010...
the song is referenced by the protoss archon.
- The Pointer Sisters appeared lip-syncing to the song and dancing with the Main Street Electrical ParadeMain Street Electrical ParadeThe Main Street Electrical Parade is a regularly scheduled parade, created by Bob Jani and project director Ron Miziker, famous for its long run at Disneyland at the Disneyland Resort most summers between 1972–1974, 1977–1982, and 1985-1996...
floats and performers during Disneyland's 30th Anniversary Celebration television special in 1985.
- The Neutron ManThe Neutron ManThe Neutron Man , real name Orlas King, was a popular Ohio State University college football fan for thirty years. Always seated by the marching band, King would burst into his original dances whenever the Ohio State University Marching Band would play the “Neutron Dance”.-Early life:King grew up...
, a popular Ohio State UniversityOhio State UniversityThe Ohio State University, commonly referred to as Ohio State, is a public research university located in Columbus, Ohio. It was originally founded in 1870 as a land-grant university and is currently the third largest university campus in the United States...
college football fan would burst into his original dances whenever the Ohio State University Marching BandThe Ohio State University Marching BandThe Ohio State University Marching Band performs at Ohio State football games and other events during the fall quarter...
would play this song during home football games.
- A parody of the song was used when promoting The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy GeniusThe Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy GeniusThe Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, often shortened to just Jimmy Neutron, is an American animated television series, and spin-off of the Academy Award-nominated computer-animated movie, Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius. The series first officially aired on July 20, 2002, on Nickelodeon...
.