TOP 10: Pointer Sisters Songs
I have joked multiple times that I would love to do a Best Pointer Sisters Song episode of our podcast, but it would be impossible, because we can’t have a 16-way tie. That’s only partially a joke, because the music this group of Oakland, CA, sisters released in the 1970s and 1980s is truly exceptional, and in my opinion, not celebrated nearly enough in American pop culture.
The Pointer Sisters had several line-ups over the years, starting as a duet in the 1960s with Bonnie Pointer and June Pointer, then becoming a trio with the addition of Anita Pointer, then a quartet with Ruth Pointer, and then a trio again when Bonnie left the group to launch a solo career in the late 1970s. The Pointer Sisters bounced around several record labels, and even tried a variety of genres including r’n’b, soul, and country — they were the first black artists to win a Grammy for country music! — before finding their groove in the late 70s, and peaking in the early to mid-1980s with a string of massive singles.
The group won three Grammy Awards and three American Music Awards, and has earned assorted other accolades, including a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Over the years, we have unfortunately lost most of the members of the group, as June passed in 2006, followed by Bonnie in 2020, and Anita in 2022. The group continues today with Ruth, Ruth’s daughter Issa Pointer, and and Ruth’s daughter Sadako Pointer.
Read on for my personal takes on my favorite Pointer Sisters, knowing that, truly, any song by the Pointer Sisters is exceptional.
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Best Contemporary Holiday Pop Song
Honorable Mention: “Heaven Must Have Sent You”
This song would have possibly been at the top of my list, BUT: It is not technically a Pointer Sisters song. This 1979 disco banger was released by Bonnie Pointer as a solo act after she left the Pointers as a group in 1977. Still, it is arguably peerless in terms of energy and infectiousness. If you have never heard this track, and you have any interest in disco music, do yourself a favor and click Play.
Honorable Mention: “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town”
I won’t include Christmas music in a non-Christmas Top 10. BUT. The Pointer Sisters’ version of “Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town,” off the legendary Very Special Christmas album, is required listening each and every holiday season, and in fact is often the FIRST song I listen to when that time of year comes around. The intro to the song is a perfect entrance to the holidays, with the Pointers each delivering completely unhinged declarations about gifts they want from Santa, and that bonkers energy continues into the song itself. The Pointers are cranked to 11, the sax is scorching, and the whole thing goes WAY harder than it needs to. It is, in a word, exceptional. There are sleigh bells in the background throughout the song and you can barely hear them because of this all-out barrage of festive, fabulous energy. There is a reason this was the opening track to a Christmas album that is, nearly 40 years later, still unparalleled in star power.
Honorable Mention: “Pinball Number Count”
On the subject of “unhinged,” I give you the Pointer Sisters on this 1976 track that was recorded for a segment on “Sesame Street” that was intended to teach children their numbers via a pinball game, with the Pointer Sisters offering up vocal in the funkiest song that has ever been featured on children’s television. It sounds like it was recorded in someone’s bathroom, especially the parts when the various Pointers just yell out numbers. But it is a campy delight and you can imagine some kid in clothes the color of ketchup, mustard, or relish (condiments were really the aesthetic swatch of the 70s) understanding the concept of 12 because of this song.
10. “Happiness”
This song, off of the 1978 Energy album, isn’t one of the Pointers’ most well-known songs, but it was a successful single, reaching No. 30 on the Billboard Top 100. It’s a total bop and, like the album it is featured on, filled with energy. The chorus has a killer bounce, and although we don’t get much harmony, the unified voices have plenty of power.
9. “Fire”
Also off Energy, this song had significantly more success, peaking at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100. Anita Pointer takes the lead on this sensual ballad. This was the first single with the group as a trio, with June and Ruth coming in to harmonize on the chorus. Fun fact: this song was written by Bruce Springsteen, who later released a version of it himself, but the Pointer Sisters version is the most-successful recording of the song. It was only kept out of the top spot on the charts by Rod Stewart’s “Do Ya Think I’m Sexy?” It’s only so low on the rankings because, frankly, I like the other songs more.
8. “I Need You”
This track from 1983’s Break Out — the group’s best-selling album — was never released as a single. That’s a testament to the four songs that were released off of it, all mega smashes. But this one is no slouch. Anita, June, and Ruth all get in on the lead vocals on this track, a glorious love song that is neither a ballad, nor a banger — it’s both. It is so soulful, so joyful, and yet the lyrics are plaintive. Absolutely love the arrangement on this track.
7. “Slow Hand”
The most successful song off of 1981’s Black & White album, I remember hearing and singing along to this song as a child, completely scandalizing my mother. Toddler Eric had no idea what a slow hand or fast moves were, but he did know that this song has an irresistible groove. Anita takes lead vocals here and the result is an unbelievable sultry track that almost surely got more than one person into trouble on the dance floor in the 1980s.
6. “He’s So Shy”
A delightful confection from 1980’s Special Things, “He’s So Shy” has elements of classic girl groups (you could imagine The Supremes or The Ronettes singing this), New Wave instrumentation, and R&B groove. It’s perfection. June Pointer takes lead on this one, and the song — which hit No. 3 on the Billboard Top 100 — is credited as providing the template for the Pointers’ biggest smashes. Speaking of which…
5. “Automatic”
One of the four smash singles off Break Out, “Automatic” features Ruth’s smoky contraalto vocals on lead and one of the funkiest electro backing tracks in the history of pop music. “Automatic” is quintessentially 80s, from the sound to the subject matter, comparing a woman’s body to then-new computer systems. It hit No. 5 on the Billboard Top 100, and was named by Billboard as No. 94 on its Top 100 Girl-Group Songs of All Time.
4. “Neutron Dance”
As soon as that synth line kicks in, you know it is ON. This song shoots out of the gate and it never lets up. Ruth is on lead here, although Anita and June are just as essential in that chorus. The song was notably featured in the Beverly Hills Cop soundtrack — which is an INCREDIBLE album — where it was played in the background of a car chase. That makes sense, given how intensely this song speeds along. We remain so happy, 40 years later, just burning, doing the Neutron Dance.
3. “Dare Me”
I had somehow never heard “Dare Me” until Spotify served it up to me a few years ago. I don’t know how I missed it, because it is incredible. The main single off of 1985’s Contact album, “Dare Me” isn’t the trio’s best vocal, not by a longshot. But it’s a super catchy song with a great hook. It is also notable for inspiring DJ Casey Kasem to fly into an unaired, profanity-laden rant that eventually found its way onto the internet.
2. “Jump”
This was almost a toss up between the Top 2 spots. There are frankly elements of “Jump” I like better than the eventual No. 1. That descending chord progression in the chorus, the staccato sensibility of the lead-in to said chorus, the absolutely ecstatic delivery of every single fucking line of this song — incredible. Just incredible. June is on lead vocals here, but seriously this is a master class from every part of the trio. It was the best-selling Dance single in America in 1984, and dance music in 1984 was a VERY competitive field. Others have attempted to cover this song, and nobody — I mean nobody — can touch the Pointers. Ever.
1. “I’m So Excited”
“I’m So Excited” was initially released in 1982 off of the So Excited! album, where it peaked at No. 30 on the Billboard Top 100. That is insane. This song is a musical atom bomb. It is so powerful, so undeniable, so infectious — and that’s before you get to the chorus, in which the whole affair kicks into overdrive and resistance is futile. Someone was paying attention, because after the Pointers shot to the top of the charts a few years later with Break Out, they slightly reedited “Excited” and rereleased it, where it hit No. 9 on the Hot 100. That’s better. Years later, Billboard would go on to list it at No. 23 on its Greatest Girl-Group Songs, and in 2001 the Recording Industry Association of America included it in its Songs of the Century list, ranked No. 264 of 365 songs.
Want the whole playlist? Here you go:
What are your favorite Pointer Sister songs? Leave a comment below!