The Pointer Sisters, “I’m So Excited”

Null:

The Pointer Sisters had some great songs in the 1970s and early 80s: “Yes We Can Can,” “He’s So Shy,” and “Slow Hand,” just to name a few. I heard these songs a lot on the radio as a kid. I thought “Slow Hand” was a country song because I would often hear it on the radio next to Sylvia’s “Nobody.” When the hyper-80s arrived, The Pointer Sisters released the album Break Out in 1983. The record was a massive hit and helped secure the Top 40 stylings of the high-powered synthesizer pop of the times. Oddly enough, the first pressing of the record did not contain the song “I’m So Excited.” This is because “I’m So Excited” was on the previous album from 1982 entitled, So Excited. Who knew? But then, in 1984, a new pressing of Break Out was released that did contain “I’m So Excited.” Interesting.

I guess I consider it a guilty pleasure but always kinda liked the singles from the album when I heard them on the radio. Part of my tolerance for such overtly chipper synth tunes is simply nostalgia from hearing these songs on the radio day after day in the 80s. Usually, this over-exposure makes me hate songs, but for some reason I never really got sick of the hits from Break Out. This fact is even more astonishing when we consider that the song “I’m So Excited” has been in more movies than there are stars in the sky—in every girls-night-out romantic comedy montage and, of course, Beverly Hills Cop. Wait, maybe it was “Neutron Dance” that was in Beverly Hills Cop. Fuck, it doesn’t matter—all the songs from Break Out have a continuity—the big synths, the beats, the sisters singing. Break Out is the album where the sisters sound like they are in some neon 80s space ship heading for a dance party. The cover of the album includes totally “80s workout clothes” via Olivia Newton-John’s “Physical,” but less wet. I kinda always had a thing for June Pointer—R.I.P. Fuck it—I don’t care—just turn it up. This song is about sex, right?

Gusty Bellows:

It came out at a horrible point in my life. I think grass was just starting to grow on the field. I had more pimples than pride. The song was horrible. It was as bad as the wet dream I had.

Class Warrior:

The Pointer Sisters? “I’m So Excited?” Have we sunk to a new low? Maybe the most appropriate phrase would be that it’s a different kind of low. We have spent many words on terrible and/or cheesy albums—I have personally written an over-long essay on an Amy Grant compilation. On with it, then. I didn’t realize until I sat down to write this that I don’t need to listen to the song to refresh my memory. It’s all in the big gray tape recorder. Apparently I heard this song quite often in the mid eighties. I have no comment on the music or the lyrics other than to note that the song seems to be about wanting to have sex with someone. Despite the theme (to which we can all relate, I am sure), I would not wish to listen to it while between the sheets. It’s ahead of Death Metal, Grindcore, and New Country on the no-sex list, I’ll give it that. The strongest association I make with this song is playing Dungeons and Dragons. It must have gotten a lot of radio play in 1985 or so. My brother and I were just getting into D&D and we were listening to a lot of pop radio while we did it. There you go—while these days I would prefer to associate something like Visigoth or Eternal Champion with RPGs, back then I listened to straight-up dance pop while exploring dungeon corridors, slaying orcs, and looting the crypts of forgotten kings.

SoDak:

When “I’m So Excited” was released, I tried to avoid hearing it on the radio or seeing the horrible video. I did not like the music. At the same time, this song is an earworm. There is something that is catchy about it, which allows it to repeat constantly in my head, each time I hear a snippet of it. In fact, everytime someone mentions that they are “so excited,” without any reference to the song, the chorus is triggered in my memory, and I hum it over and over again. I wish it was not in the deep recess of my mind, but I must live with this unwelcomed guest.

I am not a fan of The Pointer Sisters music in the 1980s, but I do like some of their soul/funk songs from the 70s, such as “You Gotta Believe,” which they “sang” in the film Car Wash.