Yes We Can Can Edition Part 2

Yes We Can Can Edition Part 2

Author: Slate Podcasts July 1, 2023 Duration: 37:22

Today, the Pointer Sisters are mostly remembered for their flurry of ’80s hits, especially the “Excited” one about losing control and liking it. But their musical history is far more varied: jazz standards? Civil rights–era funk? Country music? Yacht rock? The Pointers applied their impeccable sibling harmonies to all of it.


Billboard ranks the Pointer Sisters behind only the Supremes, TLC, and Destiny’s Child among hitmaking girl groups. Yet their versatility has gone relatively unheralded—from the Grammy they won in a country category, to the Bruce Springsteen demo they turned into a smash, to the kiddie bop they recorded for Sesame Street.


How did the Pointers score so many hits in so many idioms? Join Chris Molanphy as he gives the Pointer Sisters their due as harmonizing innovators and genre-defying hitmakers. Here at Hit Parade, we jump (for their love).


Podcast production by Kevin Bendis.






This Pride Month, make an impact by helping Macy’s and The Trevor Project on their mission to fund life-saving suicide prevention services for LGBTQ youth. Go to macys.com/purpose to learn more. 


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.


What makes a song a smash? Talent? Luck? Timing? All that—and more. Chris Molanphy, pop-chart analyst and author of Slate’s “Why Is This Song No. 1?” series, tells tales from a half-century of chart history. Through storytelling, trivia and song snippets, Chris dissects how that song you love—or hate—dominated the airwaves, made its way to the top of the charts and shaped your memories forever. Get more Hit Parade with Slate Plus! Join for monthly early-access episodes, bonus episodes of "The Bridge," and ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe directly from the Hit Parade show page on...
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

Hit Parade | Music History and Music Trivia
Podcast Episodes
Singing Nuns and Green Tambourines Edition Part 1 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 47:29
When you think of music in the 1960s, some groundbreaking artists probably come to mind: Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix and the Jefferson Airplane, for example. But the pop charts paint a very different picture of that decade,…
Material Girl in an Imperial World Edition Part 2 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 40:15
In the late 1980s, the English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys dominated the U.K. pop charts and staged an invasion of the American charts. Years later, founding member Neil Tennant dubbed this streak of creative and commerc…
Material Girl in an Imperial World Edition Part 1 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:01:19
In the late 1980s, the English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys dominated the U.K. pop charts and staged an invasion of the American charts. Years later, founding member Neil Tennant dubbed this streak of creative and commerc…
The Freewheelin’ Edition Part 2 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 56:48
At the movies, A Complete Unknown depicts Bob Dylan as a 1960s “it” boy—played by a 2020s “it” boy, Timothée Chalamet. But the film ends in 1965. What happened in the six decades after that?Dylan not only kept recording.…
The Freewheelin’ Edition Part 1 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 58:39
At the movies, A Complete Unknown depicts Bob Dylan as a 1960s “it” boy—played by a 2020s “it” boy, Timothée Chalamet. But the film ends in 1965. What happened in the six decades after that?Dylan not only kept recording.…
Introducing Broken Record: "Norah Jones Begins Again" [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:22:53
To kick off the New Year, we're sharing a podcast that we think Hit Parade listeners are going to love: Broken Record. Check out this episode with singer/songwriter Norah Jones, co-hosted by Blue Note Records President D…
The Bridge: Slate Music Club 2024 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 35:12
The Slate Music Club is back, in a special edition of Hit Parade – “The Bridge”! Our year-end panel of critics—NPR Music’s Ann Powers, Hearing Things’ Julianne Escobedo Shepherd, Slate’s own Carl Wilson and Hit Parade ho…
I’d Like to Teach the World to Buy Edition Part 2 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 38:49
That damned jingle! In that infernal commercial trying to sell you cars, sneakers, soda, gum! Can’t get it out of your head? Well, what if we made it longer, had a famous singer perform it, and put it on the radio? How w…
I’d Like to Teach the World to Buy Edition Part 1 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 53:42
That damned jingle! In that infernal commercial trying to sell you cars, sneakers, soda, gum! Can’t get it out of your head? Well, what if we made it longer, had a famous singer perform it, and put it on the radio? How w…
Say a Little Prayer Edition Part 2 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 52:25
You know her honorific: Queen of Soul. And heavy is the head that wears the crown. In her lifetime, Aretha Franklin didn’t just want to be revered. She wanted hits. But Franklin made pop come to her, not the other way ar…