"Neutron Dance" is a song written by Allee Willis and Danny Sembello which was introduced by the Pointer Sisters on their 1983 album Break Out. The song became a Top Ten hit in 1985, its success augmented by being prominently featured on the soundtrack of motion picture Beverly Hills Cop.

According to Allee Willis, "Neutron Dance" was written in hopes of being placed on the soundtrack of the film Streets of Fire: "we were told that there was a scene on a bus that was leaving town after there had been this nuclear holocaust, and that a '50s doo-wop black group was going to be at the back of the bus that the lead couple was escaping on ... Danny Sembello and I just met that day ... I was very disinterested in songwriting at that point, and I'm writing with this kid who's never had a record before, and I just wanted to get him in and out. He was a phenomenal keyboard player, and I just said: 'Play the most common sounding old fashioned '50s black music bass line that you can think of.' And he just started doing the [rhythm for "Neutron Dance"]. And I'm someone who could write a melody to a spoon falling on the table. So I literally sang that melody down. First time down, he just kind of followed and went to the right places. And then I said, Let's just write this quick lyric ... we're taking a half an hour on the lyric, and this thing's gonna get done."

Willis adds that the lyric theme of "Neutron Dance" was due to "all this stuff going on in my life: I don't want to take it anymore, I'll just stay here locked behind the door. Just no time to stop and get away, because I work so hard to make it every day. Really a lyric about all these things falling apart in your life, and you know what, just get it together and change your life." According to Willis while working on the lyrics with Sembello she looked through a window and saw someone attempting to break into her car: while running outside to scare off the thief Willis called out to Sembello: "Someone stole my brand new Chevrolet", and the line was included in the song.

"Neutron Dance" featuring Ruth Pointer on lead vocal was introduced on the Pointer Sisters' October 1983 album release Break Out; Ruth Pointer would recall: "When I first heard 'Neutron Dance' I didn't want to sing it. I liked [its] rhythm and vigorous arrangement but to me the word 'neutron' had a violent connotation on account of the neutron bomb then so much in the news." Ruth Pointer recalls suggesting to Allee Willis that the song's lyric be modified: "she told me to quit overthinking it and just sing the damn song! Luckily I shut up and listened. I gave 'Neutron Dance' a gospel feel and nailed it in a few takes."

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