"Dare Me" is a 1985 song originally by American

contemporary R&B Contemporary R&B (or simply R&B) is a popular music genre that combines rhythm and blues with elements of pop, soul, funk, hip hop, and electronic music. The genre features a distinctive record production style, drum machine-backed rhythm ...

group

the Pointer Sisters The Pointer Sisters are an American pop and R&B singing group from Oakland, California, that achieved mainstream success during the 1970s and 1980s. Their repertoire has included such diverse genres as pop, jazz, electronic music, bebop, b ...

, issued by

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also A ...

The Pointer Sisters version

Background

"Dare Me" was written by Nashville-based songwriters Sam Lorber and Dave Innis in 1984. Innis, who shortly afterwards became a founding member of Restless Heart, was then a staff writer for

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Di ...

music publishing division, and recalls that "Dare Me" was written with the Pointer Sisters in mind, adding: "typically taff writerslook at who's ecordingnow and what kind of material are they looking for, and we would tailor a song for a particular artist and pitch it"..."Sam Lorber and I...did try to put ourselves in the place of what a gal might be thinking...not specifically trying to be a Pointer Sister, but a song written from a female perspective, for sure. There are certain things that are more gender specific and gender appropriate...certain things that a woman can say that a guy's not going to be able to get away with saying." Featuring a lead vocal by

June Pointer June Antoinette Pointer (November 30, 1953 – April 11, 2006) was an American singer, best known as the youngest of the founding members of the vocal group The Pointer Sisters. Early life and career Born the youngest of six children to minister ...

, "Dare Me" was issued as the lead single from the Pointer Sisters'

platinum Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver". Platinu ...

-selling album ''

Contact Contact may refer to: Interaction Physical interaction * Contact (geology), a common geological feature * Contact lens or contact, a lens placed on the eye * Contact sport, a sport in which players make contact with other players or objects * ...

'': peaking at number 11 on the

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

in ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' magazine, "Dare Me" did afford the Pointer Sisters a final Top Ten hit on the magazine's R&B chart peaking at number 6 and also became the only Pointer Sisters' track to reach number 1 on ''Billboards Dance Club chart. "Dare Me" afforded the Pointer Sisters their final Top 40 hit in the British Isles with peaks of number 7 in Ireland and number 17 in the UK: other international chart peaks for "Dare Me" were number 10 in Australia, number 20 in Canada, number 22 in Austria, number 20 in Belgium (the Flemish chart), number 26 in Finland, number 45 in the Netherlands, number 27 in New Zealand, and number 11 in Sweden.

Video

"Dare Me" was promoted with a

video Video is an electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving visual media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, which were quickly replaced by cathode-ray tube (CRT) syste ...

shot at the Main Street Gym (LA) where scenes for the iconic martial arts film ''

Raging Bull ''Raging Bull'' is a 1980 American biographical sports drama film directed by Martin Scorsese, produced by Robert Chartoff and Irwin Winkler and adapted by Paul Schrader and Mardik Martin from Jake LaMotta's 1970 memoir '' Raging Bull: My St ...

'' had been filmed: the video introduced the Pointer Sisters in male drag scouting potential

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...

talent, then showed the group's members in the

boxing ring A boxing ring, often referred to simply as a ring or the squared circle, is the space in which a boxing match occurs. A modern ring consists of a square raised platform with a post at each corner. Four ropes are attached to the posts and pulled p ...

sparring with Mark Breland. Michael Chapman, the

cinematographer The cinematographer or director of photography (sometimes shortened to DP or DOP) is the person responsible for the photographing or recording of a film, television production, music video or other live action piece. The cinematographer is the ch ...

for ''Raging Bull'', directed the "Dare Me" video in collaboration with the track's producer Richard Perry: the video also featured

Steven Bauer Steven Bauer (born Esteban Ernesto Echevarría Samson; December 2, 1956) is a Cuban-born American actor. Bauer began his career on PBS, portraying Joe Peña, the son of Cuban immigrants on '' ¿Qué Pasa, USA?'' (1977–1980) and is perhaps most ...

The Casey Kasem incident

In September 1985, while the Pointer Sisters' version was on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 music chart, ''

American Top 40 ''American Top 40'' (previously abbreviated to ''AT40'') is an internationally syndicated, independent song countdown radio program created by Casey Kasem, Don Bustany, Tom Rounds, and Ron Jacobs. The program is currently hosted by Ryan Seacr ...

'' host Casey Kasem became irritated when the show's producers placed a long distance dedication spot about a listener's dog dying immediately after "Dare Me," which was an uptempo dance song. The song in the dedication was

Henry Gross Henry Gross (born April 1, 1951) is an American singer-songwriter best known for his association with the group Sha Na Na and for his hit song, " Shannon". Gross is considered a one-hit wonder artist; none of his other songs reached the Top 1 ...

' " Shannon". Kasem expressed his dissatisfaction with a profanity-laced tirade which never made the air, but has become a staple on the Internet.

Junior Jack version

"Stupidisco" is a 2004 single by Italian-Belgian

house music House is a music genre characterized by a repetitive Four on the floor (music), four-on-the-floor beat and a typical tempo of 120 beats per minute. It was created by Disc jockey, DJs and music producers from Chicago metropolitan area, Chicago' ...

producer

Junior Jack Vito Lucente (; born 31 August 1971), known by his stage name Junior Jack, is an Italian house music producer and DJ based in Belgium. Biography In the early years, Vito Lucente produced several acid house and Eurodance projects, mostly in co ...

. It topped the ''

Dance Club Songs Dance Club Songs is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. It is a national look over of club disc jockeys to determine the most popular songs being played in nightclubs across the country. It was launched as t ...

chart and peaked at number 25 in the Netherlands, number 26 in the United Kingdom, and number 46 in Australia. In 2006, the song was re-released as "Dare Me (Stupidisco)", featuring vocals from Shena. This version reached number 14 in Finland and number 20 in the United Kingdom. Both versions topped the UK Dance Chart.

Music video

There is a censored version and an uncensored version of the music video. The video itself features two female wrestlers. In both versions, towards the end, both women make sexual motions. In the uncensored version, they pull off each other's bikinis while wrestling. They fondle each other and dance naked until the song ends. The video also features two

Pakistani American Pakistani Americans ( ur, ) are Americans who originate from Pakistan. The term may also refer to people who also hold a dual Pakistani and U.S. citizenship. Educational attainment level and household income are much higher in the Pakistani-Am ...

announcers; one of them is the businessman

Mansoor Ijaz Mansoor Ijaz (born August 1961) is a Pakistani-American venture financier and hedge-fund manager. He is founder and chairman of Crescent Investment Management Ltd, a New York and London-based investment firm that operates ''CARAT'', a proprietary ...

. He had a cameo role in the music video as an announcer. His participation in the music video was used to undermine Ijaz during the memogate controversy in

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

Charts

"Stupidisco"

Weekly charts Year-end charts

"Dare Me (Stupidisco)"

Samples and other covers

* Dave Armstrong's song "Make Your Move", samples this track and is similar to Junior Jack's version. * In 2020, Nervo,

Plastik Funk Plastik Funk are a music duo consisting of Rafael Ximenez-Carrillo and Mikio Gruschinske who teamed up with Tujamo and Sneakbo for their single " Dr. Who!", which peaked at number 21 on the UK Singles Chart. Background Plastik Funk were formed ...

and Tim Morrison released a cover version of "Dare Me".

References

{{Authority control 1985 singles 1985 songs 2004 singles The Pointer Sisters songs Nervo (DJs) songs RCA Records singles Song recordings produced by Richard Perry Songs with feminist themes Songs written by Sam Lorber