Technology can often betray people. but how often can that be said about classic songs? Evidently, Janet Jackson’s “Rhythm Nation” is as destructive toward Windows XP-era laptops as it is amazing to many people’s ears, according to Microsoft staff.
Here's our first video from our new series with Raymond Chen, @ChenCravat.
We asked him to tell us about the mystery wherein some music would crash a laptop!!?? pic.twitter.com/BRgfsWEaaC
— Windows Dev Docs (@WindowsDocs) August 12, 2022
The company’s principal software engineer Raymond Chen shared a story on his blog The Old New Thing about how Jackson’s record possesses soundwaves that would make laptop’s hard drives vibrate before computers ultimately crashed. Chen didn’t go into details about which specific versions of laptops, nor did he show footage of the phenomenon, but the company deemed his story still worth telling, sharing it to their DevDocs Twitter.
Destroying computers was probably not on Janet Jackson’s career bucket list, but it’s definitely a nice footnote to her career. Jackson has won five Grammys, 11 Billboard Music Awards, 11 American Music Awards, eight Guinness World Record entries, and earned a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame. She’s been on a long hiatus since 2015 LP Unbreakable, though she did link up with Daddy Yankee in 2018 for “Made for Now.”
Now, the Jackson family member has another unusual addition to add to her résumé.
Check out Windows’ explanation video for the laptop crashes above.
