Janet Jackson's 1989 classic 'Rhythm Nation' can make some laptops crash

Published August 24, 2022 at 5:45 AM EDT

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Good morning. I'm Rachel Martin. You can say a lot about the power of music. One song has so much power, it can make some old laptops crash. It's Janet Jackson's 1989 classic "Rhythm Nation."

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "RHYTHM NATION")

JANET JACKSON: (Singing) With music by our side to break the color lines...

MARTIN: Microsoft's chief software engineer blogged about it. Raymond Chen says a specific frequency like the one in "Rhythm Nation" makes Windows XP hard drives go black. Even though there used to be a digital fix for the problem, maybe some folks didn't get the update. It's MORNING EDITION. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

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