# TIL: Older Laptops Hate Janet Jackson **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 1, 2023, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/til-older-laptops-hate-janet-jackson/983436 "2023-05-01T21:33:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2023, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/til-older-laptops-hate-janet-jackson/983436/1 "2023-05-01T21:33:27Z")
Apparently Janet’s song Rhythm Nation emits a frequency that for a popular brand of Hard Drives from 15+ years ago, would disrupt the arm and disk which would crash the laptop. No point to this; I just thought it was funny and interesting. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2023, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/til-older-laptops-hate-janet-jackson/983436/2 "2023-05-01T21:37:02Z")
That sounds a lot like an urban legend. Anything to backup this story? I’m pretty sure Hard Drives don’t work this way. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2023, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/til-older-laptops-hate-janet-jackson/983436/3 "2023-05-01T21:41:49Z")
This _Billboard_ article from last year features the claim, made by a Microsoft executive, and indicates it’s a problem for hard drives that spin at 5400 rpm. > **[Janet Jackson’s ‘Rhythm Nation’ Crashes Older Laptops, Microsoft Engineer...](https://www.billboard.com/music/pop/janet-jackson-rhythm-nation-crashes-old-laptops-1235130134/)** > > Microsoft chief software engineer Raymond Chen explains why Jackson’s top hit messes with certain computer hard drives. This _Wired_ article, also from last year, has some more technical details. > [@](#): > > This week, Microsoft shared details of a vulnerability in a widely used 5400-RPM laptop hard drive sold around 2005. Just by playing “Rhythm Nation” on or near a vulnerable laptop, the disk can crash and take its laptop down with it. Spinning disk hard drives have been increasingly phased out in favor of solid-state drives, but they still persist in a host of devices around the world. The flaw, which has its own [CVE vulnerability tracking number](https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2022-38392), is due to the fact that “Rhythm Nation” inadvertently produces one of the natural resonant frequencies created by the movement in the hard drive. > **[Janet Jackson’s ‘Rhythm Nation’ Can Crash Old Hard Drives](https://www.wired.com/story/janet-jackson-rhythm-nation-crash-hard-drives/)** > > Plus: The Twilio hack snags a reporter, a new tool to check for spyware, and the Canadian weed pipeline gets hit by a cyberattack. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2023, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/til-older-laptops-hate-janet-jackson/983436/4 "2023-05-01T22:08:36Z")
This sounds like something from Douglas Hofstadter, “Songs to Destroy Record Players”. ---
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2023, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/til-older-laptops-hate-janet-jackson/983436/5 "2023-05-01T23:14:59Z")
Adam Neely did an explainer video: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/-y3RGeaxksY/maxresdefault.jpg "This Janet Jackson BASSLINE breaks laptops") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-y3RGeaxksY) ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2023, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/til-older-laptops-hate-janet-jackson/983436/6 "2023-05-02T01:57:16Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > This sounds like something from Douglas Hofstadter, “Songs to Destroy Record Players”. Yes!!! I was thinking the same! ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2023, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/til-older-laptops-hate-janet-jackson/983436/7 "2023-05-02T02:03:42Z")
Much more high tech than the [The Return of the Durutti Column](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Return_of_the_Durutti_Column) sandpaper album sleeve, designed to damage the LPs placed on either side of it. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2023, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/til-older-laptops-hate-janet-jackson/983436/8 "2023-05-02T11:40:26Z")
I appreciate other people posting links. I heard the story on 99% Invisible and probably should have credited that in the OP. And yeah non solid state Hard Drives are basically record players in principle.