Janet Jackson’s ‘Rhythm Nation’ crashed some Windows laptops for years

Longtime Verge readers may remember that the music video for Janet Jackson’s “Rhythm Nation” could crash certain Windows laptops due to specific audio frequencies affecting hard drives. Microsoft employee Raymond Chen revealed that a custom filter to mitigate this issue persisted until at least Windows 7, as a hardware vendor sought an exception to a rule requiring users to disable audio processing, fearing it could lead to computer damage. Although it’s unclear if this rule remains today, modern computers have largely transitioned away from spinning disk hard drives, making it generally safe to play “Rhythm Nation” without concern.

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