In 2005, it was discovered that Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation would crash a particular laptop because it matched the natural resonant frequency of its hard drive. The PC manufacturer behind this model solved the issue by introducing an audio filter to Windows XP that dampened the offending frequency and prevented it from killing the laptop. Programmer Raymond Chen posted on the Microsoft Dev Blog that this particular filter was installed “at least until Windows 7”.
However, Microsoft imposed a new directive that required Audio Processing Objects (APO), the technical term for these audio filters on Windows, to be disabled by the user on command. That means if you go to Windows’ classic Sound settings Control Panel app, open the properties of your default speaker, click on the Advanced tab, and uncheck Enable audio enhancements, all filters, including the one potentially protecting your PC from Janet Jackson’s errant hit, will be deactivated.
This isn’t good news for the manufacturer, because if some of its users turned off all APOs and started playing the number 2 Billboard Hot 100 song for January 1990, its laptop would start crashing. And because this is such an obscure issue, most people would not relate the problems they’re experiencing to the action they took in their PC’s sound settings. Instead, they’d just start blaming the manufacturer or Windows itself for sucking.
Thankfully, the software giant gave it an exception. This means the APO stopping Janet Jackson from crippling a laptop now runs permanently, even if you turned off all audio enhancements on your Windows PC.
Does Janet Jackson’s threat still exist?
Chen did not reveal who the manufacturer was or which laptop (or hard drive) model was affected by Rhythm Nation, so we wouldn’t know how long Janet Jackson’s track from 1989 would have affected laptops. Instead, he simply called it Fabrikam, the fictional company name Microsoft uses in documentation, examples, and other scenarios requiring real-world examples.
Nevertheless, we believe this hard-drive-crash-inducing resonant frequency no longer bothers most computers, especially as most devices have now switched to SSDs. But even if you keep an older laptop running and upgrade it to Windows 11, the special audio filter should still protect it from 30-year-old audio tracks that wreak havoc on newer gear.
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