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Jun 17, 2022·edited Jun 17, 2022Liked by CJ Kaplan

I don;t know about anyone else, but my junior high was sketchy- I mean in the same way that being in County might be. It was overcrowded, dimly lit, and had low ceilings. Add way too many kids fighting for their spot in the social pecking order, and it was...something.

Nowhere more so than gym class. It was every stereotype you might think it was. So when my classmate started belting out the opening lines to "Faith" in the locker room, it was either the most self-unaware thing ever. Or a baller move. Probably both. But he sang it with such genuine enthusiasm that it somehow rendered him unf*ckwithable.

And, man, did this article remind me that we've come a long way. Did they play the sanitized "I Want Your Love" version on the east coast? I wonder what Tipper Gore thinks listening to the radio today?

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Junior high is weird everywhere, but that dude who sang "Faith" in the locker room is a Hall-of-Famer. I think he probably just shocked everyone into silence. A big swing either way. Never heard "I Want Your Love", but Massachusetts was pretty progressive even then. I mean, nobody even batted an eye when Frankie Goes To Hollywood hit us with "Relax"

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It was the ultimate verbal jiujitsu (sp?), even if it was unintentional. We’ve lost touch, but I think he’s a cop now. Maybe that’s his origin story. Who knows?

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