Imagine that it’s 1989 and you are a freshman in college.  You’ve gotten a job at the athletic rec center on campus, and the only shift available is the worst time for any college student to be at work:  Friday night, 7pm to 11pm.

Your job involves sitting at a front desk and clicking a counter when patrons come in and show their ID.  There are not many people coming in to exercise at this time, except for professors and grad students.  Even worse, your two co-workers are dating each other, and are too busy playing grab-ass to talk to you.

Now imagine that, for some strange leftover disco-era reason, there is roller skating on Friday nights in one of the gyms.  It is attended by the aforementioned grad students, professors, and 70’s holdouts.  I’m talking full-on Skate King mode: disco lights, music pumping — and it’s so loud that it can be heard as far as the front desk.  Songs are recognizable by their bass line, thumping through the wall.    You sit every Friday, eavesdropping on this music, imagining your friends up the hill, who are most certainly having more fun than you are.   What stage of partying is going on up there?   What fun hijinks are occurring in your absence?

There is one song that is played every Friday, several times throughout the course of your shift.   It is unmistakable, as its distinctive “Woo!” comes through the wall, taunting you as the hours roll by:  none other than “It Takes Two”, by Rob Base and DJ EZ Rock.  Twenty years later, you still hear that song and are immediately transported back.

Welcome to my little slice of 1989 Friday night hell…. (and did I mention that it was accompanied by the pungent odor of funky B.O.?)