In the old days, when a star left a still-thriving hit show, they'd celebrate by killing him or her off. But 'The Office' dispatched Michael Scott in a crueler and more final way: they made him normal. Since we're talking about Michael Scott, 'normal' might be stretching it, obviously.

If the girls keep dancing, everybody's happy. If the girls don't dance, nobody's happy.

Every mix tape tells a story. Put them together, and they add up to the story of life.

At an incredibly divisive point in pop history, Donna Summer managed to create an undeniable across-the-board experience of mass pleasure - after 'Bad Girls,' nobody ever tried claiming disco sucked again. It set the template for what Michael Jackson would do a few months later with 'Off The Wall.'

Being a pop fan is a lot like Catholic devotion - lots of ritual, lots of ceremony... We touch the icon to enter the sacred space, genuflecting to reliquaries and ostentatoria that make something splendid of our most secret desires and agonies.

There are all kinds of mix tapes. There is always a reason to make one.

In my headphones, I led a life of romance and incident and intrigue, none of which had anything to do with the world outside my Walkman.