I may not dig fanboy culture (or the word “fanboy”), but I certainly understand the impulse behind it. It’s just so satisfying to be really, really knowledgable about something, even if it’s something that much of the world doesn’t care about.

For me–and you may have guessed this by now–the niche that pleases is pop music trivia. During the day, when I’m killing time between writing assignments, I tend to flip through my many, many books about the history of the Billboard charts, just to clear my head. Sometimes, I get comforted by looking over Madonna’s top ten hits again, and sometimes I get surprised by fun facts. (Like how Paul Shaffer, David Letterman’s bandleader, co-wrote “It’s Raining Men.”)

Best of all, these books often remind me of a song I had forgotten about. This morning, I wanted to see what the number one song was during this week in 1991. Turns out, it was Mariah Carey’s “Emotions.”

As I glanced at the rest of that week’s chart, I saw that exactly 17 years ago, Karyn White’s “Romantic,” a future number one single, was sitting at number 5.

And then I thought… “Romantic?” Damn! I haven’t heard that in a minute!

So of course I had to track it down on YouTube. After the jump, you can join me in that strange, wonderful time when Karyn White was a star!

Before we go any further, let’s enjoy the video and song:

I know, right? If someone said, “Please define everything that pop music was about in the early 90s,” you could just play this clip for them.

That’s probably why no one really remembers this hit (or Karyn White, for that matter.) Wheras EMF’s “Unbelievable” sounds both of 1991 and above 1991, “Romantic” is hopelessly trapped there.

But that doesn’t mean there’s nothing to enjoy. As producers, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis always created killer industrial-funk dance beats. There’s a crispness to their sound that sill catches my ear–something fierce and insistent and dark that makes me want to dance much more than the minimalist pulses of Lil’ Wayne or the formless chaos of The Pussycat Dolls.

Would it be fair to say that Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis’ work just sounds more musical than a lot of current dance pop?

Anyway… the quality of the song notwithstanding, the video for “Romantic” is fascinating because it’s also trapepd in its era. It’s so utterly unremarkable that it becomes remarkable, you know?

I mean, the sexy strutting in blue light shows up later in “My Lovin’” by En Vogue, and the dancing with the chair is straight out of “Miss You Much” by Janet. The color shots of dancers wandering a stage could be from “Cold Hearted” by Paula Abdul, while the black-and-white images of dancers posing are echoes of “Vogue.” Break it all down, and you’ve got a primer on what used to be popular.

So if “Romantic” exemplifies the least common demoniator of pop music in 1991–the music that was popular but in no way revolutionary– what does that tell us about the era? If this songs is stuck in 1991, then what does it mean to be stuck there? Is it something more than video techniques and beats?

Hmm… I need to think about that. Anyone have any ideas?