There was a time when I followed pop music like it was my job.

I know the TRL finale was a while ago (sometime in late November to be less than exact), but I just got around to reading this great blog post from Idolator about what TRL meant. I really can remember rushing home after 7th grade to watch TRL. I didn't particularly like Carson Daly, but I liked pop music and I was always excited to see who'd be guesting and who'd come in at #1. I also remember I had closed captioning on my TV at the time (for God knows what reason; I was a weird little kid), so I learned every word to songs like Kid Rock's "Cowboy" and Destiny's Child's "Bug a Boo." I still know a large chunk of these lyrics. All of my attention was rapt from 3:30-5-- This was before I even had my own computer in my room, so I was staring straight at the TV, reading lyrics, idolizing pop stars. Nowadays, if I end up liking a pop song, it's usually because the artist was on SNL or So You Think You Can Dance? but it's not as easily trace-able and I tend to learn about what songs are popular long after they would've come and gone on the TRL charts.