#1,572: Stroke 9 – “Little Black Backpack”

I remembered this as a little pop/rock novelty tune about a gimmicky fashion item women took to wearing in the late 90s (even though this song came out in 1999, and there was a joke about little black backpacks in 1996’s Swingers, but I digress), but that’s not what it is at all. Inspired by a moment when the singer saw his ex (and her little black backpack) out with another man, this song is a fantasy about taking said backpack, beating the other guy up with it, and then seemingly running off with the backpack and its contents (“Just don’t expect to get your bloody black backpack back”). It would be one thing if the song ended with a joke, or note of contrition, but it just leaves us with another moment of, “Think I’m gonna bash his head in,” which is definitely more unfortunate and retrograde than wearing a dumb, if stylish at the time, backpack.