LUCENT VIGNETTE PHOTOGRAPHY
Seattle-born culture critic Ann Powers—who will be discussing her expansive new book, Good Booty: Love and Sex, Black and White, Body and Soul in American Music, on September 8 at the Summit—discovered sexiness in music at age 9, with formative tunes making her “jump like a jelly bean.”
“The first two albums I bought,” she recalls in an e-mail interview, “were Maybe Tomorrow by the Jackson 5 and Osmonds by the Osmonds. This was music designed to get young girls thinking about love and sex! I remember the inner sleeve of the Jackson 5 album had an offer to buy these stickers where the top of the Jacksons’ Afros were cut out so their faces looked like hearts. ‘Come on over here, little girl, I wanna KISS ya!’ Michael sang. Gateway drug!”