Rihanna "S.O.S."

With school shootings, gun violence and bullying being a daily topic in our daily news feed, it made me think back to my own experiences from the 1980s and '90s. As far as bullying goes, I kept a low-profile and didn't talk to a whole lot of people so I escaped any bullying -- plus I had an older brother who had no problem beating up anyone who upset me. I don't recall anyone ever bringing one to school or anything remotely close to what's happened since Columbine. The closest thing that's happened occurred in high school when someone phoned in a bomb threat which caused our massive school to evacuate. I was a freshman at the time and wondered if this would be an recurring thing -- thankfully, it never happened again and I consider myself very fortunate.

Marié Digby - "Umbrella"

Marie Digby, pronounced "Mahr-E-ay", gained fame for her cover of Rihanna's "Umbrella" in 2007.  "Umbrella" was one of many covers Digby posted to her YouTube channel and is her most successful with more than 20,000,000 views.  The song found airplay on Hot Adult Contemporary radio stations that weren't quite comfortable spinning Rihanna during that time.