The year is 1998. Dim lighting and craft store decorations set the mood in the spacious gymnasium. Nervous middle school or high school students stand bunched into groups along the walls. A few of the more daring may already be on the dance floor. Suddenly, the song shifts from a fast hip-hop rhythm to the slow melody of romantic R&B.

"All My Life," the hit song for K-Ci & JoJo, beckons the young, anxious crowd to find a partner and slow-dance.

If you were born in the mid-1980s, chances are you have a memory of a school dance that involves slow-dancing to this song. It became an anthem of sorts for this generation. Ben Rapson, a 2006 UW alum, decided to create a Facebook group devoted to this experience.

The group, called "Are you kidding? I totally slow danced to K-Ci & JoJo's 'All My Life! Duh!'" was started a few weeks ago while Rapson was spending time on Facebook in the middle of the night.

"I looked at the list of groups I was in and realized there had to be one that united all of my friends, not just the ones that are into this particular movie or went on this particular trip," Rapson said.

Thus, the group was founded to bring together those who were in secondary school in the late 1990s and had experienced one of their first slow-dances to the well-known romantic ballad.

The song, from the album Love Always was released by K-Ci & JoJo in early 1998 and immediately began to climb the charts. After debuting at No. 15 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, it reached No. 1 the next week and remained there for three weeks. It also topped the pop and R&B charts.

"Anyone who was in middle or high school during the year that the song was big couldn't go anywhere without hearing it," Rapson said.

A few slow songs undoubtedly made an appearance at each school dance, and "All My Life" became the staple ballad of the year.

Rapson said he chose this song for the basis of his group for the simple reason that everyone has heard it, and the majority of people have more than likely slow-danced to it.

"Every dance in every middle and high school played this song, not to mention the legions of couples who made it their song, not to mention the radio stations who overplayed it for years, not just months," Rapson said, explaining his decision to feature this particular song.

Since he created the group, he has received nothing but positive feedback. The group has 121 members, and several have posted comments on the group's wall reminiscing about their experience with the ballad.

Rapson is unsure if any of his friends that he invited to join the group declined the offer.

"But if so, they're only lying to themselves," he said. "Deep down they love the song just as much as we do."

Reach columnist Abby Walker at abbywalker@thedaily.washington.edu.