111. Janet Jackson, "Control"

 


First of all, just feast your eyes on that cover.  It's so 80s it looks like leg warmers married a Rubik's Cube.  The squiggly lines, bright colors, it's got it all.  The cover for the single version of the title track goes even harder:


It's like the Berlin Wall is falling all over again.  Anyway, graphic design is not even close to the most interesting thing about this album, a tight 41 minutes of electro-dance-pop mixed with R&B and funk and disco and God knows what else.  The cultural reach of this album is hard to overestimate; I knew like half the songs, and to my knowledge I have never listened to this album before.

Thjis album, which came out in 1986, was Jackson's third, following two mostly forgettable and routine pop efforts overseen by her legendarily domineering father, Joe.  With this album, she stepped away from his overbearing presence and worked with superstar producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis.  It seems to have worked; it sold like 10 million copies and put 5 singles in the Top 5.

One of these is "When I Think of You," as good an example of what's going on in this album as any.  It starts with some electric piano and then the drum machne kicks in and then there are blasts of synth horn and Jackson's voice.  "Nasty," which you also know, is basically similar and has that triplet beat that would go on to form the foundation for the New Jack Swing sound that would soon rise in prominence.

I'm not sure I'd ever heard the title track, which is pretty much an unvarnished declaration of independence and self-assurance from Jackson.  It's an intricately produced, complex and interesting song.  And there is a WILD story about the filming of the video, at the Grand Olympic Auditorium in LA.  A&M, Jackson's label, said they wanted more white people visible in the audience, so the producers moved white people closer to the stage until it started getting obvious what was going on and the rest of crowd got visibly upset, understandably, and it almost turned into a huge disaster.  White people, man.

This was a fun listen, and I fully appreciate its impact and the importance this album had, but for me it's gonna stay an appreciate-but-don't-love record.

Is this album in my personal Top 500? Its great, just not my thing.

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