My Janet Jackson Top 10 Countdown
Janet Jackson had a 15 year run between 1986 & 2001 where she released 5 multi-platinum # 1 albums that each spun off an average of 5 smash hits if not more. She was one of the biggest stars of the MTV age until the 2004 Superbowl. After that she seemingly disappeared from the airwaves and her legacy seemed in jeopardy. Now it feels like she is finally getting the respect she deserves between all the lifetime achievement awards she has won and wowing audiences on her worldwide tours these last few years. She even has a Vegas Residency now. This warms my heart because I feel she really was one of the best pop stars we had. This top 10 as always is purely subjective and these are just my personal favorites, but I did try to get at least one song off each of her 5 biggest albums from 1986-2001.
10. What Have You Done For Me Lately?
When Janet broke free of her father after 2 failed albums and hooked up with Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis Janet was taking back control of her life and it was a huge gamble. This change connected with audiences immediately. What Have You Done For Me Lately announced the new Janet Jackson, one who was tougher, more street savy, spoke her mind and didn’t suffer fools gladly. Janet, along with Madonna, helped usher feminism into the MTV age and female pop stars have been thanking them ever since. This video was also the start of Janet’s collaboration with Paula Abdul who is featured prominently in the video and choreographed Janet’s next several videos as well. I will have a lot more to say about Paula Abdul soon 😊.
09. If
If is one of Janet’s most experimental singles. It mixes heavy metal guitar, Hip-Hop dance beats and a string sample from The Supremes’ 1969 classic Someday We’ll Be Together. It feels jarring at first but then you realize how brilliant it all is and how these juxtapositions are enhancing one another instead of cancelling each other out. This is Janet, Jimmy and Terry pushing the limits of what a “pop” song could sound like on radio back in 1993. The music video also features one of Janet’s most iconic dance routines ever. I tried copying it at home but I could not!
08. Together Again
The Velvet Rope is Janet’s dark sex album where she addresses her depression, Spousal abuse, homosexuality & homophobia and how technology is changing intimacy. In a lot of ways it feels similar to Madonna’s dark sex album Erotica released 5 years prior. Still most of that went over my head at the time, what grabbed my ear and convinced me to purchase my first Janet Jackson album was Together Again the album’s sole # 1 hit. For 11 year old Doug it was catchy, fun and made me want to dance and that was all I was looking for back then. In the years since the song has come to mean more to me once I learned what it was about. Janet wrote the song to a dear friend of hers who died of AIDS. The song though expresses how he is heaven now where he can be happy, free of pain and free of judgement. Janet sings she will never forget him and someday they will be reunited again in heaven. Anyone else tearing up or is it just me?
07. The Pleasure Principle
The last single off Control is also my favorite. It was the only single off Control to not hit the 10 but the music video has kept it in the public’s imagination. The earlier videos off Control had featured a lot of choreographed dancing courtesy of Paula Abdul but it was usually Janet dancing with large groups of people. The Pleasure Principle is just Janet dancing by herself through an empty warehouse and it’s riveting especially the chair dance routine which reminds me a bit of Madonna’s chair dance routine in the Open Your Video from around the same time. Both videos were obviously a huge influence on Britney’s chair dance routine in Stronger. Music wise it’s just a great dance song and there’s not much more to say about it.
06. Rhythm Nation
This song speaks to me more and more as the years go by. Rhythm Nation is a political rallying cry to fight against bigotry in all it’s forms through power the music. Right from the start Janet sings “With Music by our side to break the color lines let’s work together to improve our way of life.” I love this line so much because it speaks to how music has the ability to change hearts and minds that is both empowering and life changing. Music has a way of connecting deeply with people that protests, marches and demonstrations sometimes can’t do. Later on when Janet sings “Things are getting worse we have to make them better” and then shouts “IT’S TIME TO GIVE A DAMN LET’S WORK TOGETHER” she is trying to not only unite people but wake people up from their political apathy. After the 2016 election the message of this song became a lot more real for me. I was jolted out of political apathy and realized I had to fight for my rights and those around me because complacency didn’t cut it anymore. Ever since that election this song has become even more important to me. When I feel like things are getting worse and there is nothing we can do because I feel so helpless I listen to Rhythm Nation. It reminds me that the fight is not over and it helps me find the strength to not back down. 30 years later Rhythm Nation’s message is more important than ever.
05. Come Back To Me
I’ve always loved this song. The sadness and atmosphere in it is so comforting and I love that in music (That’s why I love a lot of Grunge too.) Janet gives a very vulnerable performance that works beautifully within her range. If Whitney or Mariah sang this (as great as they are) it would not have the same effect. I also think the production is pitch perfect proving once again why Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis are two of the greatest music producers of all time.
04. That’s The Way Love Goes
When Grunge and Gangsta Rap turned the music world upside down in 1992 a lot of female pop stars fell by the wayside quickly. Only the very best were able to survive this extreme period of transition. I feel like Janet, Jimmy and Terry knew this. What worked on Control and Rhythm Nation was not going to work in the 90s and so they successfully adapted with the times and made a more laid back album that also soundtracked Janet’s blossoming sexuality. Before this Janet was usually all buttoned up and revealed no skin in her performances or music videos. The final video off Rhythm Nation Love Would Never Do Without You was the first time we started seeing Janet get more comfortable showing more skin on camera. By the time her 1993 self-titled album came out in 1993 Janet was posing nude on the cover of Rolling Stone with a man clasping her boobs! Janet was not gonna wait any longer, she was now ready to get down and That’s the Way Love Goes was the perfect introduction to the new Janet Jackson. It was smooth, laid back, sultry and seductive as hell and it stayed on top of the charts for 8 straight weeks. Janet had successfully made the transition into the 90s. It remains one of her most streamed songs to this day because That’s the Way Love Goes still feels like the kind of sex we all want most.
03. All For You
Unlike Madonna I don’t think Janet gets enough credit for keeping up the times during the golden years of MTV. In the early 00s music had shifted away from rap and alternative rock and teen pop was dominating the charts. Total Request Live was all of a sudden the American Bandstand of Generation Y and if you hoped to reach the youth market you had to get your video on TRL. In response to this new teen pop market Janet unleashed All For You in early 2001. Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis’s production is detailed yet accessible and it makes for one of the best bops in Janet’s catalogue. It was the perfect song to slide in between N Sync and Britney Spears on TRL and it sounded great on the radio. All For You ended up going # 1 for seven weeks and just like Madonna had done with Music 6 months earlier Janet showed the new kids how it was done. I was so happy for her and I remember watching the video on TRL, hearing it on radio and playing it on my discman over and over and over again and I never got sick of it once. All For You is pop music at it’s best where you get caught up in the sugar rush of everything clicking perfectly into place. Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis once again showed the world why they are 2 of the greatest pop/RnB producers of all time. Before Max Martin, Dr. Luke and Katy Perry created a pop empire with Teenage Dream, Janet, Jimmy and Terry were among the best and most reliable hit makers of their time.
02. Escapade
This song is just a straight up bop that always makes me feel good. No matter how I am feeling this song is sure to put a smile on my face and a kick in my step. It was a deserved # 1 smash and I danced to it with my best friends from college at parties we threw in our dorm or impromptu dance sessions in our kitchen. At my wedding we all danced together to Escapade one more time. We all love it and you should to. If this song doesn’t get you moving or singing along you might want to check your pulse.
01. Miss You Much
This was a close race between Escapade and Miss You Much and honestly in a few weeks I might be convinced to flip them around. At the end of the day though these are my 2 all time favorite Janet Jackson songs and I think they always will be. Like Escapade, Miss You Much is a total bop that I have danced to many times including my own bedroom with the door closed in middle school or with my friends in our London flat when we studied abroad. My Dad also likes Miss You Much but that’s because for years he thought it was the song Jack Nicolson’s Joker played in Tim Burton’s Batman when he dancing around the art museum. I knew it was Partyman by Prince and not Miss You Much, but I was just so happy he now liked a Janet Jackson song that I didn’t have the heart to tell him he was wrong. The reason this beats Escapade is that while both are total bops, Miss You Much is just a touch grittier and tougher, which makes it a little cooler. Plus I loved the music video more than the Escapade music video since it had better dancing and there was a muscular dancer with a tight shirt that I always enjoy looking at whenever I watch the video. Sometimes it’s the little things am I right!
