20 years of the"janet." album....

[Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 24,080
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after celebrating 15 years of Madonnas Ray of Light and feeling summery replaying it....i felt like revisiting Janet Jackson...and little did i realise...its been TWENTY years since "janet." was released :)

in a post-Erotica world....the Pop music scene was in a state of shock/social consciousness....Janet Jackson signed a new record deal with Virgin Records (she became the second richest musician ever at the time in 1993 behind the tied position of her brother MJ and Madonna on the shared top spot) there was no other artist in their league. So in the summer of 1993 Janet Jackson made her debut at her new label and reinvented her image from the New Jack Swing/Revolution Rock Chick of the Rhythm Nation era (my fave album by Janet) into a more fierce/sexual predator like feel/look in a new R&B/Funk/Dance/House direction.

the album is perhaps less inventive and forward thinking when compared to Control and Rhythm Nation which brought New Jack Swing into popular music and showcased Jimmy Jam/Terry Lewis (her songwriters/production duo for three decades) it is a great body of work....and with some fillers here and there it is mostly killer song after killer song and remains one of my favourite albums of all time :)

the song "This Time" in particular is just so haunting and creative! and "Throb" is such a massive Acid House highlight, and one of her biggest hits "thats the way love goes" was her first big global hit besides America (in the UK she usually had minimal singles success) which continued for a bulk of the 90s :)

the album helped bring forth the R&B sounds/genre into maisntream Pop music as well as applying elements from all over the spectrum....some Eastern influences, some massive House/Madonna-esque anthems and some Janet defining swooning beats! it defined the mid-90s in so many ways and so many artists in R&B tried to imitate...including Janet herself in the 00s. And it is her biggest selling album with over 15 million copies sold globally and is her only double platinum UK album.

Okay so thats my rantings over....just wanted to see...who else owns this album? who else likes/loves this album? and if you havent...why not check it out? Its quite a gem of a beast!
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  • Hav_mor91Hav_mor91 Posts: 17,183
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    love this album but for frigg sake those interludes i mean at 28 tracks with i think 12 actual songs it's excessive :D

    But that said i love the album it's more straight forward less preachy and all about the good times. Janet is in touch with herself in a different way and it shows. It's smooth R&B with enough variation throughout to keep things interesting.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 24,080
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    Hav_mor91 wrote: »
    love this album but for frigg sake those interludes i mean at 28 tracks with i think 12 actual songs it's excessive :D

    But that said i love the album it's more straight forward less preachy and all about the good times. Janet is in touch with herself in a different way and it shows. It's smooth R&B with enough variation throughout to keep things interesting.

    YEAH HM! :)) and agred she invented the interlude ;) hehe...Xtina could never :P haha! I loved them on RHythm Nation but so many on this album (and on Velvet ROpe and All For You too) really took the cake in some ways for me.

    But yeah there is a 12 song album in there :D and agreed it is so fit for the summer...which is why its on NOW :D cannot believe its 20 years of the album...i mean Erotica is my age and now this album is 20 ....crazy!!

    90s Heaven <3
  • Hav_mor91Hav_mor91 Posts: 17,183
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    YEAH HM! :)) and agred she invented the interlude ;) hehe...Xtina could never :P haha! I loved them on RHythm Nation but so many on this album (and on Velvet ROpe and All For You too) really took the cake in some ways for me.

    But yeah there is a 12 song album in there :D and agreed it is so fit for the summer...which is why its on NOW :D cannot believe its 20 years of the album...i mean Erotica is my age and now this album is 20 ....crazy!!

    90s Heaven <3

    I know some are like 4 seconds theiy're the most pointless inclusions in the history of music :p

    And yes after sifting through that 12 track album is pure 90's bliss upbeat euphoric romantic and all kind sof wonderful :). And i love looking at music rleased the same year as me 1991 of course nevermind and grunge awesome :p
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 24,080
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    Hav_mor91 wrote: »
    I know some are like 4 seconds theiy're the most pointless inclusions in the history of music :p

    And yes after sifting through that 12 track album is pure 90's bliss upbeat euphoric romantic and all kind sof wonderful :). And i love looking at music rleased the same year as me 1991 of course nevermind and grunge awesome :p

    yeah i feel that from MJ with Dangerous and Madonna with Erotica and Janet with "janet." they really did shake up the system in the first half of the decade with Pop....pop in constructive/deconstructive mode! and as you say grunge was in...its interesting echoing back.

    And towards the end of the decade interesting Janet also applied spirituality to her R&B craft she mastered and i feel her last artistic peak (1986 - 1997 was Janets creative peak i feel) her sales were dramatically low by Velvet Rope ( 7 million compared to "janet." over double!) crazy!

    But i love it looking back over the 90s decad eand the journey took....not looking at the Teen Pop brigade as much...Madonna with Ray of Light, Bjork with Homogenic, Daft Punk with Homework, and of course the massive increase of Massive Attack, Portishead etc...and of coruse you have Janet Jackson, Kylie (Impossible Princess) and U2 and everything evolving and changing and adapting...a very interesting time epriod.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 24,080
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    Hehe....well that makes two UK customers of the album :D<3
  • Hav_mor91Hav_mor91 Posts: 17,183
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    yeah i feel that from MJ with Dangerous and Madonna with Erotica and Janet with "janet." they really did shake up the system in the first half of the decade with Pop....pop in constructive/deconstructive mode! and as you say grunge was in...its interesting echoing back.

    And towards the end of the decade interesting Janet also applied spirituality to her R&B craft she mastered and i feel her last artistic peak (1986 - 1997 was Janets creative peak i feel) her sales were dramatically low by Velvet Rope ( 7 million compared to "janet." over double!) crazy!

    But i love it looking back over the 90s decad eand the journey took....not looking at the Teen Pop brigade as much...Madonna with Ray of Light, Bjork with Homogenic, Daft Punk with Homework, and of course the massive increase of Massive Attack, Portishead etc...and of coruse you have Janet Jackson, Kylie (Impossible Princess) and U2 and everything evolving and changing and adapting...a very interesting time epriod.

    I loev 90's music and it's eveloution across the decade from it's early R&B danc ebeginngins to it's more alternative endings. I mena grunge seeped into the mainstream with JLP whicht henr transcended itself backover VR may be R&B but it owes itself alot to the singer-songwriter confessional that had become prevalent.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 24,080
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    Hav_mor91 wrote: »
    I loev 90's music and it's eveloution across the decade from it's early R&B danc ebeginngins to it's more alternative endings. I mena grunge seeped into the mainstream with JLP whicht henr transcended itself backover VR may be R&B but it owes itself alot to the singer-songwriter confessional that had become prevalent.

    Hehe i should change this thread into the music f the late 20th century thread <3 it is true though the amount of variation...when R&B had variation and syle and something to say..when artists were behind their own material and could be in control and not defined by their record labels...where the wheel was pushed forward...very revolutionary.
  • Hav_mor91Hav_mor91 Posts: 17,183
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    Hehe i should change this thread into the music f the late 20th century thread <3 it is true though the amount of variation...when R&B had variation and syle and something to say..when artists were behind their own material and could be in control and not defined by their record labels...where the wheel was pushed forward...very revolutionary.

    I wouldn't say rovolutionaty but definitely the last gasp in independent thought in the mainstream :P Janet really encapsulated taht idea and push forward with it plus i love that with Janet she was all grown up and no holds barred :p
  • Pele-thefiregoddessPele-thefiregoddess Posts: 6,170
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    no i loved the janet album .... it was like she had been thrown into the den of prince ..... a jazzy funky sexy rnb jam ...daring and bold in its own way .... 'if' is just a pop masterpiece.
  • Hav_mor91Hav_mor91 Posts: 17,183
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    no i loved the janet album .... it was like she had been thrown into the den of prince ..... a jazzy funky sexy rnb jam ...daring and bold in its own way .... 'if' is just a pop masterpiece.

    I love If and This Time R&B melodrama at its bets :p
  • FashionFashion Posts: 5,017
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    Her second best album, after Velvet Rope :).
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 1,143
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    Probably my second favorite Janet album. RN1814 is still by far her best imo though. She never quite managed to match that album.

    I agree about her creative peak as well. Her albums after TVR aren't even close to her earlier work.
  • Littlegreen42Littlegreen42 Posts: 19,963
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    Brilliant album, a couple of the tracks need trimming but otherwise it's perfect. 'Where Are You Now' has always been one of my faves.

    and of course 'If' makes me want to work me junk ;)
  • glyn9799glyn9799 Posts: 7,391
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    Her best album in my opinion, closely followed by Velvet Rope and All For You. 'This Time' is one of her best songs EVER, and 'If' is without doubt her best single.

    The one thing that ruins this album (and all her albums) are the interludes. They are dreadful. 'Back' is a track on this album and it's literally 3 seconds long! Why does she do it? :mad:
  • uniqueunique Posts: 12,367
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    in a state of shock/social consciousness....Janet Jackson signed a new record deal with Virgin Records (she became the second richest musician ever at the time in 1993 behind the tied position of her brother MJ and Madonna on the shared top spot) there was no other artist in their league.
    asides from her not being a musician, she was far from being the second richest artist/writer/whatever in music. the deal both jacksons got was also much less than the deal prince got, which was $100m, plus prince's royalties rate was twice what madonna and the jacksons got. i don't know where you get the financial info from, but it's not right at all
    the album is perhaps less inventive and forward thinking when compared to Control and Rhythm Nation which brought New Jack Swing into popular music and showcased Jimmy Jam/Terry Lewis (her songwriters/production duo for three decades) it is a great body of work....and with some fillers here and there it is mostly killer song after killer song and remains one of my favourite albums of all time :)
    new jack swing was pretty much over when the album came out. bobby brown peaked with it's popularity in 1988. this is why the post quincy MJ albums suffer so badly, as by the time the album came out, the tracks were so dated compared to what was in the charts at the time and before, as he just used the big name producers of the minute. if the tracks were released as singles as soon as they were finished they might have done better, but as an album the post quincy stuff just didn't gel. jam and lewis seemed to do much better generally but even their MJ stuff was boring
    i would also say "janet" is more inventive than "control". control is a better album but it's just typical of the minneapolis sound that was around at the time. if you listen to the "1999" album by prince and the first couple of time albums (that jimmy and terry didn't play on - it was just prince and morris that recorded them, jimmy and terry were the live band and image of the act), plus other early jam and lewis productions, you can see where the control sound comes from. the sound is jam and lewis emulating prince's keyboard and drum machine productions. that's why prince asks "who wrote this" when he plays bits of janet jackson/jam and lewis tracks at his shows, as it sounds so much like him. with rythmn nation they moved on considerably and the sales and success were a result of this
    the album helped bring forth the R&B sounds/genre into maisntream Pop music
    no it didn't. it just followed what had been happening already in the charts for years, it was more a backward move compared to RN. there was little new and inventive about the album, it just used different popular genres. if anything, it was the move towards house music that was the most interesting
    it defined the mid-90s in so many ways and so many artists in R&B tried to imitate...including Janet herself in the 00s.
    it didn't define the mid 90s at all. at and around the time the album came out, and the following singles, pop music was having a hard time due to acts like new kids on the block and other producer led material. grunge was huge at the time and topping the charts. hip hop was reaching it peak, and rnb overtook pop on the charts. if there was any rnb album to define the mid 90s it would be crazysexycool which sold more copies than janet. also at the time, britpop was becoming huge in the uk.
    there are some great songs on the album, like again, if and that's the way love goes, but none of them are half as good as the best of control or RN, but they are miles better than what came next. i don't know how it went so wrong from velvet rope onwards. there were some good tracks on VR but the album just didn't work. i think having too many interludes and segues just spoils the flow of an album, particularly after repeated listenings. it's a novelty first play, but after 3 plays you just want to get on with the music.
  • Hit Em Up StyleHit Em Up Style Posts: 12,141
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    I don't normally agree with you ^^^^ but I would agree that it was CrazySexyCool that defined the RnB trend of the 90s. However Janet did influence RnB culture of the mid to late 90s in a big way. Look at Brandy, Monica, Mya etc. That was Janet's influence from this album and its visuals.

    I always enjoyed Janet but felt it was too long. It always got on my nerves the excessive length of it.
  • uniqueunique Posts: 12,367
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    I don't normally agree with you ^^^^ but I would agree that it was CrazySexyCool that defined the RnB trend of the 90s. However Janet did influence RnB culture of the mid to late 90s in a big way. Look at Brandy, Monica, Mya etc. That was Janet's influence from this album and its visuals.

    I always enjoyed Janet but felt it was too long. It always got on my nerves the excessive length of it.
    i wouldn't say it was janet's influence at all on those artists, for a start it wasn't her creating the music, it was jimmy and terry, and similarly brandy. monica, mya, etc sang and looked pretty whilst other producers like dallas austin and babyface wrote and created their music. you really need to see what influenced those producers who made the records, and it wouldn't be janet. as regards to the most influential solo rnb vocalist at the time for the sake of their vocals at least, mary j blige has to be the one, and for her music more generally you have to credit p diddy for producing most of her best work, at least at that time. 411 and my life were both hugely successful and influential rnb albums, even today. as for visuals, that's just another bunch of people copying another bunch of people. stylists, directors, choreographers, visual artists etc. the reason the videos all look the same is because it's the same people making them and copying them. swap most of the rnb singers around different songs and videos and most people couldn't tell the difference.

    janet probably was too long, but that was when people started cramming everything onto a cd and LP's were stopping. the old 45 mins record sometimes kept quality up. it certainly kept the segues and (worse) skits down. a de la soul album with 40 minutes of music and 30 mins of skits and segues and intros may have been a good idea at one point, but it wore off after the second listen
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 24,080
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    mmeister2 wrote: »
    Probably my second favorite Janet album. RN1814 is still by far her best imo though. She never quite managed to match that album.

    I agree about her creative peak as well. Her albums after TVR aren't even close to her earlier work.

    Slipped off radar for the bit...thanks for the comments guys.

    And yeah mmeister....we agree on a lot of things and that totally agree on

    Control/Rhythm Nation/janet./Velvet Rope...they were so creative and innovative and expressive in so many ways and the fusion of sounds across each made for an excellent quadrilogy....All For You/Damita Jo (her best of the 00s IMO)/Discipline i enjoy a fair bit but they lack that WOW....and 20 y.o the less said about it IMO :/
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 3,849
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    Can you really measure influence? Debating how much influence Janet or anyone else had on those who came after her is pretty much futile. For what it's worth I think Janet's 80s/early 90s sound was more influential than anything TLC came out with, in that Janet inspired artists both pop and R&B in genre on several levels - as a performer and in terms of the music itself. But of course TLC were influential too and it's all subjective.

    "janet." is her best album, although there is no Janet album I can listen to start to finish without reaching for the skip button, and I don't just mean her interludes. Both the '90s albums sported a brilliant first half and a rather bland second half, but in the case of "janet." the killer tracks are so good that it hardly matters what happens next. Who can deny "If", "This Time" and "You Want This"? Three of her very best. I'm not generally a fan of New Jack Swing as a genre, but she effortlessly incorporated some elements of it into this record while retaining her own sound... unlike MJ, whose Teddy Riley tracks on "Dangerous" were really lacking that essential thing which separated his '80s albums from the competition (although they were decent in their own right).

    For what it's worth I think "Discipline" was easily her best record since "Velvet Rope". Many highlights on there, and she really experimented with her sound. Although it wouldn't be a Janet album without endless interludes about the state of her vagina. :D
  • uniqueunique Posts: 12,367
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    JarkdeLuxe wrote: »
    Can you really measure influence?

    yes, in many ways. however the discussion was specifically in regards to one artists supposed influence on other artists
    Debating how much influence Janet or anyone else had on those who came after her is pretty much futile.

    why? and why post about it if it's futile?
    For what it's worth I think Janet's 80s/early 90s sound was more influential than anything TLC came out with,

    do you mean jam and lewis sound? as it was them who created the sound and made the music, not janet. dallas austin was a key player in TLC's sound. jam and lewis were considerably more influential than dallas austin, being the third most successful producers of all time, only behind sam phillips and george martin
    in that Janet inspired artists both pop and R&B in genre on several levels - as a performer and in terms of the music itself.

    but what evidence do you have of this? for the type of music that janet released, and the type of music that sounded like it, it wasn't created usually by the artists, but by the producers, just as i mentioned before. it's not her influence that resulted in other records that sounded like her's, and it wasn't the other singers either. it was the producers who wrote and created the music, and the influences they had
    But of course TLC were influential too and it's all subjective.

    dallas austin was influential too. there are people he was influenced by that in turn were influenced by what he did as a result of their influence. in that bowie/lou/bowie/lou type of circle
    "janet." is her best album, although there is no Janet album I can listen to start to finish without reaching for the skip button, and I don't just mean her interludes. Both the '90s albums sported a brilliant first half and a rather bland second half, but in the case of "janet." the killer tracks are so good that it hardly matters what happens next. Who can deny "If", "This Time" and "You Want This"? Three of her very best.

    of course your opinion, which is fine. personally i don't think any of the best tracks on janet compare to any of the best tracks on either control or RN, which is why none of them have become classics like nasty or what have you done for me lately
    I'm not generally a fan of New Jack Swing as a genre, but she effortlessly incorporated some elements of it into this record while retaining her own sound... unlike MJ, whose Teddy Riley tracks on "Dangerous" were really lacking that essential thing which separated his '80s albums from the competition (although they were decent in their own right).

    i wouldn't even say there was any new jack swing elements in the album as jam and lewis were doing the rnb thing with their own beats (albeit inspired from someone else) long before and after new jack swing. as a big fan of jam and lewis and the time, i don't see their sound swinging in that direction away from what they were already doing. on the other hand, MJ certainly used the new jack swing producers, but it was a short lived offshoot of rnb so by the time the tracks came out, they sounded dated. plus they were pretty uninspired tracks too. i'd say the same with the jam and lewis tracks MJ did. if they aren't inspired they can just churn out stuff
    For what it's worth I think "Discipline" was easily her best record since "Velvet Rope". Many highlights on there, and she really experimented with her sound. Although it wouldn't be a Janet album without endless interludes about the state of her vagina. :D

    i think that album suffers, as many rnb albums do, from an overload of different producers and writers ending up in a non cohesive album, and instead just a bunch of tracks that sound like most other tracks the producers have made. one of the reasons she didn't work with jam and lewis was because they asked her to come up with some ideas, just as they did before, and she couldn't come up with anything, so instead of waiting for ideas, she worked with a bunch of other people instead who didn't care so much about the ideas of artists, but being paid instead. and when they have a short window of success, who can blame them for trying to maximize their gain.

    but jam and lewis do want to work with her again. but can they do anything as good as they did before?
  • jargonjargon Posts: 558
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    This album does take me back to July 1993 :)
    In this iPod age, it is possible to miss out the interludes if they aren't your cup of tea and just have the main tracks. I like them, though. "Go on Girl! Miss Janet."
  • uniqueunique Posts: 12,367
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    jargon wrote: »
    This album does take me back to July 1993 :)
    In this iPod age, it is possible to miss out the interludes if they aren't your cup of tea and just have the main tracks. I like them, though. "Go on Girl! Miss Janet."

    you could always do it before by programming your cd player, and you could then record the tracks you liked to tape or minidisc. or as time went on, burn the tracks you like to a CDR
  • CoreenBaconskinCoreenBaconskin Posts: 596
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    Hello Josh!
    I went off Janet a bit with this album as it just seemed to go on for ever but If was utterly dogs bollocksy brilliant!
  • RayofLightRayofLight Posts: 580
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    This Time and New Agena, both amazing songs.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 24,080
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    Hello Josh!
    I went off Janet a bit with this album as it just seemed to go on for ever but If was utterly dogs bollocksy brilliant!

    Hello again, been a while :D

    yeah its funny 1991/92/93 seemed to be the "shift era" of Pop where MJ/Madonna/JJ kinda shook it up and fans either didnt understand and new fans got on board and all sorts...a very interesting time zone...but all for the better of coruse and with matched acclaim and criticism and controversy...but hey :cool: OWNS!

    ANd yeah if i were to rank Janets albums it would go something like this...

    1 - Rhythm Nation - 5/5
    2 - "janet." - 5/5
    3 - Control - 4.5/5
    4 - Velvet Rope - 4.5/5
    5 - Damita Jo - 4/5
    6 - Discipline - 4/5
    7 - All For You - 3/5
    8 - 20 Y.O - 2/5 (only three songs i like on this one...one of my least fave albums ever)
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