Janet Jackson - Rhythm Nation

okay i don't have song titles in front of me, but the "they said it wouldn't last, we had to prove them wrong" song is fucking amazing. my one thing so far about the album is the level of the vox sometimes needs to be somewhat louder. i love the group singing parts tho, so great.

I bought my first copy in years three weeks ago. I was surprised by how well the ballads held up, especially the baroque threesome "Lonely, "Come Back To Me," and "Someday is Tonight."

Also: nice fact

Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814 (commonly titled simply Rhythm Nation 1814 or Rhythm Nation) is the fourth studio album (fifth overall) by American R&B/pop singer Janet Jackson. It was released on September 18, 1989 (see 1989 in music) and became the best-selling album of 1990 in the United States. It is the only album in history to score #1 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in three different calendar years (1989-1991). The album is also the only album in history to spawn seven top 5 hits which include four #1 singles, two #2 singles, and one single that reached #4, plus another song that was not commercialy released ("State of the World") but reached #5 on the airplay charts. Rhythm Nation 1814 spent four weeks at #1 in the Billboard 200 and a more impressive[citation needed] 35 consecutive weeks inside the Top 5. It spent a total of 108 in the charts

Wow.

yeah i really feel like even more than Control this is going to grow on me. not that i will end up liking it more but the grow potential will be more, cuz it's longer, there's more to it, interludes bla bla bla.

If I recall correctly Nuno Bettencourt (ex-Extreme) was on guitar for the song "Black Cat" even though Wikipedia doesn't acknowledge it.

Video for those too lazy to look it up:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ev2CcwD-OwM

It was interesting that years later, Whacko Jacko would follow his sister in the militant outfits.

Really? That cock-rockarama sounds like Jellybean Johnson, who contributed similar hysterics to Alexander O'Neal's "Innocent."

every single off this album is amazing

The whole thing is like industrial tempos played as R&B.

Oh man, I love "Come Back to Me"

Alright is absolutely brilliant

NOW DO YOU SEE THE LIGHT, FRIEND ALFRED?

"Rhythm Nation" is great. Way better than "Control".

NOW DO YOU SEE THE LIGHT, FRIEND ALFRED?

Yes. Janet's cliches about self-growth and maturity are better expressed than her received opinions about the state of the world, but the beats make all the difference. Still love Control.

miss u much just came on YES

So great. been listening to it all summer after not hearing it for a couple years, but I first got it a couple months after it came out (I think it was a birthday present when I was 11) and must have played the tape several hundred times

the videos are great too! rhythm nation, alright, miss you much

<i>The whole thing is like industrial tempos played as R&B.</I>

haha. some of the fashion too. is there really that much difference betw this and nitzer ebb and ministry 12 inch singles.

TOTALLY. I mean, play a cut off Meat Beat Manifesto's contemporaneous 99% and you hear the similarities

Ramzi has seen the light! Is it better than Control? Yes. Only song that ruins it for me is Black Cat which is just way overdone. I remember really wanting to buy this album when it came out and had all those great singles/videos but I think I was too embarrassed to. It didn't fit in with anything else I was listening to at the time and frankly I was more concerned with other things. So it's been nice to rediscover it so many years after the fact and see it in 20/20 hindsight for how really extraordinary it is.

Oh man, I was about nine when Rhythm Nation came out and I used to rock the cassette all the time. I thought Black Cat was like the heaviest thing I had ever heard.

i still have yet to weigh in fellas =P

is there really that much difference betw this and nitzer ebb and ministry 12 inch singles.

Yes, this rocks harder than Nitzer Ebb (not Ministry, though).

Great album. Typical stroke of genius: She undersings the first verse and chorus of "Love Will Never Do Without You" so that the line "Other guys have tried before/To replace you as my lover" feels like it has more oomph than it actually does. That's called knowing your limitations and the effect is just as potent as it would be with a "better" singer.

OMG THAT FUCKING SONG KILLS ME

it's so hard and packs such a punch. i ws freaking out this morning, playing it so loud getting out of the shower. best feeling ever.

the production on this album is really interesting. like with Control, it takes a minute to understand how lush it all is. at first it seems like it's all about the percussion, but when you give it a number of listens, the richness of the textures really pops out. i love that.

so rich.

just cuz. i can't get enuf.

my boss flipped out when i put on Escapade 2day

i have now gotten into the habit of taking this CD out with me. =/?

Does anyone else besides me think the video for "Come Back To Me" with its scenes of Paris at sunrise/sunset is just fucking amazing?

ooh i haven't seen. good song tho

No, you must repent and melt:

<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/g9lIaNr3TNU";></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/g9lIaNr3TNU"; type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>

Okay I fucked up. Blame Kate Bush's Aerial which is playing on my stereo and killing me to the core.

Here it is.

ready to give all my love

still love control more, but wow, what a great album.

otm

The album is also the only album in history to spawn seven top 5 hits which include four #1 singles, two #2 singles, and one single that reached #4, plus another song that was not commercialy released ("State of the World") but reached #5 on the airplay charts.

still hilarious

http://www.singingfool.com/photos/312/013144_32.jpg

5
4
3
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http://www.msspecial.com/images/vrn.jpg

About a month ago I became obsessed with this album and listened to it nonstop for like a week.

Good for you, Stevie! :)

Someday Is Tonight is stunning

Love the Herb Alpert solo.

^^yes!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9uizdKZAGE

right now, this is the funnest thing in the world to me and I want to magic myself into it and dance with JJ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRBkf-TwMLU

This song wasn't mentioned in the original conversation. In the beginning, A&M tried to pressure her to make Control 2 but then she changed her mind obviously. It's a great "go fuck yourself" song to her father.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKNBFgXgp_U&feature=related

Another b-side. Supposedly a metaphor about the inequality non-whites have/had in US society. It's an ok song, not the best.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4btg-E3uo-U&feature=related

This is part two of Skin Game. I don't think it is that different from part one but I'm a completist. There is apparently a duet with Johnny Gill that has yet to be released. Rumor has it that Johnny and Janet were also suppose to sing Love Will Never Do Without You as a duet (that is the reason why she sings in a low tone on the first verse).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeTDndVRg50

This leaked last year. It's called Work. What is interesting about this song is the use of hard percussion like all the other songs. Someone mentioned earlier in this thread about how the aesthetic and sound is very industrial derived. It makes me wander if Janet ever listened to that stuff. I wouldn't be surprise. She's random as hell anyway.

Apparently A&M and Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis were arguing about finances and Janet had to work with other people for a while. I forgot who produced this. It's interesting to hear Janet not be produced by JJ&TL during this era. Eventually, JJ&TL ironed it out with A&M and continued working on Rhythm Nation 1814.

t/s: the shakuhachi sample in "lonely" v. enigma's "sadeness"