C O N T R O L
Janet Jackson's third album: CONTROL 1986
This is a story about control.
My control.
Control of what I say
Control of what I do
And this time I am going to do it my way
I hope you enjoy this as much as I do.
Are you ready?
I am
Because it is all about control and I got lots of it...-Janet Jackson
Fun Fact: Control is widely regarded as the breakthrough album of Janet's career. It became her first album to top the Billboard 200 and five of its commercial singles—"What Have You Done for Me Lately", "Nasty", "Control", "When I Think of You", and "Let's Wait Awhile"—peaked within the top five of the Billboard Hot 100, from wiki
Tracklist:
1. Control
2. Nasty
3. What Have You Done For Me Lately
3. You Can Be Mine
4. The Pleasure Principle
5. When I Think Of You
6. He Doesn't Know I'm Alive
7. Let's Wait Awhile
8. Funny How Time Flies (When You're Having Fun)
Producers: Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis
Songwriters: Jimmy Jam, Terry Lewis, Janet Jackson
Fun fact: Janet fired her father, Joe Jackson as her manager in 1985. Janet then hired "John McClain" as her new manager (who just so happens to be one of the executives in charge of Janet's late brother, Michael Jackson Estate) introduced her to Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, former Prince associates who were ex members of The Time. Joe Jackson disapproved of this and the relationship between Joe and Janet became strained during this era
Album Chart (1986–89) Peak Position
Australian Albums Chart 25
Canadian Albums Chart 11
Dutch Albums Chart 7
German Albums Chart 36
Japanese Albums Chart 57
New Zealand Albums Chart 5
Swedish Albums Chart 47
Swiss Albums Chart 28
UK Albums Chart 8
US Billboard 200 1
US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums 1
From Wiki
Canada Platinum
Netherlands Platinum
New Zealand Gold
United Kingdom Platinum
United States 5 x Platinum
Side note: Janet hasn't had her albums re certified so very possible she has sold more. This is the case for all her albums.
Album photos:
My Review:
I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE this album!!! This is one of my favorite albums of all time and I think one of the greatest breakthrough's ever.
Janet is in control and she is kick ass in your face on this album! I love it! She significantly changed her style of music, image and subject matter with this album. This album is very personalized and is almost like a diary. She discusses many issues in her personal life on this album such as the strained relationship with her father, being independent, her failed married with James Debarge that ended in an annulment in 1985, her insecurities, her feelings on love and being in control of her life.
Jimmy Jam, Terry Lewis and Janet Jackson were a match made in heaven and this album was the beginning of many successful albums and projects they all we do together. Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis created took an unconventional route for this album sound. The album is a mixture of new jack swing, funk, dance pop, r&b, disco, and rap vocals. This album is notable for popularizing the new jack swing sound during its time.
As far as Janet's style, Janet is still clothed but her clothing is more masculine while still keeping a feminine undertone. She was covered from head to toe during this era and mostly wore suits, black, blazers, pants and hardly ever wore dresses or revealing clothes. This was a big difference compared to the other popular female pop stars of the time Madonna, Whitney Houston, Diana Ross, and Donna Summer.
This is a pretty solid 5 and no weak tracks. I really love all the songs but I would say my favorites are Funny How Time Flies and When I Think of You
Janet's vocals are hard and strong on this album while still sounding sweet and clean. Janet is having fun sand is happy with her new found independence which makes the songs fun to dance too because their is so much personality in her voice. I think this is a MUST have album and one of Janet's more influential albums to date. Control is a classic and I haven't even gotten started with the music videos.....
Janet 1986 Era Photos
Janet performing Control on 1987 AMA's
Fun Fact: Paula Abdul choreographed most of Janet's music videos for this album
I am tired lol I will come back and discuss the music videos in a separate post