Mine is

Pleasure Principle

Luv this song and luv the vid where she's dancing. Janet is so cool and pretty

LizaWoman08 said:

I love most of them but I think I got to go for PP as favorite song and video. I feel like busting out my copy of "Control" when I get home!

pleasure principle

a tie between Nasty and When i think of you

TotalAlisa said:

yeah i totally agree with you, those songs are NOT gay!!!

Maybe "Alright". Love almost all of 'em from Control and RN though.

"Miss You Much" for me.

Come Give Your Love To Me and Pleasure Principle

Cinnie said:

Nasty .....

I must say, she was FIERCE in this one


[Edited 11/30/08 21:52pm]

IF was the 90s.

Hmmm...too hard.

Someday is Tonight
Miss You Much
What Have You Done For Me Lately

sheesh! How are you all picking just one?

badujunkie said:

wow, Okay, I missed the part about the 80's.

Then I will go with Pleasure Principle.

What Have you done 4 me lately, then Nasty Girl, Rythm Nation and Alright

this is too hard - depends what mood im in.

When I Think Of You
Pleasure Principle
Love Will Never Do Without You
Escapade
Rhythm Nation
Lonely

Shit i could go on.....

FUNNY HOW TIME FLIES WHEN YOU'RE HAVING FUN!!!!

LOVE WILL NEVER DO - I CONSIDER 90S

What have you done for me lately was the first one I ever heard and it's still one of my favs of hers. Love Janet

I also love All My Love To You from the Dream Street album

Don't Stand Another Chance

How about Black Cat?

Oh man, this is so hard. Because she had THREE albums that just changed the game for me: Dream Street, Control and Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814. And Janet's music from the '80s is SACRED to me. I am very sensitive about her '80s catalogue. I have two.

/ / / / /



CONTROL :: THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY

2006 marks the 20th anniversary of Janet's groundbreaking project "Control." The following threads are in celebration of the milestones reached by Janet with this album and its videos and singles. This is the album that made her a musical superstar in her own right and kicked off an impressive twenty years of successes, which led her to becoming the icon and music legend she is today. The first two singles from Control showcased Janet as a confident, tough-minded young woman, but underneath the rough exterior lied a sweeter side and it was displayed in all its bloom on one classic: When I Think of You.

When I Think of You (1986)

After the smash success of "Nasty," Janet was on a roll. She was the pop artist to lookout for in 1986 and kept things rolling with the euphoric dance number "When I Think of You." Released in July of 1986, the single was Janet's "summer song." It was a light, wistful diddy with a carefree quality -- in stark contrast to the heavy, industrialized funk jams which kicked off her LP. And, carved yet another first for the Jackson, her first Number 1 pop hit. The song's impressions on the charts were immediate -- hitting the pole position on Billboard's Airplay, Dance Music/Club Play, ARC Top 40 and Hot 100 charts for two consecutive weeks in the fall of that year.

WITOY was a milestone for Janet Jackson. The single made Janet the youngest artist since Stevie Wonder to top the Billboard pop charts. She was only 19. In addition, made Janet and her older brother Michael, the only siblings in history to have solo Number 1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100.

Listeners with vinyl or cassette editions of Control will notice that the tune shifts the album's ethos to the softer side of Miss Jackson. The track was on the album's Side B which largely centered on Janet's happier side, including such tunes as "He Doesn't Know I'm Alive" and her yet-to-come ballad-single "Let's Wait Awhile."



The single's memorable short film evolves from Janet's personal life. "During Control," she says, "I began to assess the place and purpose of videos. I began to see that, like songs, videos should reflect my deepest feelings and truest moods. When it came to the storylines, the costumes, the choreography and especially the choice of directors, I decided to exert my influence. By then, Rene Elizondo had become my best friend. We went to see Julien Temple's Absolute Beginners and were knocked out by the opening sequence. It was so seamless, I asked him to direct 'When I Think of You.' I loved Julien's smooth sense of cinematography."

The video itself ran like a seamless Broadway music number, from dancing policemen to comedically hot tempered neighbors, the short film was a vibrant and polychromatic display of blissful abandon. Those without a sharp enough eye wouldn't be able to pick up the fact that the video was shot in multiple takes, though it appears as if it were achieved in one. A series of cleverly assembled takes were segmented through such simple things as camera pan-aways into dark walls and flashing light bulbs.

Plus, the video began a string of highly conceptualized, Broadway-inspired short films that would later become staples of Janet's career -- "Rhythm Nation," "Alright," "If" and "All For You."

With the Number 1 success of "When I Think of You," Janet showed that the third time was definitely the charm -- not only singles-wise, but with the entire project topping the charts. It was evident that a new era had fully dawned, and Janet was taking charge for the first time. All of this was best summed up in Janet's next single, the album's theme song, Control.

- JANFAN4L

Chart Activity - Peak Positions
The Billboard Hot 100: #1 (Gold) (debuted 8/9/86, peaked 10/11/86 - 19 weeks on chart)
Hot 100 Airplay: #1
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks: #3 (debuted 8/9/86 - 16 weeks on chart)
Hot Dance Music/Club Play: #1 (3 weeks) (debuted 8/23/86 - 11 weeks on chart)
Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales: #3
Adult Contemporary: #10 (debuted 9/13/86 - 13 weeks on chart)
ARC Top 40: #1 (? weeks)
UK: #10 (debuted 8/9/86 - 10 weeks on chart)
Australia: #51
Belgium: #8
Canada: #15
Holland: #3
South Africa (sales chart): #5

U.S. Chart Run: Debut: May 17, 1986 | Weeks On Chart: 19
60-46-36-26-24-18-14-7-3-1-1-3-7-19-29-44-64-77-98

[ all chart info courtesy of http://www.cravingjanet.com ]

Special thanks to SoCalledChaos from the mmlegends.com board for hosting the Control :: the 20th anniversary series there [and making the threads so easy to find in Google search]

CONTROL :: THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY

2006 marks the 20th anniversary of Janet's groundbreaking project "Control." The following threads are in celebration of the milestones reached by Janet with this album and its videos and singles. This is the album that made her a musical superstar in her own right and kicked off an impressive twenty years of successes, which led her to becoming the icon and music legend she is today. Not very often does a song define a singer, but when it does, its impact carries over to set the tone for an artist's entire career. None have done it more loudly than Janet in Control.



Control (1986)

Released in October of 1986, the tune was the album's theme song and set the tone for its nine tracks. It became her fourth Top 5 Billboard pop hit and was Number 1 on the R&B and Dance charts in the fall of that year. The single was Janet's mission statement -- defining her as an artist and serving as an autobiographic narrative of her rapidly changing life. "I had a lot to say, a lot on my mind and I wanted to share it with other people," she says. "It wasn't easy leaving the care of my father, but there was no going back."

Janet had to do a lot of protesting to get this project recorded and that same passion spills over into the song's lyrics. Before the groundwork was laid, executive producer Jimmy Jam and Janet's father Joseph shared a few choice words: "His advice to us was don't have his daughter sounding like Prince. He said, I know you guys are from Minneapolis; and Prince is from Minneapolis. Don't have my daughter sounding like Prince. We assured him that she wouldn't. She would have her own sound."

And that she did. Very early on Janet was closely involved in the creative process of Control, which was noteworthy because on previous albums she mainly sung material that was simply handed to her, but didn't personally relate to her life. Jam & Lewis, however, took a more proactive approach with Janet and the recording process. They all sat down and conversed about her life. Janet, unaware that the duo was concocting a game plan from their intimate chats, was shown the blueprint for a tune they had worked on: the album's title track. After which, it dawned on her that Control would not be like past projects. "Suddenly she got immersed into the writing process because she knew that her opinions and her voice was going to really be heard on this record," says Jam. "And that got her excited about it."

"I was looking for direction. Or rather looking for a new direction," she says. "I had been directed by others -- but no one who understood me as I was beginning to understand myself. I wanted... a way to express a mess of pent-up feelings. What I'm saying, I suppose, is that I wanted to be taken seriously."

In the tune, there's references to her brief, misguided marriage with James DeBarge, the struggle to break free from the demands of her domineering father and the promise that came with striking it out on one's own.

Sonically, the track itself was laid over a computerized Minneapolis Funk beat, that took cues from hip hop-tinged funk and urban R&B with a vocal style to match. The song was aggressive, defiant and punchy with Janet shouting out commands to her Flyte Tyme army. "She's a very rhythmic singer," says Jam, "her voice became a part of the funkiness of the track. To me, that's what made [Control] work. We could create these aggressive tracks and Janet would come in and just hit it."



Control was an important touchstone for a generation of music listeners. She was hailed as a role model by young women and the anthem, their call to arms. Critically, the song's lyrics were even spotlighted in academic texts as an example of great songwriting along with Paul Simon's "I Am A Rock."

Its video was also autobiographical. The dramatic prologue of the short film, in which she stands up to her father and joins the Jam/Lewis gang, is a moving piece of art imitating life, and a metaphor for Janet's movement from the Jackson family to her newly adopted clan of flamboyant funksters. The performance portion is frenetic, with Janet jamming on stage with her Flyte Tyme brethren, commanding an audience, hopping on a keyboard and pounding out her own groove.

This song and video showcases the relationship between she, Jam and Lewis -- a partnership that would continue to blossom and stand until this day.

As a result -- with the "Control" single -- people finally took Janet's music seriously and were blown away by her initimitable talents. She owned 1986. Every conceivable facet of the young entertainer had broken through and by the end of the year she closed out on top. At the dawn of '87, continued to glow with her next single, the ballad, Let's Wait Awhile.

- JANFAN4L

Chart Activity - Peak Positions
The Billboard Hot 100: #5 (Gold) (debuted 11/1/86 - 18 weeks on chart)
Hot 100 Airplay: #4
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks: #1 (1 week) (debuted 11/1/86 - 19 weeks on chart)
Hot Dance Music/Club Play: #1 (3 weeks) (debuted 11/22/86 - 11 weeks on chart)
Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales: #2
ARC Top 40: #3
UK: #42 (debuted 11/1/86 - 5 weeks on chart)
Australia: #80
Belgium: #20
Canada: #3
Holland: #12
South Africa (sales chart): #2

U.K. Chart Run:
Debut: November 1, 1986 | Weeks On Chart: 5
56-47-42-53-71

U.S. Chart Run:
Debut: November 1, 1986 | Weeks On Chart: 18
73-57-41-35-27-21-17-13-7-7-6-6-5-6-16-31-49-62

[ all chart info courtesy of http://www.cravingjanet.com ]





:::
song: written by janet jackson, james harris III & terry lewis
video: directed by mary lambert

If I have 2 pick one, it would be "Pleasure Principle" the Shepp Pettibone remix. That one gets me every time. I guess I could say "Alright", but the version I really liked with Heavy D didn't come out until 1990.

vainandy said:

Serious?

Yep. That one, "Say You Do", "Come Save Your Love For Me", and "Fast Girls". I love the "Control" and "Rythm Nation" albums also but they have been so overplayed for years until I am sick of them. "Don't Stand Another Chance" has always been my favorite though.

Cinnie said:

I remember he said it was his favorite Janet song a few years ago in a thread similar to this.

vainandy said:

"Fast Girls" is awesome.