Saturday, December 1, 2018

Janet Jackson: It's All for You


I’ve written about Janet Jackson’s case for the Hall of Fame before, here and here, and there’s not a whole lot more to say about it. She’s had more hit singles than nearly everyone who’s already enshrined, and is an icon to many, many contemporary singers, not just women or people of color. So rather than go into that, I thought I’d tackle the question of whether Nipplegate really torpedoed her career, as the legend now has it.

The incident in question took place on February 1, 2004, two months before the release of Damita Jo, Jackson’s eighth solo album. In the interim, CBS forbade Jackson to appear at the Grammys, where she had been scheduled to present an award. But Justin Timberlake, her partner in malfunction, was still allowed to appear, although he was the one who instigated the incident.

Damita Jo sold just over a million copies in the U.S., although Jackson’s two previous albums had both sold over 3 million. None of its three singles even reached the Top Forty, despite the fact that she had had two Top Fives from her previous album, 2001’s All for You.

That all looks pretty bad, but I’m not quite convinced. There’s a line on Wikipedia about the singles from Damita Jo being blackballed by pop radio, but the reference links to an article that doesn’t say anything of the sort. It can be hard to tell the difference between blacklisting and just not liking a record. Her subsequent two albums sold even more poorly than Damita Jo, suggesting that either her career had completely run out of steam, or the blackballing was more persistent than anyone cared to admit.

More to the point, Miss Jackson had been placing songs in the Top Five for 20 years up to that time, and people don’t do that. Elvis didn’t do that, Stevie Wonder didn’t do that, Elton John didn’t do that (aside from his late-career Lion King and Princess Di flukes). Only a very small handful of acts have stayed on the charts significantly longer than 20 years. You don’t have to ask why someone didn’t continue to have hits after 20 years – you have to ask why they did.

Jackson was only 37 at the time of Nipplegate, not particularly old for a pop star. She had been on the charts forever, but she was only 18 when Control came out. Nevertheless, I suspect she was nearing the end of her chart run anyway by the mid-aughts, bare breast or no. But really, that’s neither here nor there: Janet Jackson had done more than enough by Super Bowl XXXVIII to warrant induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

The Matched Set Madonna is one of the few pop stars whose chart run lasted longer than Janet Jackson’s, although it was only by a few years. And of course, Madonna made a huge cultural impact, with way too many articles written about her containing the word “gaze.” 

On the other hand, Nipplegate still pops up in the occasional discussion, while Madonna’s Sex book has been basically forgotten. (Maybe featuring Vanilla Ice in it was not such a hot idea.) When MTV chose its first MTV Icon, in 2001, the selection was not Madonna or Janet’s brother but Miss Jackson herself. And try though she might, Madonna's acting career has never launched a character as memorable as Penny on Good Times.

So you have someone with 90 percent of the chart impact of Madonna, and maybe 80 percent of the zeitgeist impact. Yet Madonna sails in on the first ballot, while Janet Jackson has lingered outside for years.

The Verdict An obvious Yes. Janet Jackson is overqualified for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.



14 comments:

  1. Madonna is considered "alternative Pop" and was outside the box in terms of songwriting, sounds, etc. Not to mention her endless image reinventions, yada yada.

    Janet is the best of the diva group that is currently being ignored by the Hall. She has made plenty of progressive R&B music that expanded the genre, both with some strong 90s albums (she was second to Mariah, I think, in 90s chart performance) and her New Jack Swing stuff from the 80s. But I can only put her above the borderline of inductees because a LOT of that material just hasn't aged very well. Your general music listeners can't hum these Janet Jackson songs. I've heard the albums and "All For You" and "Together Again" are the only ones I can actually remember and hum off hand.

    And then you have the next run of divas with treacly ballads and middling pop fare. For every highlight single from the Houston and Carey songbooks there's another forgettable one and another completely lame one. A hard pass on both of those candidacies.

    And therein kind of lies the problem with Janet's influence. It's not only been dwindling but she seemed to most inspire wannabe Divas, the American Idol and Voice crowd if you will.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If people can’t hum many hits from Janet (say it for yourself) I can only laugh thinking about what do people listen Of Kraftwerk or MC5 (and i don’t even dare to deny how influential and brilliant they are). But this “statement” is pretty ridiculous when nobody bows anything from DEVO if not “Whip It”. So... don’t come up with this argument on Janet that has more #1 singles (10 in total) and 27 top 10 on Billboard Hot 100, which is A LOT more than Def Leppard, Stevie Knicks, not to mention Radiohead and MC5.

      Delete
    2. If people can’t hum many hits from Janet (say it for yourself) I can only laugh thinking about what do people listen Of Kraftwerk or MC5 (and i don’t even dare to deny how influential and brilliant they are). But this “statement” is pretty ridiculous when nobody bows anything from DEVO if not “Whip It”. So... don’t come up with this argument on Janet that has more #1 singles (10 in total) and 27 top 10 on Billboard Hot 100, which is A LOT more than Def Leppard, Stevie Knicks, not to mention Radiohead and MC5.

      Delete
    3. If people can’t hum many hits from Janet (say it for yourself) I can only laugh thinking about what do people listen Of Kraftwerk or MC5 (and i don’t even dare to deny how influential and brilliant they are). But this “statement” is pretty ridiculous when nobody bows anything from DEVO if not “Whip It”. So... don’t come up with this argument on Janet that has more #1 singles (10 in total) and 27 top 10 on Billboard Hot 100, which is A LOT more than Def Leppard, Stevie Knicks, not to mention Radiohead and MC5.

      Delete
  2. Janet crossed genres including pop, R&b, rock, and dance, etc. In fact, she was the first artist having Grammy nominations spanning FIVE categories (Dance, Pop, Rap, Rock, and R&B) and to have number one hits on every chart except country.

    So diverse is her discography that Slant magazine called her 1993 "janet." album the “mother of eclectic, genre-hopping records”.

    And the general music listener can't hum Rhythm Nation? Black Cat? That's The Way Love Goes? If? Nasty? Control? Miss You Much? Love Will Never Do (Without You)?

    Are you sure about that? Really sure about that?

    I'm not even going to get into the idiotic commentary on Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey.

    Lastly, On what planet is Madonna considered "Alternative Pop"? It certainly isn't planet earth.

    In short, this isn't your lane. Stay out of it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm giving you an objective take from outside the Janet fan club. Pretty much nobody who played in a guitar band knows or remembers most of her hits.

      Is Janet more influential than Radiohead or Kraftwerk or MC5? Absolutely not (very few acts are).

      Was Janet ever as big commercially as Def Leppard or Fleetwood Mac? Nope.

      Did Janet's New Jack Swing have anywhere near the lifespan of the new wave music practically invented by Roxy Music? Absolutely not. It was pretty much a completely dead genre by the time she herself had moved on from it.

      Nor would anybody say her overall work stands up with that of The Cure.

      People act like her induction is such a slam-dunk, no brainer and I don't feel like it is and I'm giving you insight as to just why people would think otherwise.

      Delete
  3. People kill me with that "janet's albums didnt age well"b.s. they clearly dont know shit about Janet or todays contemporary rnb/pop. Bruno Mars JUST won AOTY grammy for a New Jack Swing album and bowed down to her in May because he knew Janet is where it started. And people need to stop confusing Madonnas "reinventing" with cultural appropriation.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I could easily go to Last.FM or Spotify and show you that people are certainly listening more to acts like Def Leppard and The Cure and Radiohead, etc. then they are to Janet Jackson in 2018. So much for the music aging well...

      Part of the problem is that Rap and R&B music from the 80s onward just did not have much of a shelf life with its audience because the audience moves on to new things. Doesn't mean they aren't respecting the importance of Janet Jackson to the music they love, but they're listening to the latest Drake LPs and whathaveyou instead. Janet isn't some Pink Floyd or Zeppelin that people are still fanatical about years after the fact. Like just where is her music even getting played? Even the 80s radio formats here in the United States basically ignore anything "too black" and that means no New Jack Swing.

      Delete
  4. Janet should've been nominated in 2007 in her first year of eligibility - and she should have been inducted.

    I applaud the overhaul of the Nomination Committee that took place several years back. They dropped the dead weight, added in some fresh, diverse members (women, African Americans, LGBT, etc.) and have been providing more well rounded, more relevant ballots.

    My plea is that they take a similar approach with their overall voting body. TRIM THE FAT, invite some fresh, exciting talents in the music, journalism realms. They likely need to quadruple their number of female voters....

    Janet's checklist criteria:
    Impact? Check.
    Critical Acclaim? Check.
    Influence? Check. Virtually every pop, dance, R&B artist that followed Janet praise her for being a career inspiration. From Beyonce, to Gaga, to Pink, to Ciara, to Janelle Monae, to Britney, to Bruno Mars, to Robyn, and on and on.
    Innovation/creativity? Check. From being a trendsetter with New Jack Swing and then again by being on the early cusp of 90s neo-soul, Janet was NEVER afraid to take risks and make bold statements. She gets incredible points here for the epic music videos as well. And Janet tends to get overlooked in the songwriting & production elements of her projects. She wrote the bulk of her back catalog - yet doesn't really get much credit for that.
    Commercial success? Check. She remains one of the most successful artists of all-time.

    Her induction is a no-brainer. And it needs to happen this year! #InductJanet

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You are essentially saying that voters should be disenfranchised and then, basically, ballot stuffing should occur in order to get Janet Jackson enshrined into a museum that focuses on the Rock-Era with guitar based bands at its core...what next, add 6000 country musicians to the voting rolls so Tammy Wynette gets inducted?

      Delete
  5. Tom, you bad you. Look what you started.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Heh. He started a discussion, I guess. I mean, we're all on the same page though - Janet deserves induction.

      Delete
  6. In terms of pop masterpieces, Janet has created some enduring ones imho

    The Control and Rhythm Nation 1814 albums have been cited as some of the best albums created. Same with The Velvet Rope nearly a decade later. Also, like another act that should be in the Hall of Fame already (Duran Duran) and Madonna, of course, she ushered in the music video era at a time when music videos was considered an important rock art form. For me, it's enough for her to get in. Also, I can't imagine Beyonce or Rihanna or Janelle Monae without Janet Jackson's influence.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I want to thank Emu Temple for the accurate readings he gave me and for also helping me bring back my lover.. If you are here and you are having any relationship problem please Contact Emu Temple on Via Email: emutemple@gmail.com OR Via WhatsApp +2347012841542 and result is 100% guarantee and He do lot more as:*Love Spells*Lost Love Spells*Divorce Spells*Stop Divorce Spell*Marriage Spells*Binding Spells*Breakup Spells*You want to be promoted in your office*Want to satisfy your lover*Death Spell*Gay/Lesbian Love Spell*Court case Spell*Politics Spell*Good-luck Spell*Bad Luck Remover Spell*Do as i say Spell*General cleansing Spell*Herbal remedy for all kind of disease    
    *Lottery Spell*Pregnancy Spell*Peins enlargement 














    I want to thank Emu Temple for the accurate readings he gave me and for also helping me bring back my lover.. If you are here and you are having any relationship problem please Contact Emu Temple on Via Email: emutemple@gmail.com OR Via WhatsApp +2347012841542 and result is 100% guarantee and He do lot more as:*Love Spells*Lost Love Spells*Divorce Spells*Stop Divorce Spell*Marriage Spells*Binding Spells*Breakup Spells*You want to be promoted in your office*Want to satisfy your lover*Death Spell*Gay/Lesbian Love Spell*Court case Spell*Politics Spell*Good-luck Spell*Bad Luck Remover Spell*Do as i say Spell*General cleansing Spell*Herbal remedy for all kind of disease    
    *Lottery Spell*Pregnancy Spell*Peins enlargement 

    ReplyDelete