Janet Jackson – Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814

[Deleted]

My favorite Janet's album
My fav song by Janet is there too: Love Will Never Do (Without You)
and I think her best video

Come Back To Me
Lonely
Someday Is Tonight
Black cat
<3

then
Miss U Much
Rhythm Nation
...

[MikeCheck12]

Today is 1.8.14 :)

[Ginger Spice]

Her two '90s albums are my all-time favorites, but this is really close 3rd. Everything about this album is incredible. If I had to pick a favorite track, it would be either "Come Back to Me" or "Love Will Never Do (Without You)." Oddly enough, those were two songs I didn't really care for as a child (and I loved "Black Cat," which I'm not as big on now). Sometimes I forget how much of an experience it is to listen to the albums Janet released from 1986-1997. Truly legendary.

[MikeCheck12]

RN1814 celebrates a 25 year anniversary next month. Wish there was a remaster or something to commemorate the occasion.

[MikeCheck12]

The official release date in the USA was 9/19/1989.

[Dreams]

I adore everything about this album so forgive me for this long-winded post...

I listened to Rhythm Nation 1814 for the first time some years ago and it's funny because I remember previewing it on iTunes and thinking that it wasn't all that and that people overrated it. However, as I grew to listen to and appreciate older music (older as in, music that came before the mid-90's) and more of Janet's back catalog, I started to love it more and more and eventually not only did it become my favorite Janet album, but I'd actually place it now in my top 3 favorite albums of all time. For me, it is excellent top to bottom and I'd rate just about every of its songs a perfect 10.

The strength of this album lies in how it's such a fine mixture of uptempo and slow tracks, as well as a mixture of different music styles... and yet all of that is unified within its political and social central themes. It's not easy to create an album that carries a poignant concept throughout, at the same time being essentially pop, without it sounding forced or contrived. Control was the beginning, but this album really sealed the deal in that Janet, Jimmy & Terry really make a magical team.

Track by track:

1. "Rhythm Nation" - The energy of this song is fantastic! It's empowering, it's meaningful, it's one of her best dance/new jack swing songs. Even though it just missed the #1 spot, this song is iconic. She always kills live, too.

2. "State of The World" - A great continuation to "Rhythm Nation" as it's another song that runs with the socially conscious theme of the album. I really love the chorus of this song. Kind of reminds me of Bobby Brown's "My Prerogative," but that's probably due to the sound.

3. "The Knowledge" - A dance, with hip-hop undertones, song emphasizing on the significance of education and, well, knowledge. "So if you wanna be in control, ya gotta get yourself in the know!" Watch this: www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNrzbSd5N6E

4. "Miss You Much" - I LOVE THIS! I've listened to it soooooo much over the years and yet every time it comes on, I can't help but move to the rhythm. It's such an infectious, funky uptempo with a really good video showing some of Janet's best choreography.

5. "Love Will Never Do Without You" - Wasn't this originally meant to be a duet with Prince? Or was it Johnny Gill? I find the idea intriguing, but I'm glad she sang it solo after all because she started singing it low (as the male part of the song had to be sung), then went higher and higher and finished with that high note! I love it. It's a great example that JJ has an impressive vocal range of her own. Besides the vocal, I love this song's music and structure. It's pure euphoria and in that sense it, along with "Miss You Much," holds the perfect spot in the tracklist, breaking the serious tone of the album for a moment. It has a great video and Janet has never looked better or sexier IMO. A #1 song.

6. "Livin' in a World (They Didn't Make)" - This song has always been underrated to me. I don't see a lot of fans showing it love. Its melody is sensational and Janet's vocal sounds so pristine and innocent; the way she sang it (her tone, the harmonies) as well as the fact that the song has a kids' choir, perfectly highlight its message about grown-ups being responsible for their actions and teaching children the right thing.

7. "Alright" - This is one of the best Janet videos ever! Probably in my personal top 5 of her videos. The choreography for this was just as strong and you need to watch her 'Jackson Family Honors' performance for that. Special shout out to the Heavy D. remix. <3

8. "Escapade" - A perfect pop song. I think this is one of Janet's most universally loved songs actually; it's too irresistible and catchy. It has that signature Janet blissful vibe, that's unfortunately been missing from her latest music. It's a shame because she can do a happy uptempo better than anyone else in the business, and "Escapade" is a testament to that. Another #1!

9. "Black Cat" - I love how the "No Acid" interlude flows into this!!! "Black Cat" is so bad ass. Probably my favorite single on the album. I think this song is kind of underappreciated... and I can't understand why... maybe because it's hard rock, even metal in parts, thus unlike the majority of her music?! Who knows. "Black Cat'' was a #1 hit, topping both the Pop and Rock Billboard charts, and was nominated for a Grammy nomination ("Black Cat" received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance, making Janet the only artist in history to receive Grammy nominations spanning five genres - pop, rock, rap, R&B, dance). Bonus: it made her the first female artist to have a Grammy nominated #1 which they had solely written. The song is allegedly about her first husband, James Debarge's, drug abuse. Janet sang this with real grit and viciousness. I think it's just as powerful, if not more than Michael's hard rock songs such as "Dirty Diana".

10. "Lonely" - My God, I love this ballad. It's by far my favorite song on the album, and favorite Janet Jackson song period. I could write a whole essay on how much I love it, but I'll keep it short. It's such a beautiful, serene slow jam. Janet gave it a very emotional, soulful vocal. I love the guitar in it. I love the lyrics; so engaging. "Lonely" is a great hidden gem, and not many Janet casual fans know it by the way and that's another reason I love it.

11. "Come Back To Me" - Another wonderful ballad. I love the strings and harmonies. The way the music kind of drops... Janet's spoken section... and then the outro with the guitar and violins... all of that creates a great atmosphere.

12. "Someday Is Tonight" - She couldn't have closed the album in a better way. The three back to back slow jams are all amazing and it's cool how the album starts energetic and in-your-face, but ends the opposite way. "Someday Is Tonight" is sensual Janet at her best. This song is everything. It's just a great composition; I love its vintage arrangement (I want the sax outro, against Janet's moaning, to go on forever!!!). The overall vibe of the song makes it incredibly sexy... I would love another baby-making song from her if it's subtle and musical like this, and not lewd, blatant like say "Warmth".

Even if RN1814 is not your favorite Janet album (her 1986-2004 albums are all just SO good, so that'd be understandable), you can't deny that it's at the very least consistent and it is a landmark album in pop culture.

Happy 25th anniversary!!!

[MikeCheck12]

^ Loved the track by track review. "Lonely" is a stand out for me, too.

[Zeebz]

I love janet. and The Velvet Rope more than this one, but this one is still amazing.

[Juanca]

I wish a 25th anniversary release were in the works. Full remastered versions, some 12" and remixes, demos and tracks not included in the album, plus videos
This was certainly a landmark album, and should be recognized as so.
Unfortunately back home in Peru we missed the Janet wagon. She had minor success with What have you done for me lately, then she had a bigger hit with When I think of you, but the other singles from Control were barely heard. From RN, only Escapade was a hit. Luckily some video channels allowed us to discover the magic of RN and MYM. I loved both songs and was pissed that RN didn't make it to #1. It's my favorite song from the album, although MYM and Escapade are close seconds. I don't own the album, but have been hoping for a remastered release!!

[#LisaRinna]

Love this album! Happy Anniversary

[MikeCheck12]

[MikeCheck12]

Billboard revisits RN1814 with track by track analysis from Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis

[grandelf]

www.billboard.com/articles/columns/the-juice/6258726/janet-jacksons-rhythm-nation-1814-revisited-by-jimmy-jam-terry

Janet Jackson's 'Rhythm Nation 1814' Revisited By Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis: Track-by-Track Review
By Kenneth Partridge | September 18, 2014 1:50 PM EDT



If Janet Jackson's third album, 1986's Control, was a declaration of independence. The follow-up, Rhythm Nation 1814, was a constitution--a blueprint for the kind of country that this confident, sexy and newly independent 23-year old woman wanted to live in. At least it was for roughly a third of its runtime.

Released 25 years ago tomorrow, on Sept. 19, 1989, Rhythm Nation 1814 begins with a pledge: "We are a nation with no geographic boundaries, bound together through our beliefs." From there, it goes into the title track, a national anthem for this colorblind utopia Janet has imagined. The four digits in the album's title refer to the year "The Star-Spangled Banner" was written, and with the help of James "Jimmy Jam" Harris III and Terry Lewis -- the production team behind Control -- Jackson gives Francis Scott Key's greatest hit a New Jack Swing remake.

Rhythm Nation stays political for a few songs and then segues into kinder, gentler relationship songs, many of which dominated radio and MTV. An unprecedented seven of the album's singles made the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100, and four of them -- "Miss You Much, "Escapade," "Love Will Never Do (Without You)" and "Black Cat" -- hit No. 1. The album, not surprisingly, topped the Billboard 200, vaulting Janet to a level of pop mega-stardom almost on par with that of her brother Michael Jackson.

In honor of the record's silver anniversary, Jam and Lewis led Billboard on a track-by-track trek down Memory Lane, offering their thoughts on the disc's 13 non-interlude songs. The duo produced and wrote or co-wrote all but one, the hard-rock detour "Black Cat," which Janet penned and helmed herself. Read on to see how these Minneapolis legends remember Janet's breakout LP.

"Rhythm Nation"
Jimmy Jam: It needed to be anthemic. That was the whole point. It was the anchor of the album, the title track. I think we really achieved it. It has a great energy. The thing to remember, as I always say with all of Janet's stuff, is that she's such a visual artist. It's really hard to listen to the song and not think of the imagery and all the choreography that go along with it. That's the bonus we get with a record like that. We get to see the performance that goes along with it.

"State of the World"
Terry Lewis: At the time, we were trying to make some statements about worldly things. The song was created from conversation. We used to talk about everything before we would even engage in starting a song. We went on talking tirades, just conversational tirades, trying to figure out not only what was going on in the world, but what was going on in Janet's head. I don't think it's overtly political. It's just drawing attention to the things of the time. In the history of music, there's always been a social commentary with most artists that were substantial artists. You can only talk about so much love and clubs. You have to bring some awareness and have a voice in the times that you live in. That happens to be one of those songs.

"The Knowledge"
Lewis: We got the song title in London. We were speaking to a cab driver. Over there, every cab driver knows how to get everywhere, because they take a test that's kind of like a map quiz. They know every street every address in London. It's called "The Knowledge." When we heard that title, we wrote it down. When we had discussions about all these different things -- social commentary -- "The Knowledge" just popped up. And with Janet being associated in a lot of different ways with education, it just seemed fitting to use that subject matter and fuse it all together."

"Miss You Much"
JJ: That was the first song Janet heard when she walked in the studio. I remember that when she walked in the studio, I pointed at a note on the keyboard and told her to press that note. She pressed it, and that note ended up becoming the high string line in the chorus to the song. It's the record that got us off and running on the project. I love Janet's attitude on records. I think she sings that song with so much attitude.

"Love Will Never Do (Without You)"
JJ: At one point, we thought about doing it as a duet with Prince. It never happened, obviously. That's the reason she sings the first verse low and the second verse high. It became a duet with herself. It was a thought. I don't know how serious of a thought. This happens a lot -- you're doing a song, and you go, "You know who would sound good on this? Prince would be kind of cool." It wasn't any big thing, like we wrote it for him or anything. But then we thought, "Oh, it's cool the way it is," so we just left it like that.

"Livin' In a World (They Didn't Make)"
Lewis: [We were] just thinking about the turmoil that kids go through to become young adults and then adults. We throw so much mess into the situation for kids a lot of times, as a society, because we act without listening; that makes kids very uneasy about things, and rebellious. They didn't ask to be here, which is something we say all the time. They didn't ask to acquire the circumstances you put them in. We say they're our future, but they're our present, and being a kid is our past. We have to be little more mindful of those things, how we incorporate kids into our society. That song was born out of that concept, because they didn't choose to be here. Our responsibility is to teach them responsibility.

"Alright"
Lewis: I love "Alright." I love the swing aspect of it. I love the incorporation of and collaboration with Heavy D [on the remix]. I love the happiness of the song. It's a song that comes on and makes you immediately smile. I love the video for that song. It was one big shot. I think it might have been one or two cuts in the whole video. It was a masterpiece. It's more than friendship in that song; it's just a feeling that song gives: "It's alright. It's OK to be who you are. It's OK to be my friend. It's OK to think what you think. Whatever you're doing is cool with me. I'm not being judgmental.' That song gives you that feeling. Music is all about feeling, even when the lyrics don't say exactly that. But when the words correspond with the feeling, it's especially powerful.

"Escapade"
JJ: I love "Escapade." Janet wanted to have a song you'd hear at basketball games -- big-crowd-type places -- and that's how we came up with the really big beat. The whole "Escapade" idea, that's lyrically hers. The track on that song was just a rough track we intended on redoing, and it never happened. Literally, the track on that song is like one track of drums, a bass line played on my left hand and a keyboard line played on my right hand, with really not a lot of overdubs on there.

"Black Cat"
JJ: Janet was a tough producer. Man, she had me redoing parts a million times. [laughs] It was her way of getting back at us. We went into the booth at the end to do the [sings] "Black cat…" part, and she had us in there for hours. We're going, "Janet, we don't sing." "No, do that again!" It was a great idea, great guitar riff. Jellybean Johnson, the drummer for the Time, who's also a great guitar player, ended up working with her on that and did a great job. If I recall correctly, the solo on that song was actually done by three people … Janet did a fantastic job. It was fun to play on. Janet would ask me, "What do you think?" And I'd say, "Nope, you're the producer." [laughs] It was cool.

"Lonely"
Lewis: It seemed like one of those songs that would be real comforting. Everyone has moments of loneliness, no matter how many people are around you, or how many people think you're wonderful. When you get in your introverted state, your feel like you're alone, but you're never alone, because there's always someone you can reach out to. That's what that song was all about: "Anytime you need me, call me. When you're lonely, I'll be there for you." Nobody should feel like they're alone. That's probably one of the most feared feelings in the world, which causes a lot of hate and a lot of crime and a lot of everything. Everybody on earth has the same basic needs, and the biggest of these is to be loved and appreciated.

"Come Back to Me"
JJ: At the time we did it, it was one of my favorite songs. I loved the lyrics and the vocal on it. The interesting thing for me was the live strings. I never heard the strings when we were doing it. We'd kept it simple, and Janet said, "It'd be great to get some strings on this." There was a guy in Minneapolis we used named Lee Blaskey, who was an incredible string guy. He arranged a lot of our string stuff. I said, "Hey, Lee, come up with a string thing for this," and he did. We loved it so much that the end of the song, it basically fades out with just the strings as the last thing you hear.

"Someday is Tonight"
Lewis: New love! New love is always great. I don't think you can have enough of those songs. The feeling of that first commitment to someone is always a special one, whether sexually or emotionally. That song is built on that premise. You'll get to it someday, and that some day is right now! It's very special -- especially for young girls. The fact you can hold off and not be ready -- [Janet] has [sang about] that in previous songs. And then one day, you just grow and make that commitment. It's a beautiful thing.

[Juanca]

Great article!
Except for the last eyesore: Billboard adding 'sang' instead of 'sung' smh

[Ginger Spice]

A person all alone is an unhappy one. :'(

[#LisaRinna]

www.est1997.com/music/strength-in-numbers-25th-anniversary-of-janet-jacksons-rhythm-nation/

[MikeCheck12]

Fans celebrate Rhythm Nation 25

[MikeCheck12]

Kelly Alexander interviews Tina Landon about the Rhythm Nation 1814 era

[gonecountry]

I remember when the Love Will Never Do (Without You) video came out. The video was incredible. Saw Janet in a whole new light after this video.

Janet's singles had much more staying power than Michael's singles, IMO.

[Ling-Ling]

I don't really use the socially conscious tracks outside of the title track. I appreciate the effort and what she was going for, but it's so difficult to pull songs like that off and make me want to listen repeatedly. Michael couldn't do it and neither could Janet.

But everything else... YES. What a flawless streak of f**king singles. JJ and TL were absolute BEASTS in the studio. Such innovative work. "Escapade" came on in the club the other day and damn near everyone lost their mind. It still kills.

Still waiting for this to be remastered...

[firefly]

I use Lonely, Love Will Never Do and Come Back To Me but that's it.

[Enigma.]

Come Back to Me is heavenly! Her second best ballad, just behind Again.

[MikeCheck12]

Sept 20, 2015 7:27:43 GMT -5 Enigma. said:

Come Back to Me is heavenly! Her second best ballad, just behind Again.

I love Come back To Me, too. Lonely is a stand out, too.

[Live Your Life]

I go back and forth with this and "Control" as my favorite Janet album. I like "Rhythm Nation" for its conceptualization but I also like how concise and straight to the point "Control" is. Either way, they're both fantastic pop albums.

AllMusic gave the album 4.5/5 stars:

After shocking the R&B world with 1986's Control -- a gutsy, risk-taking triumph that was a radical departure from her first two albums -- Michael and Jermaine Jackson's younger sister reached an even higher artistic plateau with the conceptual Rhythm Nation 1814. Once again, she enlists the help of Time graduates Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis (one of the more soulful production/songwriting teams of 1980s and '90s R&B) with wildly successful results. In 1989, protest songs were common in rap but rare in R&B -- Janet Jackson, following rap's lead, dares to address social and political topics on "The Knowledge," the disturbing "State of the World," and the poignant ballad "Living in a World" (which decries the reality of children being exposed to violence). Jackson's voice is wafer-thin, and she doesn't have much of a range -- but she definitely has lots of soul and spirit and uses it to maximum advantage on those gems as well as nonpolitical pieces ranging from the Prince-influenced funk/pop of "Miss You Much" and "Alright" to the caressing, silky ballads "Someday Is Tonight," "Alone," and "Come Back to Me" to the pop/rock smoker "Black Cat." For those purchasing their first Janet Jackson release, Rhythm Nation would be an even wiser investment than Control -- and that's saying a lot.

[Relaxing Cup]

This album literally flows seamlessly from track 1 to 20, meaning there is not one moment of silence in between tracks. The transition from Lonely into Come Back To Me is heavenly.


RN1814 was a work of ART. They just don't put effort into albums like this anymore.

[Deleted]

One of the most important albums by any artist female or male of the last 27 years and beyond. Also contains the most beautiful and underrated ballad i ever heard. "Lonely" is just beautiful.

[Relaxing Cup]

Jul 28, 2016 18:10:59 GMT -5 @spiritanimal said:

One of the most important albums by any artist female or male of the last 27 years and beyond. Also contains the most beautiful and underrated ballad i ever heard. "Lonely" is just beautiful.

LONELY is beautiful. I love the transition from LONELY right into CBTM.

I'm waiting for today's artists to make REAL MUSIC like this; a REAL ALBUM.

[🇯🇲 dollybaby 🇯🇲]

Sept 17, 2009 16:21:33 GMT -5 Nevermind said:

One of the most consistent pop albums of all time.

It really is! It's truly her greatest, most inspirational work. Along with Control, I can listen to this album without skipping tracks. The album flows together so well. I love Come Back To Me, Lonely, Living In A World They Didn't Make, and The Knowledge. ❤❤❤❤

[Relaxing Cup]

Janet was very light skinned this era

[🇯🇲 dollybaby 🇯🇲]

Happy 30th anniversary, Queen!!! Wee little me was just a year old when it came out.