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She was nineteen when she released Control in 1986, a declarative statement of purpose and proclamation that her brothers weren’t the only pop geniuses in the family. Janet Jackson’s “I’m a grown woman” mission statement seemed a little odd coming from someone that young, but her resolve and personality gave edge to Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis’ new jack swing and synthpop grooves. She shook off her two prior albums in a manner Alanis Morissette would eventually copy, then strolled down the road towards pop dominance and emerging as an artist of tremendous depth beneath the bouncy pop veneer.
Flash forward ten years and Janet Jackson was one of the music industry titans. She’d just released janet., an album of luxurious beats, sensuality, and opulence. It seemed like a nice summary of where she’d been and a glimpse of where she was going. Hey, if Madonna could release a best of only seven years into her career, then Janet was past due by the rapid pace of pop music standards.
Design of a Decade: 1986 – 1996 functions as a summary of Control and Rhythm Nation with “That’s the Way Love Goes,” “Runaway,” and “Twenty Foreplay” thrown in for good measure. It’s a bit odd that janet. gets only one of its singles, but “That’s the Way Love Goes” is a perfect choice. It’s still astonishing to think of how quickly she evolved from Penny on Good Times to admonishing would-be suitors on “Nasty” to the tight beats and iconic choreography of “Miss You Much.”
It’s no wonder that MTV used her as the inaugural artist for their Icon series. Janet Jackson’s career was tied to the rise of music videos. Granted, many of them run together as they typically involve her and a fleet of dancers doing tight choreography in an abandoned location, but her presence livened up the screen and made you want to watch and listen to her. It didn’t hurt that Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis provided a gauntlet of mutant R&B/pop beats as embellishments for her joyful declarations of love or attitude serving put-downs.
Design of a Decade proves that Janet stands on her own. Her voice, not her singing but her authorial intent, is all over these songs. Only a daughter raised under the controlling thumb of a manager father could pronounce her independence in a pop song. She stated that she was all grown up then went about proving it in a succession of increasingly sexual dares in songs like “Love Will Never Do (Without You)” and “Throb,” sorely missed on this set.
Without Control there would be no succession of chart-busting albums and singles, and my childhood wouldn’t have been populated by songs like “Escapade” or “What Have You Done for Me Lately?” Thank god she hooked up with Flyte Tyme and found a perfect sonic partner for her warm, pleasant (if thin) voice. Design of a Decade is one hell of a summary of a pop princesses first decade in music. If she’s been floundering a bit since Damita Jo, just ask yourself if any of her successors have crafted anything half as good or defining as “The Pleasure Principle,” a title that seems the overruling mantra of Janet’s body of work. I’ll wait.
DOWNLOAD: “Control,” “Runaway,” “Twenty Foreplay”
