I had no idea this was even a single!
Why was it even released in the UK? It isn't as if she was disproportionately more successful here at the time than elsewhere in the world or a track more suited to a UK market. I guess it resembles Let's Wait A While slightly, which had done well several months earlier.
EDIT: This is also the first (of many) "sexy" singles she released. Lots of orgasmic groaning and speaking in french....
EDIT: This is also the first (of many) "sexy" singles she released. Lots of orgasmic groaning and speaking in french....
Speaking of the Control abum, I was just looking at the chart run of her albums.
As is often the case, her debut is the only one that climbed to a peak, initially it made #14 and then slid back down the chart but for some reason made a massive jump to peak at #8 for two weeks in July 1987 while Pleasure Principle was languishing at the bottom end of the singles chart. Anyone know any reason for the sudden jump? Surely not just price cutting?
As is often the case, her debut is the only one that climbed to a peak, initially it made #14 and then slid back down the chart but for some reason made a massive jump to peak at #8 for two weeks in July 1987 while Pleasure Principle was languishing at the bottom end of the singles chart. Anyone know any reason for the sudden jump? Surely not just price cutting?
I
invertedbutterfly
42. Luv [2008] 5.63
Third single from Janet's most recent studio album Discipline, Luv almost made the Hot 100, peaking at #102 in the US (though it made the R&B top 40). Possibly not the most immediate song on the album, and not an obvious single I would say, but it burbles along quite nicely. It clearly divides listeners here, scoring as it did a '9' from one participant, and a '1' from another (it's actually the lowest rated single to achieve a '9' from anybody). No video - I'm guessing they'd pretty much given up on promotion by this point.
phoenix123 said:
It was re-promoted. There was a TV ad campaign with the usual montage of promo clips, and the snowball effect of the public realising there was an album with all those hits on it finally kicked in (this worked wonders for Fleetwood Mac's Tango In The Night a couple of months later, turning a modest Top 10 album into a serial #1 and million-seller). I also think, though my memory's hazy, that it was repackaged in some way (maybe a bonus 12" vinyl or something, that was common at the time).
Funny How... was basically issued to keep her profile high for the imminent Control The Remixes mini-LP which came out soon after. A&M were also given the option of combining the original and Remix albums for a higher chart placing, but declined. A year later, Epic allowed Alexander O'Neal's Hearsay and All Mixed Up to be combined, and saw an obvious chart rebound.
I
invertedbutterfly
(This is going to be the last one until Monday, when we shall start the Top 40...)
41. So Excited [2006] 5.88
The second single from 20 Y.O., the Herbie Hancock sampling, Khia featuring track was, if I remember rightly, supposed to get a physical UK release (back in the day when these things still sorta mattered). However it didn't (though it did in Germany), and subsequently didn't chart over here. It made #90 on the US Hot 100 (plus top 40 R&B, and #1 dance), and almost made the Australian top 40. The video's alright - those skeleton bits are a bit proto-4 Minutes, no? Not sure the loss of clothing was terribly sensible though if we were supposed to be forgetting about nipple-gate (unless it's supposed to be some sort of meta-commentary, in which case it fails).
This elimination means that 20 Y.O. follows Janet Jackson in having all of its singles out of the running. From here, every song in the Top 40 scores '6' or above, which isn't bad at all, I think.
41. So Excited [2006] 5.88
The second single from 20 Y.O., the Herbie Hancock sampling, Khia featuring track was, if I remember rightly, supposed to get a physical UK release (back in the day when these things still sorta mattered). However it didn't (though it did in Germany), and subsequently didn't chart over here. It made #90 on the US Hot 100 (plus top 40 R&B, and #1 dance), and almost made the Australian top 40. The video's alright - those skeleton bits are a bit proto-4 Minutes, no? Not sure the loss of clothing was terribly sensible though if we were supposed to be forgetting about nipple-gate (unless it's supposed to be some sort of meta-commentary, in which case it fails).
This elimination means that 20 Y.O. follows Janet Jackson in having all of its singles out of the running. From here, every song in the Top 40 scores '6' or above, which isn't bad at all, I think.
I
invertedbutterfly
40. What'll I Do [1995] 6.09
Only released in Australia and parts of continental Europe (in the UK it was released as the flip-side to Whoops Now) as the eighth (!) single from Janet (or NINTH, I guess, if you lived in somewhere in Europe that got Throb as a single earlier in the campaign), the single reached #14 in Australia, and apparently #1 in New Zealand (really? REALLY, really? Um, ok...). Produced by Jellybean Johnson (the same guy who had previously helmed Black Cat), that Stones sample is so prominent I always think it sounds like a cover. And... Well, it's alright I guess, but if you're going to insist on releasing 8 (9) singles from an album, why not release one of the good ones? The fact that New Agenda and Where Are You Now received airplay in the US when the album first came out surely can't have precluded their being released as international singles, can it? Frankly, I'd have gone with This Time or even, gods forbid, Funky Big Band over this as a single choice.
I
invertedbutterfly
39. State of the World [1991] 6.1
The first of the Rhythm Nation 1814 singles to show up here, State of the World was the eighth song released from that record, in places such as Australia, Japan, and a few others. It scraped the Australian Top 100, and made #1 in South Africa (I guess a combination of timing and subject matter?). Released promotionally in the US, it made the top 5 of the airplay charts, and the dance top 10. Fred Bronson of Billboard noted that, "Its commercial release would have assured Janet another place in chart history - she would have become the first artist to have eight Top Ten hits from one album" (is he sure it would have gone top 10? Does he have some insider information I don't?). I think this one is better than its status as last gasp single would suggest - I prefer it to at least a couple of the other Rhythm Nation singles. But it is an also ran, so its position here was probably to be expected.
Some of these singles you sort of forget even got released.
I liked State of the World though, was one of the best songs on Rhythm Nation 1814.
I liked State of the World though, was one of the best songs on Rhythm Nation 1814.
Not sure I would have substituted any of the singles released but definitely think State Of The World and Living In A World (They Didn't Make) could have been released. I also liked The Knowledge but it was more of an extended interlude than singleworthy.
If it had been a full US single, chance are it would have missed the Top 10, but it would have been close (probably #12). That's how the singles chart seemed to work at the time (see: Wilson Phillips, Michael Jackson, George Michael).
I
invertedbutterfly
38. Black Cat [1990] 6.19
If you've been wondering what the first big hit to be eliminated from this singles rate would be, wait no longer. The gold-selling US #1 single, the sixth released from the album Rhythm Nation 1814, was Janet's second overtly rock-influenced single (after Janet Jackson's Come Give Your Love To Me), and the first of a recurring theme in including at least one guitar-led track on each of her albums (although this seems to have been abandoned around Damita Jo). One of two singles written by Janet on her lonesome (hint: the other is coming up here VERY SOON), it reached #15 in the UK (making it the biggest hit from Rhythm Nation here), the top 5 in Australia and South Africa, and the top 10 in Canada and Switzerland. Some of the remixes of the song feature the really very pretty Nuno Bettencourt from dire 'rock' band Extreme on guitar (in place of Dave Barry on the album version). I'm a little surprised this has done so badly actually - it's not one of my favourites, but it Janet's vocal seems surprisingly authentic to me. It clearly divides listeners - it's the lowest placed song here to receive a vote of '10', but it also scored a '1' from one respondant.
M
moorje
Ah, Black Cat. The definite 'marmite' Janet song. I always think I hate this song but whenever I hear it, it's always much better than I remember. Oh well, it was the 80's, it probably was a lot more obvious at the time.
I
invertedbutterfly
37. Whoops Now [1995] 6.27
And now, the other single that Janet got a sole writing credit for, the seventh (eighth if we're including Throb) single from Janet. It seems to be another divisive one, receiving one vote of '10' and one of '1' in this singles rate. You can kinda see why - it's very bubblegum, to the point of sickly sweetness. Nonetheless, it was only the third of the Janet singles to make the UK Top 10, peaking at #9, and it also made the French top 5, and peaked just outside the top 10 in Germany (it did less well in Australia, making #49, and wasn't released as a single in the US - frankly it does seem more suited to a European sensibility). It made the UK track-listing of Design of a Decade, and I think it's become one of Janet's more widely recognised singles (certainly of the period) to the general British population. Gods know why it was released in the first quarter of the year though - surely it's a summer single?
I'll own up - it was me who gave Black Cat a 1...
It's the only track I have to skip on Design Of A Decade (and Rhythm Nation for that matter). I just can't stand it, it's like nails on a blackboard to me and really just not a Janet song. I did attempt to listen to it again before rating it but it's still a 1 I'm afraid. I always thought it was a popular song with fans but obviously not that much!
I can take or leave Whoops Now depending on my mood but it always makes me think that it's the only Janet song that my mum (a big Michael Jackson fan) likes!
It's the only track I have to skip on Design Of A Decade (and Rhythm Nation for that matter). I just can't stand it, it's like nails on a blackboard to me and really just not a Janet song. I did attempt to listen to it again before rating it but it's still a 1 I'm afraid. I always thought it was a popular song with fans but obviously not that much!
I can take or leave Whoops Now depending on my mood but it always makes me think that it's the only Janet song that my mum (a big Michael Jackson fan) likes!
I could never understand how Black Cat became the biggest UK hit off RN1814.