Last year, I joined Popdose‘s Jeff Giles and Robert Cass for a column called “‘Face Time,” in which we discussed essential (and some non-essential) cuts in the catalog of Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds, one of the most prolific singer/songwriters of the ’80s and ’90s. ‘Face and his partner Antonio “L.A.” Reid were one of the big 3 production teams that ruled pop and R&B during that era. There was also Teddy Riley and his New Jack Swing camp, and perhaps most notably, Minneapolis’s James “Jimmy Jam” Harris III and Terry Lewis. The former members of Prince offshoot band The Time turned out to be legends in their own right, composing and producing hits for a who’s-who of the music industry and proving to be as (if not more) influential than their purple-clad benefactor.
So in 2014, Jeff, Robert and I (along two new team members, fellow Popdose editor/Popblerd podcast co-host Michael Parr, along with badass co-conspirator Dr. Z) are back to talk all things Flyte Tyme.
Janet Jackson “If” (#4 pop/#3 R&B/#1 dance, 1993 | Amazon)
MJ: Since we brought her up in the last installment, and she’s been in the news quite a bit lately, I figured we should go here.
MJ: Very indicative of the “commercial with a twist” sound of the janet. album. I also think that this album is where the Janet/Jam/Lewis albums started sounding like a true collaborative effort as opposed to producer/artist.
Jeff Giles: “Commercial with a twist” is a great way of summing it up. The rhythm programming is wholly contemporary, but there’s a ton of other weird stuff going on in here — I’d love to know who sat on a guitar and inspired them to cut that skronky lead — and the way they bury Janet’s vocals in the verses, then open everything up in the chorus, is genius. (It’s like sex!) I think Jam & Lewis were occasionally guilty of using their production to prop up or disguise weak singers, but here, Janet’s thin vocals actually work in the song’s favor — the narrator is almost subsumed by lust, and Janet’s surrounded by hot noise. Still sounds great, 20+ years later.
MJ: I don’t think/never thought Janet was a “weak singer” in the “she can’t sing” sense, but Jimmy & Terry were very good at writing and producing for her somewhat unconventional instrument.
JG: I mean, she can carry a tune. But we’re all better off when someone gives her a nice bucket to put it in first, you know?
Dr. Z: As I recall, a big element of the popular and critical reaction to janet. was that she had shed her youthful innocence, and was now freely expressing her sexual identity more assertively than she had in eralier phases of her career. This single and video were a big part of that response. Here was Janet, who had proven her talent twice over with Control and Rhythm Nation, and who was always attractive, but perhaps had yet to fully shed the cute little sister image. Certainly, Rhythm Nation pushed her further in that direction, but janet. took whatever was left of that child star image and decimated it. And the results were glorious. It’s evident throughout the album (“You Want This,” “Throb,” “The Body That Loves You,” etc.), but “If” is the most glaring example of this shift.
And as others have commented, this has as much to do with Jam and Lewis as it does Janet, at least from an artistic standpoint. Control and Rhythm Nation have their unique charms, but in many ways I think that the latter can be heard as an extension of the former. All around janet. was about showing growth and evolution in was that it’s predecessor hinted at, but didn’t fulfill quite as thoroughly as on this album. Jam & Lewis rightly pushed Janet into new areas that helped her not only to remain relevant, but to expand the stylistic contexts in which she could comfortably operate. Again, examples abound on the album, but “If” is the clearest example. It’s accessible and commercial, yes. But as Jeff and Big Money have both suggested, it’s a pretty weird song as well.
I’m not trying to undercut Ms. Jackson or the earlier albums necessarily, but Control especially falls in line sonically with a lot of the other work Jam and Lewis were producing in the era (Klymax, Cherelle, Alexander O’Neal, etc.). That’s not to say that they were phoning it in, nor to say that Janet’s role was minimal (because fuck, I love Control!), but I think all three of them stretched themselves more on janet. than on either of the previous collaborations.
MJ: I think we might be selling Janet a little short here. Who pushed who?
It’s worth mentioning that Janet’s music with Jam & Lewis has always sounded a bit more unconventional than the songs they’ve done with other artists. Certainly, I don’t think that, for example, they would’ve done a record with Q-Tip if not for Janet’s influence.
JG: Without any of us having been in the studio while janet. was being made, I think this is kind of an academic tangent, although I’d counter that if Janet’s artistry (or whatever you want to call it) was as developed as you seem to be suggesting, then I’m not sure she’d need producers at all at this point.
That said, I do think one thing is clear: Janet’s best, most consistent stuff tends to be created with Jam & Lewis at the helm. They bring out the best in each other.
Michael Parr: It’s definitely a symbiotic relationship.
MJ: I really love the production of this song. Kinda like NIN meets BBD.
I’m betting Jimmy and/or Terry and/or Janet blasted the shit out of Pretty Hate Machine.
Z: That guitar, the nods to industrial and electronic music, the overt assertiveness of Janet’s vocals, the clash between verse and chorus — all add up to make “If” *the* standout track on the album in my opinion, and one that I think still sounds compellingly fresh 21 (*gulp*) years later.
Robert Cass: Can we also argue that grunge was an influence on “If”? The quiet-verse, loud-chorus template of “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and other “alternative” songs of the early ’90s is followed here.
I just recently got around to buying Jamie Lidell’s self-titled fourth album and learned that one of his inspirations was the team of Jackson, Jam, and Lewis. “I got into Rhythm Nation and Control and thought ‘these are amazing songs, why don’t they make them like this anymore? I want to make them like that!'” he told The Independent. “So that’s what kicked it off for me.”
MJ: Janet’s a lot more influential than folks give her credit for.
