Black History Month

Black History Month

We're celebrating Black History Month by shouting out some of our favorite sons and daughters throughout the month of February.

 

Revisiting Janet Jackson's 'Control': Six Facts About The Singer's Album

Janet Jackson's catalog is full of hits, but in 2016, "Nasty," the second single from her third studio album, Control, re-emerged from the 80s and rose up 250% in streaming. It was prompted by Donald Trump's reference to Hillary Clinton as "such a nasty woman" during the third Presidential debate of the 2016 US election cycle and a stellar victory for the classic. Still, it's just one of the ways that the pop titan's music has brought influence to the pop culture scene decades down the line.

In honor of Black Music Month, iHeartRadio has rounded up six facts you might have forgotten about Miss Jackson's 5x platinum 1986 album. Scroll on below!

1. Prior to the release of the album, Jackson wasn't feeling her family's rules, so she fired her father as manager and hired A&M exec John McClain. It was McClain who suggested Janet fly to Minneapolis and try collaborating with a couple of former Prince associates: Producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis.

2. "Jimmy Jam" and Terry Lewis had a particular goal in mind when thinking about producing Control. "We wanted to do an album that would be in every black home in America ... we were going for the black album of all time," Jam said in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine.

3. The video for "Nasty" received three nominations at the 1987 MTV Video Music Awards, winning Best Choreography for a little-known choreographer by the name of Paula Abdul.

4. Hits like "Nasty" and "Lately" were born out of the star's uncomfortable encounter with a group of street harassers outside the hotel where she stayed in Minneapolis. "They were emotionally abusive. Sexually threatening," Janet told Rolling Stone in 1993. "Instead of running to Jimmy or Terry for protection, I took a stand. I backed them down. That's how songs like 'Nasty' and 'What Have You Done for Me Lately' were born, out of a sense of self-defense."

5. Control was regarded as one of the best albums by a female artist by NPR, who placed it at No. 17 on their "Turning The Tables: The 150 Greatest Albums Made By Women" list.

6. Even though the album clocks in at 38 minutes, Control is actually only nine tracks long, ending with "Funny How Time Flies (When You're Having Fun)."

Photo: A&M


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