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Janet Jackson Filmography
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Janet Jackson: Rhythm Nation 1814 (1989)
Jackson did not release another album until 1989. The release date was pushed back several times as Jackson, along with Jam and Lewis, struggled to commit their ideas to record.
By then, A&M Records associates wanted the 23-year-old singer to do a sequel to the hugely-successful "Control" album yet Jackson wanted to do something else. The result was Rhythm Nation 1814. Jackson explained that "Control was about my life; Rhythm Nation is about what's going on in the world around us". Much of her inspiration on Rhythm Nation she said drew from socially conscious artists such as Marvin Gaye, U2, Tracey Chapman,
Bob Dylan.
The album opened with a suite of songs about drugs, homelessness, education and prejudice. As well as the more challenging themes, there was a much harder edge than what was on "Control". The album hit #1 on Pop and R&B charts spawning four US number ones and a further three Top 5 hits.
"Rhythm Nation 1814" went to sell even more than its predecessor overall reaching 12 million. She won a total 14 Billboard Music Awards, including Top Selling Album of 1990, 5 Soul Train Awards, a Grammy for the "Rhythm Nation" mini-movie, 2 NAACP Image Awards, 3 MTV Video Music Awards, and 5 American Music Awards. The single
Miss You Much also became the longest running #1 single of 1989.
She also set a record by becoming the first and only artist ever to score 7 Top 5 hits from one album. "Black Cat" took #1 place on the Mainstream Rock Singles chart.
A massive world tour followed in 1990, The Rhythm Nation World Tour became the biggest and most successful debut tour by any artist in history, it was seen by over 2 million people worldwide, the tour ran a full nine months and performed over 120 shows. Tickets to the Tokyo Dome concert sold out in 7 minutes, a record in Japan.
By 1991, Jackson's contract with A&M had run out. With a number of labels competing for her, Jackson chose Virgin Records for a reported $50 million on March 11, 1991. It was, at the time, the biggest recording deal in music history.
Throughout 1992, Jackson continued to record; her duet "The Best Things In Life Are Free" with Luther Vandross (from the movie,
Mo' Money) became a #1 R&B hit for the duo, and was nominated for a Grammy award for Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group.
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Control (1986) -
Poetic Justice >>
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LiteratureArts, Inc: how the DMCA, Clear Channel and copyright extension are killing culture
William James Ivey sez, My new book, Arts, Inc.: How Greed and Neglect Have Destroyed Our Cultural Rights, is just out (May 10). The idea for Arts, Inc. hit me when I was chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, during Bill Clinton?s administration. I became convinced that the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, copyright extension, and Clear-Channel-style media consolidation were undermining our basic rights to an arts system that really serves the public. Things have only gotten worse. Congress and the FCC might think it?s important to institute hefty fines when Janet Jackson?s breast pops out during a Super Bowl telecast, but it?s shrinking Fair Use, globalized record companies and film studios ? they serve shareholders, not art -- left-behind citizens who lack quality Internet access, and Viacom against Google and Microsoft stalking Yahoo that are the real threats to the vibrant cultural scene that?s essential in our democracy. Arts, Inc. is on sale now. Look for interviews and reviews; I?ll be making the case around the country ? at a performing arts conference in Denver next week, and at the Center for American Progress in DC in mid-July. Link...
Published: Wed, 04 Jun 2008 17:27:09 GMT - Source: Boingboing.Net - Read the article
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