Discord & Rhyme: An Album Podcast

Discord and Rhyme is a podcast where we discuss the albums we love, song by song.

009: Janet Jackson - Control (1986)

“When I finally make up my mind that I want to do something, it’s never been hard for me to do.”

--Janet Jackson

We’re sorry, Miss Jackson. For nearly two decades, Janet Damita Jo Jackson was one of the world’s most reliable hitmakers, but her reign came to a complete halt after the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show and its infamous “wardrobe malfunction.” After a stunning career spent deliberately pushing boundaries, somebody else took it a step too far and she suffered the consequences.

However, her legacy of pop masterpieces and powerful feminism was never forgotten. She kept living her life, putting out terrific albums, and never relinquishing control. Janet may have been less visible for a while there, but she never truly went away - and now that she’s been nominated to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for the third time, we’re going to do whatever we can to make sure she gets in, including making sure all our listeners know how excellent Control is. We hope you enjoy this as much as we do.

Miscellany

  • We talked about the murder of Janet Jackson’s career after that pivotal Super Bowl, but at the time of recording we hadn’t yet heard who the killer was. Turns out it was Les Moonves, former CEO of CBS Corp., who allegedly spent quite a lot of his time harassing, assaulting, and otherwise mistreating women.

  • Speaking of the Super Bowl, it’s worth noting that Janet has never been invited to perform at halftime again, but Justin Timberlake, whose career suffered no visible damage after he exposed a woman’s breast on live television, was at Super Bowl LII in 2018. Amanda couldn’t help noticing that his show included several women who were evidently only there as props for him to grope.

  • The two songs in front of “Nasty” on the Billboard charts were “Sledgehammer” by Peter Gabriel and “Invisible Touch” by Genesis. There was apparently no defeating the Genesis juggernaut that week.

  • Mr. Heckles (and the diner owner in the video) was played by Larry Hankin, a wonderful character actor with quite an extensive resume. He’ll always be Mr. Heckles to us, though.

  • Amanda made the stupidest remark of this entire podcast to date when she said that “You Can Be Mine” doesn’t have enough bass. Turns out all you need is headphones and there is a ROCKIN bass line in there. She is very embarrassed.

Other links

Music videos

Discord & Rhyme Roll Call

  • Rich Bunnell (host)

  • Phil Maddox (moderator)

  • Mike DeFabio

  • Amanda Privacy Control Rodgers

Control tracklist

  1. Control

  2. Nasty

  3. What Have You Done For Me Lately

  4. You Can Be Mine

  5. The Pleasure Principle

  6. When I Think of You

  7. He Doesn’t Know I’m Alive

  8. Let’s Wait Awhile

  9. Funny How Time Flies (When You’re Having Fun)

Other clips used

Janet Jackson:

  • Rhythm Nation

  • Don’t Stand Another Chance

  • Love Will Never Do (Without You)

  • Empty

  • Son of a Gun (I Betcha Think This Song is About You) - feat. Carly Simon

  • Made for Now

Others:

  • Cardiacs - R.E.S.

  • Death - Scavenger of Human Sorrow

  • Jean-Jacques Perrey - The Elephant Never Forgets

  • “Weird Al” Yankovic - Polka Party

  • Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings - What Have You Done For Me Lately?

  • Yes - Owner of a Lonely Heart

  • Igor Stravinsky - The Firebird

  • Funk Inc. - Kool is Back

  • Club Nouveau - Lean On Me

  • Lost Boyz - Renee

  • Camp Lo - Coolie High

  • Michael Jackson - The Lady in My Life

Songs we mentioned but didn’t clip

  • Janet Jackson - Alright

  • Ween - Pink Eye - On My Leg

  • Justin Timberlake - Rock Your Body

  • Prince - Let’s Go Crazy

  • Autechre - Dael

  • KMFDM - Killing

  • KMFDM - Don’t Blow Your Top

  • Kraftwerk - The Robots

  • Ministry - Just Like You

  • Nine Inch Nails - Closer

  • New Kids on the Block - You Got It (The Right Stuff)

  • “Weird Al” Yankovic - The White Stuff

  • Toto - Africa

  • Peter Gabriel - Sledgehammer

  • Genesis - Invisible Touch

  • P.O.D. - Youth of the Nation

  • Joni Mitchell - Big Yellow Taxi

  • Gary Numan - Cars

  • The Pointer Sisters - I’m So Excited

  • Hot Sundae - Go For It

  • Mariah Carey - Vision of Love

  • Madonna - Take a Bow

  • Salt-n-Pepa - Let’s Talk About Sex

  • Louis Fonsi, Daddy Yankee, Justin Bieber - Despacito

  • Bruno Mars feat. Cardi B - Finesse

  • Bell Biv DeVoe - Poison

  • Madonna - Crazy for You

  • Björk - Hunter

  • Carly Simon - You’re So Vain

Band/album personnel

  • Janet Jackson – vocals, background vocals, keyboards, bells

  • Melanie Andrews – background vocals

  • Troy Anthony – saxophone

  • Jerome Benton – vocals

  • Spencer Bernard – synthesizer, guitar

  • Geoff Bouchieiz – guitar

  • Mark Cardenas – synthesizer

  • Roger Dumas – drums, programming

  • Jimmy Jam – synthesizer, percussion, piano, drums, vocals, background vocals

  • Jellybean Johnson – guitar, vocals

  • Lisa Keith – background vocals

  • Terry Lewis – percussion, vocals, background vocals

  • John McClain – executive producer

  • Monte Moir – synthesizer, guitar, drums

  • Nicholas Raths – acoustic and 12-string guitar

  • Gwendolyn Traylor – background vocals

  • Hami Wave – background vocals

Credits

“Discord & Rhyme (theme),” composed by the Other Leading Brand, contains elements of:

  • Amon Düül II - Dehypnotized Toothpaste

  • The Dukes of Stratosphear - What in the World?? ...

  • Faith No More - Midlife Crisis

  • Herbie Hancock - Hornets

  • Kraftwerk - Autobahn

  • Talking Heads - Seen and Not Seen

  • Janet Jackson - Nasty (this episode only)

You can buy or stream Control and other albums by Janet Jackson at the usual suspects such as Spotify, iTunes, YouTube, and Amazon. Follow Discord & Rhyme on Twitter @DiscordPod for news, updates, and other random stuff. Follow Rich @zonetrope, Amanda @MagneticInk67, and Phil @pamaddox. Special thanks to our own Mike DeFabio, the Other Leading Brand, for production, editing, and his extensive knowledge of recording techniques. See you next album, and be never nasty.

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