Janet Jackson's Legacy After 'Control'

It's Been a Minute

NPR

News Commentary, Society & Culture, News, Spirituality, Religion & Spirituality

4.6 • 8.8K Ratings

🗓️ 5 October 2021

⏱️ 42 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

On the 35th anniversary of Janet Jackson's first No. 1 Billboard Hot 100 hit, we look back at Control, her career-defining album that changed the trajectory of pop music in the late '80s and '90s. In the second episode of a three-part series exploring crossover in pop music, we look at Jackson's musical and cultural legacy over the years. We also reconsider how Jackson was vilified after her Super Bowl XXXVIII appearance, and why. You can follow us on Twitter at @NPRItsBeenAMin and email us at [email protected].

Transcript

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0:00.0	What is your first Janet Jackson memory?
0:04.9	It's a wild thing to ask me my first Janet Jackson memory because Janet and I are like the same age.
0:11.6	Oh wow.
0:14.1	This is music journalist Danielle Smith.
0:16.8	You know, it's a wonderful memory.
0:19.0	So for my eighth birthday, my mother got me tickets to see the Jackson 5 live in concert
0:28.5	at the Circle Star Theater in St. Carlos, California.
0:34.7	And when we got to the Circle Star Theater, there was an opening act.
0:40.8	And that opening act was Randy Jackson and Janet Jackson.
0:46.4	Here's Janet and Randy or Randy and Janet.
0:51.6	Wow. And she's at this point around your age, which is around eight.
0:55.3	Yeah, she was like seven or eight.
0:56.6	Yeah, absolutely.
0:58.0	How was she in that opening act of performance?
1:00.6	Oh, well, the thing is they weren't even singing.
1:04.1	They were like doing skits.
1:05.9	Okay, Janet.
1:07.0	Now that you're up here, what do you want to do?
1:09.1	Like Vodville.
1:10.3	They were doing, they had jokes.
1:12.9	You can't do that.
1:14.4	Everybody works in this family.
	...

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