Overview
“Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation 1814” is the fourth studio album by Janet Jackson, an American singer-songwriter who was born as the youngest child of the Jackson family including Michael Jackson, and achieved commercial success as a solo artist since the late 1980s.
Commentary
The album was recorded in 1988–1989, and was released in 1989 by A&M Records.
As with her previous album “Control” (1986), it was a collaboration with the production team, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis.
The album is a masterpiece of contemporary R&B/new jack swing, which mainly consists of dance pop songs with heavy use of sampler (E-mu SP-1200) and drum machine, and ballads with strings.
It was produced as a concept album dealing with social themes such as racism, poverty, and substance abuse.
The album reached number one on the US Billboard 200, and number four on the UK album charts. It became a blockbuster selling 12 million copies worldwide.
The album includes seven top five hit singles on the US Billboard Hot 100: “Miss You Much” (number one), “Rhythm Nation” (number two), “Escapade” (number one), “Alright” (number four), “Come Back to Me” (number two), “Black Cat” (number one), and “Love Will Never Do (Without You)” (number one).
“Black Cat” is a song in the heavy metal style.
“The Knowledge” is a song in the industrial music style.
