Albums Dangerous vs Rhythm Nation 1814

[DuranDuran]

It is very strange because I love those tracks. If they had been released as singles with videos I'm sure the songs would feel more love from the community though

If that is the case then what they really like is the advertising and not so much the song itself, because a music video is just a commercial for a record. "Video killed the radio star." A commercial is designed to influence people to buy things they weren't likely to buy in the first place. There's a reason companies spend many millions of dollars to have their ads shown during the Superbowl. It works really well too, look at Milli Vanilli. Get 2 pretty boys to appear in videos to advertise songs sung by less attractive session singers and get a multi-platinum smash album. They won a Grammy too. Would Gangnam Style by Psy be as successful without the video? Probably not. Milli Vanilli was not the first or last front music act, but they were the most successful. That practice goes all the way back to at least the 1960s, if not before. Rob & Fab only got caught by the public because they demanded to sing on their next record and their producer refused and spilled the beans. Rob and Fab got most of the blame and bad press.

The Jacksons have performed Can't Let Her Get Away on their recent tours. That song also got a lot of airplay on R&B stations at the time and still occasional does. That was back when radio stations would still play album tracks or B-sides. Before they got bought out by Clear Channel and other conglomerates.

[JichaelMackson]

People can be easily swayed towards liking a product. Would Billie Jean be universally loved without Motown 25? Would Thriller have sold as many copies without its iconic video? Most probably not.
I like to think I like certain music for the music itself and not because the radio plays or because some hot shot critic loves it but I've probably been influenced like any other human being in other ways

[ScreenOrigami]

People can be easily swayed towards liking a product. Would Billie Jean be universally loved without Motown 25?

That’s assuming that most people have seen Motown 25. I hadn’t until recently. Billie Jean came out when I was 12, and I heard it on my favorite radio show and liked it. I didn’t even know who Michael Jackson was at the time. It’s a great song with a highly original, intriguing sound. You don’t have to see the Moonwalk to notice that.

[DuranDuran]

Would Billie Jean be universally loved without Motown 25? Would Thriller have sold as many copies without its iconic video? Most probably not.

Billie Jean was already a hit before Motown 25, and without MTV. Because MTV declined to show the video at first until CBS threatened to pull their other artists. Which would have included really popular acts like Journey & Billy Joel. The Girl Is Mine became a hit without a video or any TV show performances. Most people did not even have MTV in 1982 or cable TV at all for that matter. The music video hadn't really killed the radio star yet.

I like to think I like certain music for the music itself and not because the radio plays or because some hot shot critic loves it but I've probably been influenced like any other human being in other ways

I'm not sure music critics ever helped to sell records. I've always noticed that they tend to like artists that didn't sell that well and disliked the ones who sold a lot or were mainstream popular. It's the same for TV & movie critics.

[JichaelMackson]

This is exactly what I mean though. The Girl is mine was a hit but it is now a forgotten song. Billie Jean was also already a hit but became immortal because it is now forever connected to the moonwalk. People don't even have be aware of Motown 25 the moonwalk is part of billie jean. You can't escape it, play BJ at a party and someone is bound to start a moonwalk lol

If Michael performed the moonwalk for another song perhaps BJ wouldn't be as iconic at this time. I'm thinking about DSTYGE this song is as majestic as BJ but it doesn't have a signature move and it has far less recognition.

Anyway we're going terribly off topic. In fact we never really started discussing what I initially wanted to start lol. The question remains: does Janet Jackson's album deserve more recognition than Dangerous or not?

[DuranDuran]

The question remains: does Janet Jackson's album deserve more recognition than Dangerous or not?

I already answered that. Why would Dangerous get more recognition as a New Jack Swing album over Janet's, when it is not a New Jack Swing album? It's an album with some NJS songs on it. I'd say Bobby Brown's Don't Be Cruel album would qualify more than Janet's or Mike's album. It's the biggest selling album by an actual New Jack Swing artist, not an act dabbling in it. It's kinda forgotten today because of Bobby's later tabloid stories and his marriage to Whitney Houston, but he was huge back then. His album was selling more in the USA than Mike, Prince, George Michael, Madonna, etc. People got hits just because Bobby was on their song like Glenn Medeiros, similar to Rockwell's Somebody's Watching Me. Bobby wasn't invited to do the theme song for Ghostbusters 2 for nothing.

[NatureCriminal7896]

I'm not a Janet fan but i been thinking about listening to her music in the future. i'm shock people don't like can't let her get away and why you wanna trip on me. i'm not a fan of she drives me wild.

i'm not sure who got the most sales at the time.

[DuranDuran]

I think Rhythm Nation 1814 had an influence on 1990s albums in a way that wasn't necessarily music based. Because after Janet's album, a lot of albums started to have interludes & skits on them. There were skits on records before the Rhythm Nation album, but they generally weren't separate tracks to themselves.

[JichaelMackson]

Good shout, I never liked skits, especially not as separate tracks

The actual tracks are pretty stellar. I think it deserves a classic status although none of the songs are ever on the radio (where I live)

[DuranDuran]

Good shout, I never liked skits, especially not as separate tracks

The actual tracks are pretty stellar. I think it deserves a classic status although none of the songs are ever on the radio (where I live)

The good thing as having them separate is that if you didn't want to listen to the skit, just skip it and go right to the song. Couldn't do that with Black Or White (unless you bought the single which didn't have it). What I didn't really like were CDs, because artists starting in the 1990s decided they had to fill the entire 80 minutes with something. I think that's a reason for the skits/interludes. Before CDs, the average album was 35 to 45 minutes because records couldn't hold much more than that or they would lose sound quality. Before the 1970s the average album was 25 minutes long. A 80 minute CD is the same as a double vinyl album and just about the length of the average movie. Then some would do a double CD album, which pre-CD era, would have been a 3 or 4 record set. Prince put out a 3 CD album (Emancipation).

[somewhereinthedark]

I’m not understanding why Dangerous has to be vs Rhythm Nation? Why can’t they both stand on their own? IMO, it is silly to try and pit albums or artists against others. Dangerous is great on its own and so is Rhythm Nation. They don’t sound the same. Why compare them? I’m trying to remember if a Bruce Springsteen album was compared to another artist’s album? Is it only certain artists, certain ethnic groups, etc. who are always compared, or versus each other? Just wondering?

[somewhereinthedark]

FTR, I don’t consider Rhythm Nation a New Jack Swing album. It doesn’t fit into that category. Dangerous is also not a New Jack Swing album. However, it did have some NJS tracks on it. Bobby Brown, Keith Sweat albums represent NJS genre more so than Dangerous or Rhythm Nation.

[somewhereinthedark]

FTR, I don’t consider Rhythm Nation a New Jack Swing album. It doesn’t fit into that category. Dangerous is also not a New Jack Swing album. However, it did have some NJS tracks on it. Bobby Brown, Keith Sweat albums represent NJS genre more so than Dangerous or Rhythm Nation.

[DuranDuran]

I’m trying to remember if a Bruce Springsteen album was compared to another artist’s album? Is it only certain artists, certain ethnic groups, etc. who are always compared, or versus each other? Just wondering?

I've seen different albums compared to particular albums such as Sgt. Pepper, Dark Side Of The Moon, Pet Sounds, Kind Of Blue. Usually classic rock and maybe some jazz records. A lot of bands are compared to The Beatles. Technically when a magazine like Rolling Stone makes a list about the "greatest albums in history" or "greatest singers" or "greatest songs" it's comparing. Whoever is #1 is the "best". Same when somebody says so and so has the most Top 10 hits or someone sold the most or got the most views on Youtube, that's comparing. Just because an act has hit singles does not mean their music is better than someone who doesn't

FTR, I don’t consider Rhythm Nation a New Jack Swing album. It doesn’t fit into that category. Dangerous is also not a New Jack Swing album. However, it did have some NJS tracks on it. Bobby Brown, Keith Sweat albums represent NJS genre more so than Dangerous or Rhythm Nation.

I think a lot of people currently posting on this site are outside of the USA, so might have little or no exposure to New Jack Swing outside of Dangerous. Maybe not R&B in general. I think that's a reason some people here are not that interested in the music of the Jackson 5 or The Jacksons. Their music is more straight R&B, soul, & funk than Mike's solo music the same way the Commodores are compared to Lionel Richie's solo records. Lionel get a lot more airplay today than the Commodores. But it's interesting that many popular European artists music was influenced by Black American music such as The Beatles, Eric Clapton, Rolling Stones, Fleetwood Mac, Simply Red, Wham!/George Michael, Level 42, Jamiroquai, Sade, Loose Ends, 5 Star, Brand New Heavies, Incognito, David Bowie, The Police/Sting, Phil Collins, Steve Winwood, etc.

[DuranDuran]