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Happy 20th birthday, The Velvet Rope!

This album was one of the albums that saved my life. I’m so glad that it’s featured quite prominently on the current State of the World Tour. I never thought Janet would sing What About again, night after night. However, she is and that is a testament to how strong she is!

To celebrate, here’s the review i write from a few years back on http://renownedforsound.com/index.php/record-rewind-janet-jackson-the-velvet-rope/ as well as a new MTV report at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t24XfvWHVaQ

By 1997, Janet Jackson seemingly had it all: three highly successful studio albums, two lucrative concert world tours, an Oscar nomination, a long-term boyfriend/husband, one of the biggest paid recording contracts of all time and millions of fans. It’s even arguable that it was her star power that resulted in Scream, the collaboration that marked brother Michael’s comeback.

Eventually, Janet’s life-long battles with body image and self-esteem became too much to bear, as she could no longer suppress the pain. Her resulting depression meant that she went missing from the studio for days at a time during the recording sessions for The Velvet Rope.

Janet’s soul-searching during this turbulent period inspired the themes of her fourth album with loyal henchmen Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. The title of what has become her masterpiece carries multiple meanings: the barrier separating VIPs from the public; the wall protecting one’s inner feelings from scrutiny; the obstacles faced by racial and sexual minorities day-to-day.

She also had an image makeover whose impact can still be seen today. Janet rocked red hair, an androgyny softer than Grace Jones, tattoos and a kinky fetish for latex and bondage way before Rihanna, Beyonce, Janelle Monae and others, breaking down even more boundaries for African Americans.

It’s obvious from the sinister melodies, ominous strings, the Tubular Bells sample, Janet’s shaky, vulnerable vocals and Vanessa Mae’s twisted violin solo on the spine-chilling opening title track that this album is not another janet. The exploration of Janet’s inner turmoil continues on the deceptively groovy You. This emotionally confronting track highlights Janet’s vocal versatility, encompassing emotionally weary performances in the verses, reassuring backing vocals and demented, distorted and claustrophobic cries for help in the choruses. The lyrics including ‘when you hate you, you hate everyone that day’ and ‘you can not run from you, can’t hide from you’ speak the absolute truth, empowering listeners to take more control of their lives.

The Velvet Rope was ahead of its time in numerous ways. Free Xone and a bisexual take of Rod Stewart’s Tonight’s The Night are examples of the album’s pro-LGBTQIA message. The visceral hard-rock epic about domestic violence, What About, is an album standout and an explicit, emotional smack to the face. Jaws will inevitably drop at lines like ‘all the shit you done to me’ and ‘you didn’t fuck her, she only gave you head’. Empty revolves around online dating. The dingy, sleazy Rope Burn has Janet opening herself up and doing S&M when a future Barbadian pop superstar was still at school.

The classy Got ‘Til It’s Gone (featuring Q-Tip and sampling the chorus Joni Mitchell’s Big Yellow Taxi), the Motown-sampling My Need and the saucy Anything are high quality servings of mellow trip-hop. It’s hard to believe that the jubilant house-pop classic Together Again (a tribute to Janet’s friends who passed away from AIDS) was almost never a single until Janet put her foot down. Go Deep is the album’s Escapade, possibly even a prequel to Janet’s ‘single life’ follow-up All For You. It is a welcome distraction from the personal issues explored on the album and a infectiously catchy, slinky soundtrack for going out. The rhymes (e.g. ‘get him all alone, make him scream and moan’) couldn’t be better. Pharell, THIS is how you tribute Marvin Gaye.

Some of Janet’s greatest ballads are here too. The tender, angelic Every Time is far superior than the overrated, soppy saccharine Again, as it has an even better piano hook and more intimate vocal performance. The intensely personal, post-breakup jam I Get Lonely ranks amongst Janet’s finest. Its timeless, soulful production features out-of-this-world chord changes, a chilled, jazzy arrangement including funky Rhodes Piano and another heart-wrenching vocal that strips Janet emotionally bare. Special has Janet conjuring a child-like wonder like her brother, as she reminds listeners to water their spiritual garden and that we are all works in progress.

The Velvet Rope is a cathartic effort from Janet that shows immense artistic growth from its predecessors, as it forces listeners to look inwards. Coming from an era when pop stars actually shook things up, it’s hardly surprising that this album’s legacy has lasted. This album is a classic lesson in how pop stars should evolve as artists: something that is incredibly rare in the pop music world today.

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Paul Simonon in Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains, 1982

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damon albarn did 2d’s dance at the performance earlier, so it’s possible he either choreographed it or portrayed 2d himself in sleeping powder.

source

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This is also Madonna’s first single that she was a producer on, and it’s further evidence of her pop genius! Brilliant hook, memorable lyrics and funky arrangement thanks to that synth bass, backed up by one of the best bridges in pop music EVER! Madonna may have had Niki and Donna, but her harmonising with herself takes the cake!

On this day in music history: May 27, 1985 - “Into The Groove” by Madonna is released. Written and produced by Madonna and Stephen Bray, it is the ninth single release for the pop music superstar. By early 1984, Madonna’s career finally begins to take flight as her self titled debut album gains momentum off of the strength of the singles “Holiday” and “Borderline”. While living in the Alphabet City area of the East Village in Manhattan, she sees a handsome young Puerto Rican man on the fire escape of the apartment building across from hers. That encounter inspires one of her best known and loved songs. Madonna finishes writing what becomes “Into The Groove” with her former Breakfast Club band mate, drummer Steve Bray. Club DJ Mark Kamins, producer of her debut single “Everybody”, asks Madonna if she can write a song for a female teenage vocalist he’s discovered named Cheyne (“Call Me Mr. Telephone”, “Private Joy”). She offers him “Into The Groove” which Kamins feels is a hit upon hearing it. A short time later, Madonna lands the title role in director Susan Seidelman’s “Desperately Seeking Susan” (co-starring Rosanna Arquette and Aidan Quinn). Seidelman asks Madonna if she will contribute a song to the films soundtrack for a night club scene filmed at Danceteria in New York. She plays the director the rough demo for “Groove”, which the director loves immediately. Madonna and Steve Bray re-record the song at Sigma Sound Studios in New York for inclusion in the film. Kamins is upset when he finds out that the singer has taken the song back without telling him, causing a rift between the two. By the time “Susan” hits theaters in late March of 1985, Madonna’s music career is on fire with three singles on the chart simultaneously. Fearing overexposure, there are no plans to issue “Into The Groove” as single, and it is not included on the soundtrack album. However, a music video featuring the song is released to help promote the film. Radio stations take the audio from the video and begin playing it on the air. The public’s reaction to the song is immediately positive and forces Madonna’s label Sire Records to release it. Not wanting it to be in direct chart competition with “Angel”, “Groove” is placed on the B-side of the 12" single for “Angel”. Since it is not initially released as a 7" single in the US, it isn’t eligible to chart on the Billboard Hot 100, though that does not stop it from becoming a huge radio smash. The 12" sells over a million copies domestically, becoming one of only a small handful to sell in numbers that large. “Groove” is released as an A-side overseas, and added to some foreign pressings of the “Like A Virgin” album. “Into The Groove” tops the charts in nine countries including four weeks at the top of the UK singles chart, and one week at the top of the Billboard Club Play on June 29, 1985. “Into The Groove” is certified Gold in the US by the RIAA.

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97 color photos document everyday life of Sweden in the 1940s.

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when you’re introvert af and you accepted to go out with your best friend but he didn’t give you any attention and constantly let you all alone by yourself during the whole night and you decided it’s enough and u wanna go home but he just made new friends and is about to have fun and he’s drunk and high and ignoring you and ain’t ready to leave bc he’s extrovert af

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Damon Albarn photographed by Aaron Richter for Billboard. (New York, 2017)

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By Tom Jamieson for The New York Times, 2017.

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Tango in The Night Ladies Photoshoot By Aaron Rapoport

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Anon request: pictures of Fleetwood Mac during the recording of Tango In The Night. Five of these photos are courtesy of Richard Dashut.

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scans from the Tango in the Night re-issue.  These photos and “Ooh My Love” are about the best things on it!

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Let’s ignore the godawful album cover and instead enjoy these nice new pics of the already legendary duo.

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Fleetwood Mac  |  “Tango in the Night”  |  April 13, 1987

“Although the album dishes out ear candy, it’s not only about the pleasures of popcraft. Its sonic overlays, dissolves and zooms show how passion swirls behind the neatest of façades — melting in McVie’s songs, babbling in Nicks’s, howling in Buckingham’s. In the cool, chastity-belted 1980s, that’s still worth remembering.” x

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Gorillaz | Q Magazine – June 2017

Thanks to 101reykjavik from veikko’s forum for the scans.

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i.e. on the messiest shows on the RAL tour and therefore, in stevie history. the ‘edge’ wail alone gives you nightmares

On this day in…1986: The Rock A Little tour hits Inglewood, CA. Stevie plays at the Great Western Forum.