All of that brings me to this week's song o' the...uh...week. I have been a Janet Jackson fan from the moment I saw the cover of her "Dream Street" album. I became a fan of the music during the "Control" era, and I've heard every album since in its entirety (although I haven't really cared for the most recent ones). But no album in the history of albumkind (it's a word) has ever surpassed the perfection of "Rhythm Nation 1814". It's always been the one album I can listen to beginning to end without skipping a song, and that's an accomplishment for me considering I skip through songs so erratically that I had to buy most of the CD's I owned twice because the first copy was scratched and would no longer play (methinks I was the reason Steve Jobs invented the iPod. I still skip songs like there's no tomorrow but now it doesn't ruin my music). I still listen to this album, interludes and all, without skipping anything. It's definitely one of my favorites. This song is also one of my favorites. I've always loved it but as a kid I had to skip the parts where you could hear the heavy breathing because it freaked me out (don't ask me why. Apparently I graduated from evil toddler to weird child). Nowadays I can listen to in all of its glory. I love the lyrics, I love the music, I love that Prince did not actually ever make it onto the track (it was supposed to be a duet). I also love the album version a lot more than the single edits, so that's what we'll go with here.
Friday, May 31, 2013
They Said It Wouldn't Last, We Had To Prove Them Wrong
My aunt and uncle are renewing their vows this weekend in celebration of their 30th wedding anniversary. As you know, I don't have a lot of role models when it comes to good, solid relationships so I have to take what I can get. And these two still trucking after 32 years together is pretty damn good. As kids, we lived with our grandma, mom and this uncle and he was the best, most fun dude my sister and I had ever encountered (but then, we were only like a year old). When our uncle brought his new girlfriend around, we got all kindsa possessive and didn't like one bit that she was taking his time away from us. A year later when they started wedding planning, we still had not warmed to her. In an attempt to try and make things better, my mom took the two of us (the brother was a baby and loved everyone so he didn't need to be bought) and her out on an excursion to the mall. We got back to the car and our future aunt strapped us into our car seats, left the keys on the dashboard and accidentally locked the doors. She and mom finished putting the bags in the trunk and then realized what had happened. For the next half hour they both tried to get us to climb out of our car seats and unlock the doors. Apparently we'd both figured out how to get out of those seats and had done it on a few occasions but on this particular one we were unmoved to do so again. My mom believes the reason was because we were, and I'm quoting her here, "pure evil" and attempting to drive away this woman we felt was taking our uncle away. They ended up having to go back into the mall to get a security guard and a hanger. By the time they returned, we'd unlocked all the doors and strapped ourselves back into our seats, causing the security guard to think both women were crazy. Maybe she's right, maybe we were pure evil. Eventually, we realized that our aunt wasn't going anywhere and we softened our stance and accepted her. In hindsight, it's a good thing the uncle found her when he did because I don't think anyone else would've put up with him this long.
All of that brings me to this week's song o' the...uh...week. I have been a Janet Jackson fan from the moment I saw the cover of her "Dream Street" album. I became a fan of the music during the "Control" era, and I've heard every album since in its entirety (although I haven't really cared for the most recent ones). But no album in the history of albumkind (it's a word) has ever surpassed the perfection of "Rhythm Nation 1814". It's always been the one album I can listen to beginning to end without skipping a song, and that's an accomplishment for me considering I skip through songs so erratically that I had to buy most of the CD's I owned twice because the first copy was scratched and would no longer play (methinks I was the reason Steve Jobs invented the iPod. I still skip songs like there's no tomorrow but now it doesn't ruin my music). I still listen to this album, interludes and all, without skipping anything. It's definitely one of my favorites. This song is also one of my favorites. I've always loved it but as a kid I had to skip the parts where you could hear the heavy breathing because it freaked me out (don't ask me why. Apparently I graduated from evil toddler to weird child). Nowadays I can listen to in all of its glory. I love the lyrics, I love the music, I love that Prince did not actually ever make it onto the track (it was supposed to be a duet). I also love the album version a lot more than the single edits, so that's what we'll go with here.
All of that brings me to this week's song o' the...uh...week. I have been a Janet Jackson fan from the moment I saw the cover of her "Dream Street" album. I became a fan of the music during the "Control" era, and I've heard every album since in its entirety (although I haven't really cared for the most recent ones). But no album in the history of albumkind (it's a word) has ever surpassed the perfection of "Rhythm Nation 1814". It's always been the one album I can listen to beginning to end without skipping a song, and that's an accomplishment for me considering I skip through songs so erratically that I had to buy most of the CD's I owned twice because the first copy was scratched and would no longer play (methinks I was the reason Steve Jobs invented the iPod. I still skip songs like there's no tomorrow but now it doesn't ruin my music). I still listen to this album, interludes and all, without skipping anything. It's definitely one of my favorites. This song is also one of my favorites. I've always loved it but as a kid I had to skip the parts where you could hear the heavy breathing because it freaked me out (don't ask me why. Apparently I graduated from evil toddler to weird child). Nowadays I can listen to in all of its glory. I love the lyrics, I love the music, I love that Prince did not actually ever make it onto the track (it was supposed to be a duet). I also love the album version a lot more than the single edits, so that's what we'll go with here.
