The Best Record of 1989: Day 21-Janet Jackson vs. King's X

Miss Jackson takes on Gretchen

Good morning!

Today we’re taking a look at Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation 1814 and Gretchen Goes to Nebraska by King’s X

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Note: As many of you know, I recently wrote about a Best Record of 1989 challenge and noted that I'd be occasionally writing some of these up.

I've started doing some quick hits of each matchup and posting them directly to the page. Some will be longer, some won’t, and some might just be a handful of sentences. There'll probably definitely be some typos.

Check 'em out and let me know your thoughts! Chin wags & hot takes welcome! Sharing and restacks are always appreciated.

KA—

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If Jackson’s Control album was a declaration of independence, follow up, Rhythm Nation 1814 was her manifesto on how she thought the world should be.

So how do you follow up an artistic/commercial victory like that? Well, you start by going back to Minneapolis and again working with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. There’s a familiarity there, but 1989 was a new day and that meant a new direction for this record. Jackson had some things to say, and the synth pop of the last record would give way to a (relatively) grittier sound. Less synths, more guitar. She was taking on some heavy topics and weighty topics require weighty foundations.

Those nasty grooves are all over this record, but so too is the New Jack Swing sound. There’s hard charging riffs, and even samples from the last album.

As many longtime readers know, i’m not exactly a fan of the interludes and skits that were in vogue back int he day. At best they disrupted a record’s flow. At worst they were just obnoxious. Rhythm Nation is an exception; here, they do well to tie everything together, helping Jackson make her case. The title track is a call to arms, with songs like “State of the World” and “Livin’ in a World (They Didn’t Make)” serving as supporting arguments.

But! This is also a Janet Jackson record, and she (and Jam and lewis) do well to know when to let off the gas and let us let our hair down. “Miss You Much” is straight up bit of pop ,ready made for a run up the charts. Ditto “Escapade” and it’s easy, breezy escapism. “Alright” might be the most underrated track on Jackson’s first 5-6 records. Play it and try not to feel better about the world, if only for a moment. And it wouldn’t be a Janet Jackson record without a torch song or two- “Come Back to Me” fits the bill nicely. “Someday Is Tonight” feels is the logical successor to Control’s “Let’s Wait a While.”

Rhythm Nation 1814 is a serious record made by an artist hellbent on having the wordl take her seriously. Mission Accomplished. It’s not lost on me that one of the early lines we hear on the title track is “It’s time to give a damn, let’s work together.” This is an album that will pull you to the dancefloor, but make you think while you’re doing it. All this from an artist then in her early 20’s.

As she sings on Escapade, “We'll make the rules up as we go along/And break them all if we're not havin' fun”

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Jackson’s stardom and lasting influence are hard to argue. Meanwhile, a case for King’s X is hard to make. If anything, they might dominate the “what might’ve been” leaderboards, but are otherwise a footnote in rock history. Maybe fodder for bar trivia or that pedantic “rock guy” we all know.

I can vaguely recall seeing one of their videos is fairly decent rotation on MTV, but I’ll be damned if I can remember which track it was. It’s not that this is objectively bad music— it’s not— it’s just not something that ever stuck with me. Part of that may have to do with their being saddled with a Christian Rock tag. While not overtly so in the same manner as ,say, Stryper, there was enough there to get them sorted into the bucket. The band had to spend a lot of time and energy stating that they were simply Christians that happened to play in a band together. Which, ok. Nothing wrong with that, but that’s a needle you aren’t gonna be able to thread in 1989.

Frontman Doug Pinnick was also gay, and that meant Christian stores wouldn’t carry the record. Meanwhile Prog fans had what they needed in bands like Rush. They couldn’t win.

In another timeline, things like discrimination wouldn’t exist, the band’s timing would’ve been better, and King’s X would’ve been huge. If nothing else, Pinnick’s vocals would get the credit they deserve— he can sing and do metal yells with the best of ‘em.

As it stands, it’s a good record heard by far too few people to have made a dent.

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Bottom Line: Rhythm Nation 1814 was a huge commercial success, but also got a lot of people to think about things they otherwise might not’ve. King’s X is prima facie evidence that not every good record rises to the top.

My vote: My bracket pick and vote will be going to Rhythm Nation 1814.

Any thoughts on either of these records? Agree/disagree with my takes? Which one of these would you vote for? Sound off in the comments!

Check out the full bracket here.

Info on the tourney, voting, and more is here.

As always, thanks for being here.

KA—

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