Pleasure Principle, Janet Jackson, 1987
It's funny how our brains decide what is worth storing as forever memories. Janet Jackson's Control came out in 1986 and by the time I turned 16 in June of 1987, it was still producing hit singles. After getting my driver's license, Control was the first album I listened to as a solo driver in my first car. Control was also the first album I bought simultaneously on both vinyl and cassette.
Like more than 120,000 other Americans, I was driving a Camaro coupe in 1987. Yep. It was red, too. Could I have been more plebeian? The only thing that made my red Camaro unique -- other than me being the driver -- is that it had a manual transmission. From that very first car all the way to present day, I've always driven a manual transmission. The thing about driving a stick shift is, no one asks if they can borrow or drive your car. Not necessarily a bad thing and it's kind of empowering knowing how to do something a good chunk of the population doesn't know how to do.
And, I circle back to Janet ... Control was billed as her coming out of sorts as an independent woman and artist. The album was a source of strength for me, too ... heavy rotation in the Camaro as driving gave me a new sense of independence. Sure, I love Nasty and What Have You Done for Me Lately -- every song on Control is so good -- but Pleasure Principle is special to me. By 1987, the visual (Mtv) presence of a song was pretty much equal in importance to the actual audio of a song. When the Pleasure Principle video came out, I was obsessed. It was Janet without the over-the-top 80s glitz and glam. It's a vulnerable presentation of her and subconsciously, I learned from the video that it's OK to not be "on" 24-7. I still love this video so much and can even (mostly) still dance along. To this day, I struggle with letting my guard down and not being bound by a constant "on" persona. Oh, the glorious by-products of growing up in the superficially judgemental 80s.
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