The background chatter of Palin and Biden last week was constantly disrupted by my co-worker's building excitement for Janet Jackson's concert, scheduled for Sunday, October 5th. As Janet's "illness" caused more and more shows to be canceled, we teased him every few days by telling him that we'd just read that she'd canceled Atlanta as well. As the joke wore thin, his response finally became little more than, "If you jinx this, I'll put a curse on you...", followed by various threats to our health. Having found every album Miss Jackson* has released this decade to be boring, I was able to avoid the hype until Friday. Pulling out "Control", "Rhythm Nation", and "janet" and all the associated singles, remixes, etcetera, I went to work with the notion that our small, shared workspace would be filled with enough music to keep the co-worker, and the day, moving to a quick conclusion. Sadly, a meeting scheduled for one hour turned into one lasting more than four, and by the time it was over, I was too busy to notice what was playing.
Of course, Janet canceled. I feel bad for the guy because I remember how great the tour was for the "Janet" album. It was so good, in fact, that after seeing the show I immediately bought a ticket for the next nights performance. Like Madonna, Janet may not be the best dancer or the best singer, but it didn't matter because modern day divas do not give concerts in the traditional sense; they put on spectaculars in which the music merely serves as fuel for the narrative. To some, this is the scourge of rock and roll, but I stopped caring about the ideology of rock and roll long ago and, if I'm going to bother seeing an act in a giant arena, I know I'm going to pay a giant price and for it, I expect more than a strobe light and a laser. Besides, there are thousands of bands with barely enough funding to plug in their amps playing thousands of dives at my disposal should I find myself wanting to get close and personal to "credibility".
So, now I've got a head cold, suggesting that a jinx and a curse may be more powerful than I'd thought, and I've been unable to get "What'll I Do" out of my head. Combining an awesome 1967 Stax flop, "What'll I Do For Satisfaction" by Johnny Daye, with a bit of The Rolling Stones' "Satisfaction", it's by far my favorite track from the "janet" album and the one which comes the closest to traditional rock and roll that she ever got. Considering that the original material was created by various white soul boys, this should surprise no one, but how deftly the singer handles the material is shocking. There are none of her little girl whispers or mannerisms here, it's all delivered with a directness that points directly to the vacant spot that needs filling yet avoids being vulgar by never actually showing her hand. To me, it's her finest four minutes and the last time that she wasn't tiresome.
"What'll I Do" was not released as a single in the states but in other territories it was the ninth (ninth!) single to be pulled from "janet". Unfortunately, it's success did not prompt her to further explore the terrain she had conquered.
*because I'm nasty
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