Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Song of the Day: Janet Jackson, "Black Cat"

Near the end of 2011, Quinn, Erica and I put together a playlist dedicated to the feline. Other than a few stray choices (Pantera's "Cat Scratch Fever," smoking the original), metal doesn't offer much for B. Kliban's favorite animal, or at least anything that can prowl with "The Love Cats," "Cool for Cats" or "China Cat Sunflower." Somehow, I lost track of one of the best metal songs ever recorded by a non-metal artist.



Not only could "Black Cat" have appeared on Aerosmith's classic Pump, released the same year, it would have been the heaviest song on the album.

Instead, we get "Black Cat" on Rhythm Nation 1814, Janet Jackson's 1989 new jack swing blockbuster. Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis get nearly all of the songwriting credit, but one thing that I love about "Black Cat" it was Janet's first hit song that she wrote herself. Four albums into her R & B career, Janet takes more Control by inflicting a hard charged riff on her pop senses. Pop and metal haven't been this close ever since, probably because nobody can do it better.