Music - Janet.

To me Janet is the epitome of my youth and my growing up. I remember being at school thoroughly loving to dance and music. I spent my secondary school days singing along to the singles that came off Control. It was such a breakthrough album.

There were no extra charts, no diverse channels segregating music and I think this album put this idea into practice. Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis (who years earlier worked and were fired by Prince) created a pop album that had an edge, had substance, and had guts. They created an extension of Prince's Minneapolis sound, a funkier street sound that we now know as R&B. There was also early House and Hip Hop influence in the music, which is still apparent now.

I can still remember listening to Jelly Bean remixes of Madonna and Cathy Dennis and hearing Janet samples in the tracks.

The breakthrough songs from Control have to be "What Have You Done For Me Lately" and "Nasty" - a track which Janet is currently remastering with Miss E Elliot.

Janet may not be the most prolific of artists, nor does she have the best voice but there is always an element of fun, of truth and honesty in her work. Work that is always at the edge of the music industry, which is copied by many others.

After a four year break Janet released "Rhythm Nation 1814" - a socially aware album that was musically as far from Control as it could be. As well as breaking social silence on Bigotry, Ignorance, Illiteracy and Race issues, challenging our minds and opinions, Janet also managed to fill the dance floor with some of the most infectious dance tracks of the late 80's and early 90's. Rhythm Nation had a major beat and the likes of Escapade and Alright lifted your spirits and got moving.

"Rhythm Nation 1814" also spawned the Rhythm Nation Tour - the most successful debut tour ever.

In another twist to her career Janet landed the most lucrative single female contract ever when she moved from A&M records to Virgin - thankfully taking the creative genius of Jam & Lewis with her. $80M was the price Virgin put on Ms Jackson's head and they got there money worth.

"janet." was a soul filled sensual trip into Janet's world - a trip which involved feelings of life and love and the intimacy of relationships. Another chart success spawning singles such as "That's The Way Love Goes", "Again" and "If".

At the end of the "janet." project Janet returned to her acting past and played the role of "Justice" in "Poetic Justice" - a film based on the works of Maya Angelou. The film also co-starred Tupac.

I remember the whole section of my life that was encapsulated in these three albums - all the things I had learnt - the pain of growing up, the realisation that I was gay, coming to terms with my life and coming out - somehow Janet always seemed to be there in the back of my mind, supporting me, making me smile, sympathising with me. It may sound corny but I really do believe music has such an influence on your life.

One huge memory of the "janet." period was the concert I attended in the UK, a concert I would never forget. During "Anytime Anyplace" Janet had me on stage and was dancing around me, writhing on my lap, kissing me. Boy were my friends jealous :¬)

And just as if I needed some form of reminder A&M decided to release "Design of a Decade" - a greatest hits collection, a term I use loosely as it contains more A&M work than Virgin so was quite one sided.

Its apparent why "Design." was realised now as there was a huge gap between "janet." and "The Velvet Rope". Once you listen to "The Velvet Rope" you realise why. The mood had changed; there was more angst and more anger than heard before. The album was more personal, more involved, Janet had grown up, become a woman and was feeling pain.

"The Velvet Rope" is a superb album - there are so many twists and turns you are constantly kept on the edge of your seat when listening to it. It's one of those albums that inevitably divides people - you either love it or hate it. One of my all time favourite Janet songs is present on this album "Got 'Til it's Gone". I always thought it amazing that Janet single handily managed to shift the R&B cultures sound, that and throw Whitney Houston off track as Whitney adjust her sound to sound like Janet.

The latest album "All For You" took a while to grow on me as it breaks any previous format for a Janet album. It also has a far ruder edge than ever. The album is obscene in places - this led it to being banned in Indonesia and several outlets in the UK. It was so bad Virgin had to release a clean version (which wasn't worth the effort).

"All For You" sees Janet returning to the sounds of her earlier work, reinventing this need for 80's sound by re working old tracks and giving them a 2001 twist. She seems to have been the only person capable of this. A prime example is in the video for "All For You" where the middle eight contains a mix of samples from tracks off "Control" and "Rhythm Nation". And yet there is still enough new twists and tricks to keep you enthralled.

MTV bestowed the honour of the first ever "Icon" recognition on Janet just before the release of "All For You". This was MTV's opportunity to honour one of its most successful artists of the video generation. Although I don't have great regard for some of the more modern manufactured artists I have to say that N Sync sang a great cover of "That's The Way Love Goes" and Destiny's Child sang a blinding rendition of "Let's Wait A While".

"All For You" also includes a far superior version of "Doesn't Really Matter" which links to "The Nutty Professor II" in which Janet starred.

Damita Jo was Janet's last album and although it was a good effort it didn't really set the world on fire. I think it suffered from having too many producers and too much attention lavished on it. It especially suffered in the wake of the Super Bowl incident which was a shame. I think Virgin had lost the momentum in promoting the album and the leaking of one of the songs just meant they couldn't gain any ground. Subsequently the singles all got lost as a result.

I hope that 2006's offering "20 Years Old" brings Janet back on form and on top of her game.

I absolutely love the way Janet always manages to create albums that are spiritual, enlightening, funky, rocky and soulful. There are also the best ballads around mixed with some of the most under rated lyrics.

My top twenty Janet songs are: