Songoftheday 10/31/18 - Like a moth to a flame burned by the fire, my love is blind can't you see my desire...

"That's The Way Love Goes" - Janet Jackson
from the album janet. (1993)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #1 (eight weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 20

Today's song of the day comes from Janet Jackson, who had taken a little break after her massive Rhythm Nation album, which spun off eight top ten pop and airplay hits. In the summer of 1992, she teamed up with Luther Vandross, Ralph Tresvant, and Bell Biv Devoe for the top ten pop/#1 R&B hit "The Best Things In Life Are Free". Also during this time, she signed a lucrative contract with Virgin Records, worth in the eight digit marks, making her one of the top pair female musicians of the time (and in direct competition of brother Michael). The first result of that switch came when Janet released the preview single for her fifth studio album janet. in April of 1993. "That's The Way Love Goes" brought over her successful writing and production partners of Jimmy "Jam" Harris and Terry Lewis of Flyte Tyme Records, who co-helmed and wrote the track with her. In one of the most subtle and natural uses of sampling on a record at the time, beats from James Brown's "Papa Don't Take No Mess", which provided the retoned rhythm guitar and beat, and the drum break from the Honey Drippers' "Impeach The President", two songs that have been sampled repeatedly before, but somehow sounded completely fresh in the new construct. Add the high-pitched guitar picking from the song "If It Don't Turn You On" by disco act BT Express as well as a part of Toto's "Georgy Porgy" for the bridge, and the smooth jazz-like track sounded nothing like anything she had done before, but nothing too out there to not immediate respond to. It ended up being her biggest pop hit, spending more time at #1 than anything Michael ever did. The iconic music video, directed by (then-unknown to the public) husband Rene Elizondo, featured a dancer by the name of Jennifer Lopez, erupting into the most sensual house party ever...

I can't begin to say how watching this for the first time blew my 25-year-old mind.

"That's The Way Love Goes" became Janet's sixth #1 pop hit, spending two months at the summit (tying Mariah Carey's "Dreamlover" for longest stay that year) in May and June of 1993. The song also claimed a month at #1 on Billboard magazine's R&B chart, while reaching #16 on their Adult Contemporary (or "easy listening") radio format list. The remixed versions of the track, mostly done by French DJ CJ Mackintosh, helped it top their Dance Club Play tally for a week as well. Internationally, the single spent six weeks at #1 in Canada, one week in Australia, and two weeks in New Zealand. It also reached the top ten in the UK (#2), Greece (#3), Ireland (#4), Sweden (#7), the Netherlands (#7), Germany (#9), and Denmark (#9). Janet also made the top twenty in Switzerland (#11), Belgium (#12), France (#15), Austria (#16), and Iceland (#20). At the 1993 Grammy Awards, "That's The Way Love Goes" won the Best R&B Song, and was nominated for Best Female R&B Vocal, which went to Toni Braxton for "Another Sad Love Song". It also won an American Music Award for Favorite R&B/Soul Single.

(Click below to see the rest of the post)

In 1993, Janet performed "That's The Way Love Goes" along with follow-up single "If" at the MTV Music Video Awards, where the song was nominated for three trophies...

Here's the CJ Mackintosh FXTC Club Mix, which took the track into a deep-house direction, and is just as essential as the original...

A year after Jackson's hit, jazz guitarist Norman Brown released an instrumental cover on his album After The Storm, which peaked at #2 on Billboard's Jazz Albums chart at #21 on their R&B Albums list...

And back to Janet in concert in New York City for the Velvet Rope tour in 1997...

A sample of the record appeared on the "Underwater Mix" of Japanese pop singer Utada's single "Addicted To You", which topped her country's chart in 1999..