September 19, 1989: Janet Jackson releases her album Rhythm Nation 1814. If her 1986 album Control had proven that Michael's little sister had game, this album proved that she was no longer just Michael's little sister: She was her own brand. And for the last 20 years of his life, her brand would be more productive than his.
There's some question as to why she added the date "1814" to the title. R is the 18th letter of the alphabet, and N the 14th. But she told her producers, James "Jimmy Jam" Harris and Terry Lewis, that the title track could be "our new National Anthem." She asked when the National Anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner," was written, and she found out: September 14, 1814, by Francis Scott Key, after the Battle of Fort McHenry, in Baltimore, during the War of 1812.
The title track only reached Number 2 on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 chart. But the other 6 singles released from the album -- "Miss You Much," "Escapade," "Alright," "Come Back to Me," "Black Cat" and "Love Will Never Do (Without You)" -- hit Number 1. From the Summer of 1989 to New Year's 1991, Janet Jackson dominated American Top 40 radio.
And her videos dominated MTV and other music-video programming. The dancing was tight as hell, and, depending on the nature of the song, she was alternately damn serious and leading the people in the video in having the best time of their lives.
Janet was elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2019, 22 years after the Jackson 5 were elected, and 18 years after Michael was elected as a soloist. Rhythm Nation 1814 was her 4th album. Her self-titled debut was released in 1982, meaning she was eligible for the Hall in 2008. So why did it take so long? Was it the Super Bowl incident in 2004?
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September 19, 1989 was a Tuesday. These Major League Baseball games were played:
* The New York Mets beat the Chicago Cubs, 5-2 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Gary Carter and Keith Miller hit home runs. Bob Ojeda pitched the 1st 5 innings, and Dwight Gooden the last 4.
* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Montreal Expos, 5-0 at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal. Bob Tewksbury pitched a 4-hit shutout.
* The Atlanta Braves beat the Houston Astros, 3-0 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. Gary Faye (2 hits in 7 2/3rds innings), Dwayne Henry (got the last out in the 8th) and Mike Stanton (a scoreless 9th) combined on a 4-hit shutout, to beat 20-game winner Mike Scott.
* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Detroit Tigers, 6-2 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Cal Ripken went 1-for-4.
* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Boston Red Sox, 6-5 at the SkyDome (now the Rogers Centre) in Toronto. Nelson Liriano doubled Tony Fernández home with the winning run in the bottom of the 13th inning.
* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 4-2 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. Barry Bonds struck out as a pinch-hitter.
* The Oakland Athletics beat the Cleveland Indians, 5-1 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Rickey Henderson went 0-for-4 with a walk.
* The San Diego Padres beat the Cincinnati Reds, 5-1 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. Tony Gwynn had a weird game: He went 0-for-4, but had 3 RBIs, on 2 groundouts and a sacrifice fly.
* The California Angels beat the Minnesota Twins, 7-3 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.
* The Kansas City Royals beat the Chicago White Sox, 5-3 at Royals Stadium (now Kauffman Stadium) in Kansas City. George Brett went 0-for-3 with a walk.
* The Texas Rangers beat the Seattle Mariners, 5-3 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. Rookie Ken Griffey Jr. went 0-for-4 with an RBI on a groundout.
* The San Francisco Giants beat their arch-rivals, the Los Angeles Dodgers, 3-2 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.
* And the New York Yankees and the Milwaukee Brewers were rained out at Milwaukee County Stadium. The game was made up 2 days later. The Brewers won, 14-1. Robin Yount went 3-for-5. Paul Molitor went 2-for-4 with a walk and an RBI. Greg Cadaret didn't get out of the 3 inning. Don Mattingly hit a home run.
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