Halloween is tomorrow, and one song from 1990 still sounds like it could rattle the candy bowl right off the porch.
It’s “Black Cat” by Janet Jackson, Michael Jackson’s little sister. Thirty-six years ago this week, on the Billboard Hot 100 chart dated Oct. 27, 1990, it hit No. 1. It held the top spot for one week, and it was the third No. 1 from her album “Rhythm Nation 1814.”
It was also pure, loud rock.
Her big brother had already gone that way with “Beat It” back in 1983, when Eddie Van Halen played the guitar solo. Rolling Stone said “Beat It” paved the way. Still, the magazine wrote that Janet’s rock turn “came as its own unique shock.”
And this one was all hers. “Black Cat” was the first song Janet wrote completely by herself. “I’m very proud of ‘Black Cat’, which is the first song I’ve ever written on my own, as well as co-produced,” she told Jet magazine in 1989.
Her partner on it was Jellybean Johnson, a Minneapolis musician from the funk band the Time. Janet’s usual producers, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, called him “a closet rock ‘n’ roller.” It’s the only song on the whole album that Jam and Lewis didn’t produce.
Jellybean knew exactly what he was after. “I thought it would be cool if I could make Janet sound like a heavy metal queen,” he told Modern Drummer magazine. He also knew how that idea sounded to everyone else in the room. “I knew the rest of them thought I was out of my mind,” he said.
The main lead guitar on the record came from Dave Barry, a friend of Jellybean’s. He later became Janet’s touring guitarist and her musical director.
So who’s the famous name?
It’s Nuno Bettencourt. If that doesn’t ring a bell, his band will. Nuno was the guitarist of Extreme, the rock group best known for the soft 1991 No. 1 ballad “More Than Words.” Here’s Extreme’s official video for that ballad, in case you need a quick reminder of the band.
Extreme’s official video for “More Than Words”
Nuno added rhythm guitar to the single version of “Black Cat.” That’s the version used in the video. He recorded his part just before Extreme made their own 1990 album.
He didn’t take the job lightly, either. He was a real Janet fan, even if his bandmates didn’t get it.
“I listened to [Janet] nonstop,” he told Rolling Stone. “My band thought I was crazy.”
The video came together in a hurry. There was no time to film a regular music video, so director Wayne Isham shot Janet live on her Rhythm Nation tour at the Met Center in Bloomington, Minnesota. Then he cut in shots of a big black cat. Listen under Janet’s voice for the rhythm guitar, because that’s Nuno you’re hearing.
Janet Jackson tears through “Black Cat” live on her 1990 tour
The song did more than top the chart. It earned Janet a Grammy nomination for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance at the 33rd Grammy Awards in 1991.
Not bad for an idea the rest of the room thought was out there. If a black cat crosses your path tomorrow night, now you know what to play.