1986 No. 1, The Marker Of An Icon's Control Over Her Music, Hit The Top 40 Years Ago Today

"When I Think of You," the third single off of Janet Jackson's blockbuster album and declaration of creative independence, was in the second of its two weeks as the No. 1 song in the country on October 13, 1986. A breezy, synth-driven, and eminently catchy dance-pop-R&B track, "When I Think of You" helped establish Jackson's sound as synonymous with that of the latter half of the '80s. It also positioned Jackson as a huge star and a musician solidly in charge of her art, a status she hadn't truly enjoyed to that point.

"Control" was Jackson's third LP, following a 1982 self-titled collection and 1984's "Dream Street," both of which flopped. Jackson had a rocky relationship with her father, Joe Jackson, who'd called the shots for her as he'd previously done for his other children, Michael Jackson and the members of the Jackson 5. Fed up with doing what she was told, Janet Jackson refused to work with her father anymore and set out to reboot her career as an artist and an entertainer. "When I Think of You" came about in that first flush of Jackson applying her newly-won professional freedom.

Knowing she had a new and ambitious sound in mind, John McClain of A&M Records connected Janet Jackson with songwriting and production duo Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. The pair were previously members of Prince's funk-group mentees the Time. Recently fired, they were emerging as viable pop and R&B hitmakers when they accepted the offer to work with Jackson.

Jackson strove to create her own music in that era, but the bulk of "Control" was already written by the time she started work on the LP. Jam and Lewis, musicians who wrote more No. 1 hits than they ever scored themselves, had originally crafted the songs for the solo debut of Atlantic Starr breakout Sharon Bryant, who didn't connect with the material. Jackson rewrote, added to, and arranged those tracks, reworking vocals and authorizing the heavy use of keyboards. Those efforts can be heard on "When I Think of You," one of the softer, less percussive songs on "Control," notable for its many layers of Jackson's singing and persistent synthesizers and electronic drums.

In October 1986, "When I Think of You" became Jackson's first of 10 career No. 1 hits. It was the best-performing of the five Top 5 hits from Jackson's statement album.