La Toya
Encyclopedia
La Toya, also known as You're Gonna Get Rocked! is the 5th studio album by American singer La Toya Jackson
. While the cover and box states the album's name as La Toya, the actual disc and cassette tape state the name as You're Gonna Get Rocked!. Therefore, the album is interchangeably referred to by both names.
The album includes "(Ain't Nobody Loves You) Like I Do
" and "You're Gonna Get Rocked
", which are, to date, two of the only five songs by La Toya Jackson to have an accompanying music video.
. Jackson's musical goal was to evolve her teen pop
sound to something more substantial. "I know what I wanted to do, I always wanted a street sound. Michael
kept saying 'Do it, move away, do your own sound.' That's why I moved to New York, to stop living in a fantasy world, get out of my sheltered life. As far as I'm concerned, it's my first album."
To help develop her sound Jackson recruited British producers Stock Aitken Waterman
. Jackson was disappointed to find upon arriving at their studio that SAW had already completed their three submissions, requiring only Jackson's vocals. Jackson had hoped to collaborate with them from scratch. "Just Say No
" was composed for US first lady
Nancy Regan
's anti-drug campaign. Their other two tracks, the "funky, gritty" "(Ain't Nobody Loves You) Like I Do
" and melancholy ballad "(Tell Me) He Means Nothing to You at All" [sic] were starkly different from SAW's previous work.
Jackson waited six months for US hip-hop producers Full Force
to fit her into their busy schedule. Jackson wanted them to contribute a more aggressive sound to the LP. At the time, Full Force member Paul Anthony disclosed that the group decided to work with Jackson because "we like the underdogs." The four Full Force tracks include "You're Gonna Get Rocked!", "You Blew", "Such A Wicked Love
", and "Not Giving Up On Love."
Other contributions were from producers Bobby Hart & Dick Eastman on the duet with John Pagano "If I Could Get To You", Harold Faltermeyer
on the eccentric "Turn On The Radio", and Steve Harvey
on "Does It Really Matter". La Toya was recorded from March 1987 through 1988. The album was mixed down
in New York.
As a result of working with such a varied group of producers, the LP's two sides had distinctly different sounds. Side A, featuring tracks 1 through 5, had a hip-hop & breakbeat
theme tailored for the US market while Side B was more oriented towards European synthpop
.
Jackson had high expectations for the album, having worked on it for two years. "I've had no private life at all for two years. My whole life has been this record. It's hard work. It's not glamorous at all."
Jackson dedicated the album to the children of the world due to her involvement in the "Just Say No" campaign which was designated for children between the ages of 3 to 7.
described the three "right on target" Stock Aitken Waterman
songs as being "pop gems that display Jackson at her best." "Just Say No" was commended as a "bouncy tune that glosses over" the anti-drugs slogan while Allmusic wrote that "Just Say No" brought "out the best of Jackson." David Quantick
, writing in NME, lauded the LP's hip-hop side with Full Force "a-nicking and a-sticking in full sample effect." However Quantick slammed the SAW-produced tracks on Side B, characterizing "Just Say No" as Marvin Gaye
's "What's Going On
" rammed up the nose of Abba
's "I Have a Dream".
The Miami News opined that pop "with a bit of funk and soul" best suited Jackson but criticized her voice as being drowned out on the Full Force songs. On the other hand, the San Jose Mercury News
asserted that tracks "You Blew" and "Such a Wicked Love" "bristle with the torrid funk of Full Force." Allmusic described the Full Force tracks as "clever jams which position Jackson as a street-hip artist" but while also being "somewhat vacuous." "Does It Really Matter" was complimented as "a genuine, insinuating club/house cut."
in 1986. According to U.S. Copyright records, the song was simply recorded on a cassette tape and claimed by Jackson, while another Jackson/Wilson track entitled "I Really Want to Do It Tonight" was claimed by Wilson. Neither of the tracks were ever released on an album, although because of the dates of the recordings, it is widely believed that "Men Be Illin'" was intended to be released on Jackson's 1988 La Toya album.
La Toya Jackson
La Toya Yvonne Jackson is an American singer-songwriter, musician, author, television personality, actress, businesswoman, philanthropist, activist and former model. She is the fifth child of the Jackson family...
. While the cover and box states the album's name as La Toya, the actual disc and cassette tape state the name as You're Gonna Get Rocked!. Therefore, the album is interchangeably referred to by both names.
The album includes "(Ain't Nobody Loves You) Like I Do
(Ain't Nobody Loves You) Like I Do
" Like I Do" is a single by American singer La Toya Jackson. The song is taken from her fifth album, La Toya. It is one of only four songs by Jackson to have an accompanying music video. The song features a bridge sung by Mike Stock....
" and "You're Gonna Get Rocked
You're Gonna Get Rocked! (song)
"You're Gonna Get Rocked!" is a song by American singer La Toya Jackson, taken from her 1988 album La Toya. The single, produced by popular hip-hop hitmakers Full Force, was among her most successful.-Song information:...
", which are, to date, two of the only five songs by La Toya Jackson to have an accompanying music video.
Album information
La Toya was the first album Jackson released since terminating father Joe Jackson as her manager and signing with a new label, RCARCA Records
RCA Records is one of the flagship labels of Sony Music Entertainment. The RCA initials stand for Radio Corporation of America , which was the parent corporation from 1929 to 1985 and a partner from 1985 to 1986.RCA's Canadian unit is Sony's oldest label...
. Jackson's musical goal was to evolve her teen pop
Teen pop
Teen pop is a subgenre of pop music that is created, marketed and oriented towards teenagers. Teen pop copies genres and styles such as pop, dance, R&B, hip hop, country and rock....
sound to something more substantial. "I know what I wanted to do, I always wanted a street sound. Michael
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...
kept saying 'Do it, move away, do your own sound.' That's why I moved to New York, to stop living in a fantasy world, get out of my sheltered life. As far as I'm concerned, it's my first album."
To help develop her sound Jackson recruited British producers Stock Aitken Waterman
Stock Aitken Waterman
Stock Aitken Waterman, sometimes known as SAW, were a UK songwriting and record producing trio consisting of Mike Stock, Matt Aitken and Pete Waterman. They had great success during the mid to late 1980s and early 1990s...
. Jackson was disappointed to find upon arriving at their studio that SAW had already completed their three submissions, requiring only Jackson's vocals. Jackson had hoped to collaborate with them from scratch. "Just Say No
Just Say No
"Just Say No" was an advertising campaign, part of the U.S. "War on Drugs", prevalent during the 1980s and early 1990s, to discourage children from engaging in recreational drug use by offering various ways of saying no. Eventually, this also expanded the realm of "Just Say No" to violence and...
" was composed for US first lady
First Lady
First Lady or First Gentlemanis the unofficial title used in some countries for the spouse of an elected head of state.It is not normally used to refer to the spouse or partner of a prime minister; the husband or wife of the British Prime Minister is usually informally referred to as prime...
Nancy Regan
Nancy Regan
Nancy Regan is a Canadian actress, journalist, news anchor, and television personality, most known for her fifteen year tenure as host of CTV's Live at 5, a live news and general interest television program reaching more than a quarter of a million viewers nightly...
's anti-drug campaign. Their other two tracks, the "funky, gritty" "(Ain't Nobody Loves You) Like I Do
(Ain't Nobody Loves You) Like I Do
" Like I Do" is a single by American singer La Toya Jackson. The song is taken from her fifth album, La Toya. It is one of only four songs by Jackson to have an accompanying music video. The song features a bridge sung by Mike Stock....
" and melancholy ballad "(Tell Me) He Means Nothing to You at All" [sic] were starkly different from SAW's previous work.
Jackson waited six months for US hip-hop producers Full Force
Full Force
Full Force is a group of R&B performers and producers from Brooklyn, New York, USA, calling itself the original hip hop vocal band.-Members:*B-Fine - drums and drum programming*Shy Shy - bass guitar...
to fit her into their busy schedule. Jackson wanted them to contribute a more aggressive sound to the LP. At the time, Full Force member Paul Anthony disclosed that the group decided to work with Jackson because "we like the underdogs." The four Full Force tracks include "You're Gonna Get Rocked!", "You Blew", "Such A Wicked Love
Such a Wicked Love
"Such a Wicked Love" is a song by American singer La Toya Jackson from her fifth album La Toya. A remix, produced by hip-hop production team Full Force, was released on a 12" single in the U.S. The album track "Does It Really Matter" was included as a B-side.To promote the single, Jackson set up a...
", and "Not Giving Up On Love."
Other contributions were from producers Bobby Hart & Dick Eastman on the duet with John Pagano "If I Could Get To You", Harold Faltermeyer
Harold Faltermeyer
Harold Faltermeyer is a German musician, keyboardist, composer and record producer.He is recognized as one of the composers/producers who best captured the zeitgeist of 1980s synth-pop in film scores...
on the eccentric "Turn On The Radio", and Steve Harvey
Steve Harvey
Broderick Steven "Steve" Harvey is an American actor, comedian, entertainer, television and radio personality and best-selling author. He is best known as the star of the WB sitcom The Steve Harvey Show, and as one of the four comedians featured in the Spike Lee film The Original Kings of Comedy...
on "Does It Really Matter". La Toya was recorded from March 1987 through 1988. The album was mixed down
Audio mixing (recorded music)
In audio recording, audio mixing is the process by which multiple recorded sounds are combined into one or more channels, most commonly two-channel stereo. In the process, the source signals' level, frequency content, dynamics, and panoramic position are manipulated and effects such as reverb may...
in New York.
As a result of working with such a varied group of producers, the LP's two sides had distinctly different sounds. Side A, featuring tracks 1 through 5, had a hip-hop & breakbeat
Breakbeat
In 1992, a new style called "jungalistic hardcore" emerged, and for many ravers it was too funky to dance to. Josh Lawford of Ravescene prophesied that the breakbeat was "the death-knell of rave" because the ever changing drumbeat patterns of breakbeat music didn't allow for the same zoned out,...
theme tailored for the US market while Side B was more oriented towards European synthpop
Synthpop
Synthpop is a genre of popular music that first became prominent in the 1980s, in which the synthesizer is the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s by the use of synthesizers in progressive rock, electronic art rock, disco and particularly the "Kraut rock" of...
.
Jackson had high expectations for the album, having worked on it for two years. "I've had no private life at all for two years. My whole life has been this record. It's hard work. It's not glamorous at all."
Jackson dedicated the album to the children of the world due to her involvement in the "Just Say No" campaign which was designated for children between the ages of 3 to 7.
Reception
The Miami NewsThe Miami News
The Miami News was the dominant evening newspaper in Miami, Florida for most of the 20th century, its chief concurrent competitor being the morning-edition of The Miami Herald. The paper started publishing in May 1896 as a weekly called The Miami Metropolis. The Metropolis had become a daily paper...
described the three "right on target" Stock Aitken Waterman
Stock Aitken Waterman
Stock Aitken Waterman, sometimes known as SAW, were a UK songwriting and record producing trio consisting of Mike Stock, Matt Aitken and Pete Waterman. They had great success during the mid to late 1980s and early 1990s...
songs as being "pop gems that display Jackson at her best." "Just Say No" was commended as a "bouncy tune that glosses over" the anti-drugs slogan while Allmusic wrote that "Just Say No" brought "out the best of Jackson." David Quantick
David Quantick
David Quantick is a freelance journalist, writer and critic who specialises in music and comedy.-Career history:...
, writing in NME, lauded the LP's hip-hop side with Full Force "a-nicking and a-sticking in full sample effect." However Quantick slammed the SAW-produced tracks on Side B, characterizing "Just Say No" as Marvin Gaye
Marvin Gaye
Marvin Pentz Gay, Jr. , better known by his stage name Marvin Gaye, was an American singer-songwriter and musician with a three-octave vocal range....
's "What's Going On
What's Going On (song)
"What's Going On" is a song written by Renaldo "Obie" Benson, Al Cleveland, and Marvin Gaye. It was the title track of Gaye's groundbreaking 1971 Motown album What's Going On, and it became a crossover hit single that reached #2 on the pop charts and #1 on the R&B charts...
" rammed up the nose of Abba
Abba
ABBA is the name of a former Swedish pop music group.Abba may also refer to:* ABBA , a self-titled album by the Swedish pop music group ABBA* "Abba ", a song by Christian pop and rock artist, Rebecca St...
's "I Have a Dream".
The Miami News opined that pop "with a bit of funk and soul" best suited Jackson but criticized her voice as being drowned out on the Full Force songs. On the other hand, the San Jose Mercury News
San Jose Mercury News
The San Jose Mercury News is a daily newspaper in San Jose, California. On its web site, however, it calls itself Silicon Valley Mercury News. The paper is owned by MediaNews Group...
asserted that tracks "You Blew" and "Such a Wicked Love" "bristle with the torrid funk of Full Force." Allmusic described the Full Force tracks as "clever jams which position Jackson as a street-hip artist" but while also being "somewhat vacuous." "Does It Really Matter" was complimented as "a genuine, insinuating club/house cut."
Track listing
Unreleased songs
A song called "Men Be Illin'" was originally recorded for the album, but not used. The song was recorded in early 1987 and copyrighted with the U.S. Copyright Office under the registration number PAu-986-950 on July 7 of that year. Jackson co-wrote the song with John F. Wilson, who she had previously worked with on the track "Love Talk" from her ImaginationImagination (La Toya Jackson album)
Imagination is the fourth studio album by American singer La Toya Jackson, released in 1986.- Album information :Imagination was released in 1986 on Private-I Records, which went bankrupt shortly after the album's release. Because of the record company's financial problems, promotion was poor for...
in 1986. According to U.S. Copyright records, the song was simply recorded on a cassette tape and claimed by Jackson, while another Jackson/Wilson track entitled "I Really Want to Do It Tonight" was claimed by Wilson. Neither of the tracks were ever released on an album, although because of the dates of the recordings, it is widely believed that "Men Be Illin'" was intended to be released on Jackson's 1988 La Toya album.