I’ve been on an old-school Janet Jackson kick in recent days. Loading up an playlist with all of the uptempo numbers from her Number Ones album, it’s been my go-to gym soundtrack for the past month.

Since Number Ones collects all of Janet’s career hits from Control onward, you really can’t go wrong by hitting shuffle, though I was surprised to discover that many are the album versions and not the single edits. I don’t recall taking note of that fact when the double-disc set came out in 2009.

While I became a Janet Jackson fan in the Control era from the instant I heard “What Have You Done For Me Lately,” and have great emotional attachment to her first team-up with producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, it’s 1989’s Rhythm Nation 1814 that I’d pack up for a desert-island exile. The sound hit harder, many of the lyrics were deeper, but it was still very danceable.

First single, “Miss You Much,” was released in August 22, 1989, with Rhythm Nation 1814 following a month later. Twenty two years ago this month, “Miss You Much” enjoyed a four-week run at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. While the song wasn’t one of the album’s socially-conscious numbers that any discussion of Rhythm Nation usually references, the track’s cultural impact was huge, announcing the arrival of a different Janet and catapulting her to superstar status.

The music video for “Miss You Much” introduced the world to Janet’s military-inspired look for the album and some similarly sharp choreography. It’s the image I’ll forever associate with her. And I continue to wish that someday I’ll somehow master these moves. A boy can dream:

“Miss You Much” was the first of seven top 5 singles taken from Rhythm Nation 1814, a record that remains unmatched in Billboard chart history.

Purchase Janet Jackson – “Miss You Much” via iTunes.