I was a workaholic then, I'm a recovering workaholic now. So I spent about a year or so in Toronto, and then I was dropped by MCA. But I knew that if I went from Ottawa straight to Hollywood it just would've been too big of a cultural change for me. Morissette: I really was dying to go to Hollywood. The making-of: 'I have zero regret about anything'* With interviews from Morissette, Ballard, Maverick's Guy Oseary and more, we present the complete oral history of Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill.Įditor's note: all interviews have been adjusted for clarity. When a 19-year-old Canadian woman with a hell of a lot to say headed west from Toronto and found her voice. Jagged Little Pill's place in history is unmistakable today, but the album's story starts in a small studio in Encino, Calif., just after an earthquake, at the same time and place as the O.J. Madonna's label, Maverick Records, picked up the resulting album, and come June 1995, Morissette released a feminist manifesto in Jagged Little Pill that sold more than 33 million copies and won multiple Grammy and Juno awards. At 21 years old, Morissette no longer let others define her Jagged Little Pill was her truth.ĭropped from MCA Records after those first two albums, Ottawa-born Morissette travelled to California to write new songs and eventually found a co-writer in Glen Ballard (Paula Abdul, Wilson Phillips, the Pointer Sisters). It also gave her a dance-pop image she wanted to shake.
Jagged Little Pill's sharp arrival was unexpected: Morissette's previous work included two teen pop albums and a single that gave her the moniker " Too Hot" Alanis. Alanis Morissette's voice tore out of 1995 with an album that split the decade.
Play It Safe was afraid to fly He packed his suitcase and kissed his kids good-bye He waited his whole damn life to take that flight And as the plane crashed down he thought 'Well isn't this nice.Fierce. The words below spell out one of the scenarios in the song. They responded that her critique of their grammar is ironic. She cut off their song "Semicolon" to explain that their use of hashtag rap to show the function of a semicolon is incorrect. She made fun of her own grammatical mistakes when she appeared with the comedy trio The Lonely Island on Jimmy Kimmel Live in 2013. "Ironic" also earned a Grammy Award nomination for Best Short Form Music Video.ĭespite discussions of whether multiple scenarios presented in "Ironic" are truly examples of the literary term irony, it remains one of the most clever of Alanis Morissette's lyrical creations. It earned six MTV Video Music Award nominations including Video of the Year. Stephane Sednaoui, a French director who worked with Red Hot Chili Peppers, Madonna, and U2, directed the accompanying music video. At home in Canada, it won the Juno Award for Single of the Year. It earned a Grammy Award nomination for Record of the Year. "Ironic" broke into the top 5 across the Billboard Hot 100, alternative, adult pop, and mainstream pop radio. Co-writer and producer Glen Ballard says "Ironic" was the third song he wrote with Alanis Morissette and it was rolling within 15 minutes. "Ironic" was the third official single from Jagged Little Pill. "And every time you speak her name Does she know how you told me You'd hold me until you died Till you died, but you're still alive"Īlanis Morissette - "Ironic".
Alanis Morissette held the record for the most consecutive weeks at the top of the alternative chart by a female artist until Lorde broke the record 18 years later with "Royals."Īlanis Morissette didn't identify a real-life individual who is the target of "You Oughta Know." It became a much-talked-about pop music mystery much like the identity of the man in Carly Simon's legendary "You're So Vain." Former boyfriend Dave Coulier, star of the TV show Full House, said many of the lines hit very close to home. It topped the alternative chart for five weeks and reached the top 10 at mainstream pop radio and on the Billboard Hot 100.
To the surprise of Alanis Morissette's label, the song became a major hit. Before the release of this single, Alanis Morissette recorded bubblegum pop as a teen artist. Courtesy Maverickįew debut pop singles have ever had the visceral impact of the bile Alanis Morissette unleashed in "You Oughta Know" against a former lover.