This blog is about Alanis Morissette's "Jagged Little Pill", this incendiary CD came out of nowhere when it was released on June 13th, 1995. It's not often that something completely new comes out of nowhere and makes such a big impact. However this CD made quite a big impact. "Jagged Little Pill" is Morissette's third CD, but her first two CDs were only released in Canada. (For those of you who want to remember how to spell Morissette's name, I have a trick. I remember there's 1 r, then two s's and two t's.)
Now I don't hear it as much, but I remember when I first started hearing songs from this CD I noticed how much different she was singing. Her singing style was different than anyone else at the time. This CD of course wouldn't be what it is without Alanis' angst and Glen Ballard's producer finesse. Those two things combined into making one of the greatest CDs of all-time. "Jagged Little Pill" has sold 33 million copies worldwide in it's almost 19 years of release. Wow, that makes me feel even older than I already was.
Alanis isn't an artist who peaked with her first CD as "Alanis" and "This Is The Time" made no impact outside of Canada. However I suggest that "Jagged Little Pill" is her first real CD. Along with selling millions of copies, 6 of the 13 songs were released as singles. Of course when the first single is the butt kicking "You Oughta Know" that's going to draw some big time attention. The other songs that were released as singles were "Hand In My Pocket", "Ironic", "You Learn", "Head Over Feet" and "All I Really Want". "Jagged Little Pill" was also nominated for 9 Grammys and won 5.
I've seen Miss Morissette in concert twice, including when this CD was just exploding. At the time most fans only knew a couple of the songs. I wasn't much more familiar than them on the rest of the songs. "You Oughta Know" got people up on their feet and if I remember right "Your House" was her encore song. Alanis is a very interesting live performer. She's not static at all, she's twirling and running around the stage. It seems holding still for her simply isn't an option. She's a bit strange but not completely off the wall. Her voice sounds just as good live as it does on the CD.
That first concert of hers I saw was similar to this:
"Jagged Little Pill" (Live):
The second time I saw her she was good again and also more polished. She was still a whirling dervish on stage and had plenty of energy. She brought Ryan Adams along as her support act. For that concert tickets were over $30, which was very expensive at that time. Of course I just paid $120 for two tix to Paramore, so $30 doesn't seem so bad now.
Although "Pill" launched her career into orbit, that was her peak. In 2005 trying to boost her career a bit she release an acoustic version of "Jagged Little Pill". It raised interest in her career once again, but I don't remember it substantially increasing her fortunes. "JLP: Acoustic" peaked at 50 on the Billboard Top 200 CDs.
I'd completely forgotten about the acoustic version of this CD. I like that her voice comes out even more on the acoustic versions. The acoustic version of "You Oughta Know":
(Thanks to Wikipedia for the biographical information.)
And as always here's the full CD, before I break it down into individual tracks:
Here's the CD broken down song by song.
1) "All I Really Want":
2) "You Oughta Know":
"You Oughta Know" (Live in 1996):
Haley Reinhart's "You Oughta Know": ("Would she go out with you to the theatre?) I love her version, the funky vibe and her great voice.
3) "Perfect":
4) "Hand In My Pocket":
5) "Right Through You":
6) "Forgiven":
"Forgiven" (Live):
"Forgiven" (Acoustic):
7) "You Learn":
8) "Head Over Feet": Pretty much every song from this CD is one of my favorites, but this really is one of my favorites.
"Head Over Feet" (Live):
9) "Mary Jane":
10) "Ironic":
Crystal Bowersox's version of "Ironic" on "American Idol" (back when it was almost still relevant) and the hilariously cleaned up duet with Alanis on "You Oughta Know": (Alanis sings "Would she go down with you to the theatre" also. Too funny.)
12) "Wake Up":
13) "You Oughta Know" (The Jimmy The Saint Blend)/ Hidden track: "Your House" (A Cappella)
Here are some other Alanis songs I love, Miss Morissette doesn't get enough recognition:
"Hands Clean":
This was the first single from her CD following "Jagged Little Pill", I remember a lot of people were wondering if she could match "JLP". Sadly she didn't and that was her peak, however "Thank U" is a great song:
"Uninvited":
"That I Would Be Good":
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