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Alanis Morissette Filmography
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Alanis Morissette: Jagged Little Pill era (1995-1998)
:
Swallow it down, what a jagged little pill:
It feels so good, swimming in your stomach:
Wait until the dust settles
:- from the song "You Learn"
In 1995, at age 20, Alanis Morissette released her first international album, Jagged Little Pill (
lyrics). Expectations for the album were low, and Morissette's manager and long-time friend Scott Welsh would later admit that he didn't expect the album to sell any more than around 250,000 copies. The album debuted at number 118 on the Billboard 200 chart.
Things changed quickly, however, when a Los Angeles deejay from an influential radio station stumbled onto "You Oughta Know" and began playing it non-stop:
:
'Cause the love that you gave that we made:
Wasn't able to make it enough for you:
To be open wide, no:
And every time you speak her name:
Does she know how you told me you'd hold me:
Until you died, 'til you died:
But you're still alive
"You Oughta Know" instantly garnered attention for its use of the word "fuck", one of the first times the word was used by a playlisted female artist. (The caustic lyrics were supposedly inspired by a bad relationship with Full House star,
Dave Coulier.) The video went into heavy rotation on MTV and radio. Listeners were shocked, unnerved and delighted by the song, which emerged during a time when testosterone and male rage (in the form of grunge) dominated the airwaves. As one fan put it: "Finally, someone who's speaking for me".
While "You Oughta Know" was a hit, it was the seemingly endless series of singles following it that sent Jagged Little Pill on its meteoric rise to the top. Second single "Hand In My Pocket" showed a calmer, mellower Morissette reflecting on her life, while third single "All I Really Want" made a casual reference to the Charles Dickens novel, Great Expectations:
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Do I wear you out?:
You must wonder why I'm relentless and all strung-out:
I'm consumed by the chill of solitary:
I'm like Estella:
I like to reel it in and then spit it out:
I'm frustrated by your apathy
Jagged Little Pill's fourth single, "Ironic", went on to become Morissette's biggest hit. She received heavy criticism for the lyrics, however, which asked the listener after every verse, "Isn't it ironic?", even though the verses described situations that some argued were not ironic:
:
A traffic jam when you're already late:
A no-smoking sign on your cigarette break:
It's like ten thousand spoons when all you need is a knife:
It's meeting the man of my dreams:
And then meeting his beautiful wife:
And isn't it ironic, don't you think?
Fifth and sixth singles "You Learn" and "Head Over Feet", respectively, kept Jagged Little Pill in the Billboard Top 20 for over a year.
Jagged Little Pill was a phenomenal success. It went on to sell 16 million copies in the United States alone, over 30 million copies worldwide, and its singles have become some of the most recognizable songs of the decade. A backlash, however, was quickly brewing.
Morissette was dismissed by some as a record industry puppet. She was attacked for collaborating with producer and supposed image-maker Glen Ballard, though Morissette was responsible for all of Pill's lyrics and much of the album's music, and such a collaboration was not uncommon for many solo artists at the time.
Others called her sudden image change "calculated", "manipulative" and "greedy", while fans countered that such criticisms failed to acknowledge the possibility that Morissette may have grown artistically since she was a 17-year-old.
Despite this backlash, the album was nominated for six Grammy Awards. At the 1996 ceremony, Morissette performed a moving rendition of "You Oughta Know", one that all but drained the anger from the song, leaving only an air of sorrow and remorse. That night, Morissette won awards for Album of the Year, Best Female Rock Vocal Performance, Best Rock Song and Best Rock Album.
Later that year, Morissette embarked on a one-and-a-half year world tour in support of Jagged Little Pill
, beginning in small clubs and ending in large venues. The DVD Jagged Little Pill, Live chronicled the bulk of this tour.
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Moving to Los Angeles -
Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie era (1998-2002) >>
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