The Playlist: Jagged Little Pill

She holds the distinction of having the biggest selling debut album of all time. She’s sold more than 60 million albums worldwide and won seven Grammys. And, oh yeah, she once played God in a Kevin Smith movie.

Alanis Morissette is performing alongside Matchbox Twenty at Charlotte’s Cricket Arena Jan. 29. So, with a local concert upcoming and a new CD on the way, what better occasion to take a look back at the album that put her on the map.

The music scene in 1995 was filled with a postmortem hit from Selena, a boring Madonna and the usual pop fluff from Mariah Carey.

And then an angry Canadian showed up, vented, cussed a little and the world took notice.

‘Jagged Little Pill,’ Morissette’s international debut, spent a total of 12 weeks at the top of the Billboard album charts and over a year in the Top 10, becoming only the third album – behind Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ and ‘Falling into You’ by Celine Dion – to do so. And it was the second best-selling album of the 1990s, behind Shania Twain’s ‘Come on Over.’

Not bad for a girl that used to act on ‘You Can’t Do that on Television.’

So here are my five favorite songs from the groundbreaking album that made Dave Coulier the bad guy, questioned the definition of irony and and gave a name for that pseudo-relationship you have with that cute boy / girl down the street.

‘You Oughta Know’

The ‘jilted lover’ song is nothing new. But with a bit of course language … and performed by a woman, it gets your attention. The song launched Morissette’s career – briefly giving her the image of ‘the angry white girl’ – and led to her cleaning house at the 1996 Grammy Awards. And although never proven or admitted by Alanis, the song is heavily rumored to be about former boyfriend Dave Coulier, of ‘Full House’ fame. Even Bob Saget, Coulier’s co-star on the show and close friend, has said he thinks the song was inspired by Alanis’ relationship with ‘Uncle Joey’. In 1997, the Boston Herald reported that the sit-com funnyman admitted certain lyrics in the song hit close to home.

And I bet you didn’t know that Flea and Dave Navarro, then bandmates of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Taylor Hawkins, of the Foo Fighters, performed the bass, guitar and drums, respectively, for the song.



‘Ironic’

It was a major hit following the success of ‘You Oughta Know’ and helped soften the singer-songwriter’s image. But isn’t it ironic (“dontcha think”) that the song about situations of irony actually has none. The song was featured during VH1’s ‘I Love the 90s’ series.

“Irony is the disparity between what you expect will happen and what does happen,” said comedian Mo Rocca during the show. “So raining on your wedding day isn't ironic; it's just crappy. … Alanis always gets the last laugh, though. We all sit here, saying her song isn't ironic, but in fact, that's pretty ironic that she wrote a song called 'Ironic' that wasn't really ironic. Those Canadians are pretty crafty."



‘Your House’

It wasn’t a single, or even a listed track number, but was featured as a bonus song at the end of the CD. Very raw, very intimate and with just a hint of obsession. And who doesn’t enjoy a good obsession song? The Police (‘Every Breath You Take’) and Sarah McLachlan (‘Possession’) built their success around them. The song tells of the main character more or less breaking into her hopeful lover’s home, going through his things, and making herself at home (she even puts on his robe) until she realizes he’s out with another woman. So sad. It’s unclear whether the police ever show up.



‘Head Over Feet’

Boy, how simple yet effective was this video? A super close-up of Alanis’ face as she nervously sings the song, as though it’s directed to a single person. By the time this – her fifth single – was released she was already established on the charts and had several accolades to her credit. Surprisingly, despite the success of her earlier singles, this more intimate song was her first No. 1 on the Billboard Top 40 and her first Top 10 hit in the UK. And if you’ve ever heard the term “friends with benefits” (that term, popular with the kids, for someone who falls somewhere between friend and boyfriend / girlfriend) you can credit this song for popularizing the phrase.



‘You Learn’

It’s okay to mess up, fall down, scrape your knee, wreck your car and make a whole bunch of bad decisions. You know why? Because you learn and it makes you a wiser person. Or at least Alanis says so. I guess if you don’t learn and you continue to make bad decisions then you’re reading this column from jail. A line from the song is the source of the album’s title, thus confusing some and leading them to believe this song is in fact named ‘Jagged Little Pill.’ It peaked at No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 Airplay chart, where it remained for five weeks, and went to No. 6 on Billboard’s Hot 100. The single was released with a great acoustic version of ‘You Oughta Know’ as the B-side, performed during the 96 Grammys, which probably went a long way in helping sales.



There’s the Playlist for this week. Agree, disagree? Have a suggestion for a future column? Feel free to e-mail me at grahamcawthon@shelbystar.com.