I woke up this morning and chose Jagged Little Pill (1 Viewer)

[Suedehead]

I know right. That oft-ignored album.
Anyway I listened to the whole thing on my morning run and then followed it up with the Spotify interview with her and Glen Ballard.
It is still pertinent to me and remains one of the most important albums of the 20th century in my opinionata.

 

[Suedehead]

10 All I Really Want
10 You Oughta Know
09 Perfect
10 Hand In My Pocket
10 Right Through You
11 Forgiven
10 You Learn
09 Head Over Feet
09 Mary Jane
10 Ironic
09 Not The Doctor
09 Wake Up

N/A You Oughta Know (Reprise)

08 Your House

 

[Suedehead]

On certain days like today, the Mary Jane lyrics are pretty gutwrenching.

 

[Suedehead]

 

[Iguana]

Really why would you ever NOT choose this album*?

*Unless you chose Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie instead.

 

[jivafox]

I wish she’d celebrate it more.

 

[GNL]

I wish she’d celebrate it more.

So neglected. Hopefully she'll do something for its 30th anniversary in a few years.

 

[Iguana]

I just wish she's play a track or two of it live sometime. It's like, we get it Alanis, you love playing Flavours of Entanglement songs

 

[Suedehead]

Let's have some JLP memories shall we?

So I bought the album in 1995 off the back of 'Hand in my Pocket' - on cassette. I thought at the time her name was Analyse Symptoms (don't ask!) - and I was struck by the video and the song, but wasn't really sure who she was. Anyway I finally got it right and I still remember the first time I played the album in my parents' car whilst they were doing some shopping and I was, of course, being a sulky teenager. 'Perfect' struck such an immediate chord with me as a 15 year old. You can figure out why from the lyrics.

What are some of your JLP memories?

 

[Suedehead]

I also don't think we discuss the promo videos from this album enough. They were all fantastic visual vehicles that perfectly complemented the songs, and I really think they got it so right. The graininess of 'You Oughta Know', the Herb Ritts-esque 'Hand in my Pocket' and the beautiful simplicity of 'Head Over Feet' immediately spring to mind. Of course, multiple Alanises dangerous driving in a snowy Canada in 'Ironic' is probably what everyone remembers (and quite rightly so - such a fun video). I suppose 'You Learn' is slightly odd in that it is probably more of a style over substance video but I do remember loving her hair and tracksuits, so yeah.

 

[jivafox]

I was OBSESSED with “Ironic” and would watch The Box music channel for HOURS waiting for the video to come on. Then I found JLP in my mum’s CD collection and the rest is history.

 

[Tisch]

I don't really KNOW how or when I got into her, I just always was. I remember my parents dissecting the Ironic lyrics in the car when I was about 6 or 7 which is my earliest Analyse memory but I don't think I really GOT INTO her till about age 12.

 

[GNL]

I came to the album VERY LATE because it was on some '100 albums to listen to before you die' list I was working through as a teenager with no hobbies and a limewire account.

 

[Christian]

I got bought it as a present when it came out and didn't listen to it. Then "You Oughta Know" became the soundtrack to late summer 95 Los Angeles (it was EVERYWHERE) and I've never looked back.

 

[VoR]

The Ironic video is indivisible from the VH1 channel logo in my mind. It was one of those videos they just played constantly.

 

[Iguana]

I saw the Ironic video when in 1996 when I was 9 and instantly loved it. I started singing it when my older (female) cousins were round one day and they were like "How do you know that?!" and it turns out they were stans of JLP. One of them recorded it onto cassette for me and I listened to it constantly. I remember the cassette cut off halfway through Wake Up, and the first time I heard the whole of Wake Up was when I watched THIS performance when it aired on TV:



I then bought the CD - the first I'd ever bought myself with pocket money!

Who knows if I'd ever be a stan if I hadn't sung that line of Ironic to my cousins in 1996...

 

[Iguana]

I don't really KNOW how or when I got into her, I just always was. I remember my parents dissecting the Ironic lyrics in the car when I was about 6 or 7 which is my earliest Analyse memory but I don't think I really GOT INTO her till about age 12.

Beb you're not THAT young

 

[Tisch]

Beb you're not THAT young

 

[funky]

Love the jokes about her relying so much on this album in her later career (all true) but honestly, she is the sort of artisté who would quite easily turn her nose up at her ‘early sound’ or ‘commercial era’ and never play a note of it again, so I for one am really glad she milks that cash cow

Especially since it’s still one of the greatest albums ever made.

It was one of the pleasantly surprising additions to the most recent Rolling Stone 500 albums list update (straight into the Top 100) after they dropped their stuffy dad rock priorities and diversified the list. Whether you like it or not you can’t deny its success, influence and I’m sorry, SHEER BRILLIANCE in its lyrical, vocal and musical execution

It will always be a (maybe THE) quintessential 90s album.

 

[funky]

09 All I Really Want
10 You Oughta Know
09 Perfect
10 Hand In My Pocket
10 Right Through You
10 Forgiven
10 You Learn
08 Head Over Feet
10 Mary Jane
10 Ironic
08 Not The Doctor
08 Wake Up

 

[Tisch]

she is the sort of artisté who would quite easily turn her nose up at her ‘early sound’ or ‘commercial era’ and never play a note of it again

Well she does this too!

 

[funky]

Well she does this too!

Why is Paula Abdul singing in Canadian?

 

[Suedehead]

May I add at this conjecture that I've been listening to Alanis all week, so really I woke up and chose Alanis full stop.
I'd also like propose here that 'Havoc & Bright Lights' is underrated and nowhere near as awful as she or her fans think it is.

 

[BoysForSeles]

Jagged Little Pill is the only album of hers I’ve never bought (apart from those teeny bop era ones).

 

[Suedehead]

Rankings? Oh, of course. Why not!

Today at least I would say -

1. Under Rug Swept
2. Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie
3. Jagged Little Pill
4. Flavors of Entanglement
5. Such Pretty Forks in the Road
6. Havoc and Bright Lights
7. So-Called Chaos
8. The Storm Before the Calm


I don't know the other two.

 

[Suedehead]

Jagged Little Pill is the only album of hers I’ve never bought (apart from those teeny bop era ones).

Oh. How interesting. I can't begin to count how many copies of it I have
Actually I will when I'm home later..

 

[Tisch]

Rankings? Oh, of course. Why not!

Today at least I would say -

1. Under Rug Swept
2. Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie
3. Jagged Little Pill
4. Flavors of Entanglement
5. Such Pretty Forks in the Road
6. Havoc and Bright Lights
7. So-Called Chaos
8. The Storm Before the Calm


I don't know the other two.

1. Under Rug Swept
2. Supposed
3. Jagged Little Pill
4. Such Pretty Forks in the Road
5. So Called Chaos
6. Havoc
7. Flavors
8. That other one that isn't canon

 

[Iguana]

1. Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie
2. Jagged Little Pill
3. Under Rug Swept
4. Such Pretty Forks In The Road
5. Flavours of Entanglement
6. So-called Chaos
7. Havoc and Bright Lights
8. The one that doesn't exist

 

[BoysForSeles]

1 Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie
2 Under Rug Swept
3 Such Pretty Forks In The Road
4 Jagged Little Pill
5 So-called Chaos
6 Flavours of Entanglement
7 Havoc and Bright Lights

 

[jivafox]

I'd also like propose here that 'Havoc & Bright Lights' is underrated and nowhere near as awful as she or her fans think it is.

 

[Suedehead]

More importantly, however, is Sister Blister about Madonna or Tori?

 

[Suedehead]

And Feast is the best EP by anyone ever
Prove me wrong

 

[cwej]

I just wish she's play a track or two of it live sometime. It's like, we get it Alanis, you love playing Flavours of Entanglement songs

She doesn't play any of JLP live?! Does she have any idea what the fans want?

 

[Iguana]

She doesn't play any of JLP live?! Does she have any idea what the fans want?

She has famously never played a single song from JLP live, it's very sad

 

[cwej]

And by fans, I mean 'not fans just normal people that might go to her concerts'.

 

[cwej]

She has famously never played a single song from JLP live, it's very sad

This is a joke right?

 

[Iguana]

This is a joke right?

 

[cwej]

Shush x

 

[Suedehead]

My Alanis song of the day is the Unplugged version of I Was Hoping - which sometimes I prefer to the album version.
The storytelling feels even more ominous and menacing with the unplugged arrangement and I love the way she modulates the way she sings 'fundamentally' in this version.

 

[jivafox]

I spent today in my covid sickbed reading through all our Moopy Alanis (and Tori) syncs