Jagged Little Pill

I was listening to the Classic Vinyl channel on Sirius/XM and was surprised to hear "Hand In Pocket," by Alanis Morissette. They rarely play anything past 1980, and this song was from 1995. But it got me thinking about the album it came from, Jagged Little Pill, and I listened to it for the first time in quite a while.

This album made quite a splash back then. It was Morisette's third album, but her first to be released outside of her home, Canada, so nobody really knew who she was. But the album was an instant sensation, winning her some Grammys.

Jagged Little Pill is full of angry songs, and Morissette's vocals are frequently sneering, with yelps. This is best exemplified by the first single, "You Oughta Know," which is a tirade against an ex-lover, and contains explicit lyrics:

"Did you forget about me, Mr. Duplicity?
I hate to bug you in the middle of dinner
It was a slap in the face
How quickly I was replaced
And are you thinking of me when you fuck her?"

Though Morissette has never said exactly who this song was about, it has often been rumored to be Dave Coulier, who was a star of Full House.

That was just the beginning of hit singles from the album. Morissette wrote the lyrics, and co-wrote the music with Glen Ballard. Listening to it again, it strikes me that the instrumentation is not particularly scintillating, often just barely enough to back up her voice. There's a few harmonica solos in there, but overall the music seems like the kind you hear in elevators. But Morisette's words and voice bring the album to a higher level.

"Hand In Pocket" was the second single, and is my favorite song on the album. It's a much more upbeat tune, a tribute to optimism:

"I'm broke but I'm happy
I'm poor but I'm kind
I'm short but I'm healthy, yeah
I'm high but I'm grounded
I'm sane but I'm overwhelmed
I'm lost but I'm hopeful, baby"

Then came "Ironic," which has bedeviled grammarians for twenty-five years now. Morissette's lyrics mention things that she claims are ironic, but are actually just bad luck, like rain on your wedding day, or a traffic jam when you're late. But it's still a good song.

Morissette has faded from the scene, though she put out a very good follow up album, Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie, and has an album coming out this year. But nothing has matched the sparks she created back in '95. The album has inspired a Broadway musical, with a book by Diablo Cody.