Issue #54: Alanis Morissette – Jagged Little Pill

Released:  June 13th, 1995

Recorded:  1994 – 1995

Genre:  Alternative, Post-Grunge, Pop Rock

Record Label:  Maverick / Reprise

Duration:  57:23

Producer:  Glen Ballard

Personnel

Track Listing

Singles

Why Jagged Little Pill is One of My Favorites

I suppose Jagged Little Pill is another one of my guilty pleasures.  I mean I’m not ashamed that I enjoy it, I guess it just represents a poppier side of my interests that I don’t normally talk about.  When we’re talking Tom Waits and Burzum, Alanis can seem out of place, though alongside bands like Green Day and Foo Fighters, I guess it’s not that unusual.  This is another one of those albums that I got into as an early teen; in an effort to download a couple of songs before I went to bed one night, I woke up and found myself with the entire album.  At first I was going to cull all of the accidental tracks, but I found myself drawn to them in that easy-going pop sort of way, and it’s a record I’ve kept around ever since.  After all, nothing quite says the 90’s like “You Oughta Know.”

Yes, Jagged Little Pill is primarily a pop record, polished and formulated for mass consumption, possibly eschewing artistic freedom for tried and true conventions.  But it’s also a little more than that.  Throughout the album are flashes of the angst and apathy that ruled the alternative scene; whether or not Alanis was truly a part of this or if this angle was somewhat manufactured is debatable, since before this album she was known for “bubblegum pop.”  Either way I’ve tried to look beyond terms like “sellout” and “fake” because the motivation of making money shouldn’t have any bearing on how I hear the music.  It’s not wrong for artists to alter their style to garner appeal, and it isn’t wrong to like these artists either.

Overall, the music on Jagged Little Pill clocks in at just a notch under the standard alternative sound, with some songs falling a little more one way or the other.  Her use of the harmonica in several songs gives the album an identifiable flavor and overall it melds well with the surrounding music.  Guitars drive virtually every song on the album in some fashion, though it’s Alanis’ voice that lies at the focal point.  Everyone has had years to get to used to her voice, but objectively, she does/did have something unique in that department.  Her ability to make her voice crack on demand (I don’t know what exactly it’s called,though I imagine yodelers use a similar technique) gives some tracks an edgy quality, especially near the end of a few songs where she cuts loose.

Her soft voice in songs like “Perfect” and “Wake Up” is pleasant enough though she doesn’t seem to be able to get loud with out inflecting an adenoidal drawl (“Hand in My Pocket,” “Head Over Feet”).  The best parts, or at least the most interesting, are when she dials up the crazy a bit in piece like “All I Really Want,” “You Oughta Know,” and “Not the Doctor.”  But even if the softer, slower songs, the lyrics are personal and meaningful, and certainly not as superfluous as the typical pop.  Her attitude remains firmly rooted in the dissatisfaction of 90’s youth.

“All I Really Want” is probably my favorite track off the album.  Even though it was one of the album’s singles, I never remember hearing this on the radio in my youth whereas I clearly remember the other 5.  It’s easily Alanis’ most unique and distinguished track on the album, and her voice jumps around all over the place singing offbeat lyrics that give off that “crazy girl who’s totally hot” vibe.  There’s just enough madness going on to make her persona extremely attractive.  I guess I could see why the public didn’t take to “All I Really Want” as much as the others, because it does have an untamed and unrestrained quality to it.

Of course “You Oughta Know” is the darkest, angriest cut, the ravings of a jilted lover and allegedly all about Dave Coulier (aka Joey Gladstone).  We may not ever know if the rumors or true but it gives the song a whole new meaning if you can imagine Coulier as the subject of all this hatred.  “You Oughta Know” is perfectly at home in the world of alternative rock and post-grunge; the music fits, the lyrics fit, and Alanis’ angry, incisive delivery is unquestionably blunt in its proclamation.  It’s a shame this got played to death because the impact is sort of lost, though back in the mid 90’s, we weren’t exactly hearing women sing raunchy tales of betrayal on the radio.

“Perfect” is slow and melancholy, speaking to the pressures put on children by parents or other authority figures to be “perfect” and to “try a little harder” and “make me prouder.”  It taps directly into some of the problems that suburban adolescents have with their parental units, including the stress that a lot of kids feel as their parents attempt to relive their own youth through them and addresses a larger inadequacy felt throughout the 90’s youth.

“Hand in My Pocket” is another strong song that maintains a semblance of the alternative feel, though honestly I have no clue what it’s about.  Dualism?  Confusion innate to youth?  I don’t know.  The whole “hand in my pocket” imagery tends to reflect the apathy running through youth culture at the time, but of course the chorus repeatedly espouses “everything is just fine fine fine.”  Back to dualism?

“Right Through You” is all about being misunderstood, underestimated, and that feeling of being continually judged by those around us.  Or maybe it speaks more to Alanis’ position as a woman.  Either way it’s a good song, I just wish it was a little more uptempo and empowering.

“Forgiven” is another song that dips wholly into alternative territory with its “soft-loud” structure, drumming, and guitar-forward nature.  It’s a complex revolt against faith, what it has to offer, and (I think) how it can be distorted in the eyes of the very young.  The line “what I learned I rejected but I believe again” confuses me as to the extent of the rejection; I suppose the intentional vagueness falls in line with similar artists of the time.

“You Learn” definitely moves to the pop side of the spectrum with its catchy hook and drum machine rhythms, but hey, a catchy song is a catchy song and I like it well enough other than that it was completely worn out during its day.  It’s a pretty straightforward piece speaking to experience, taking risks, and ultimately discovering your own limits by testing them, be it in mundane, everyday affairs (walking around naked in your living room) or in the bigger picture of life (getting your heart trampled on).

“Head Over Feet,” another single, is another simple, easy going song about falling in love.  Falling right smack dab in the middle of 100% accessible pop territory, I rather enjoy the song even if doesn’t possess multiple layers of meaning or contain thought provoking ruminations.

“Mary Jane” plays out like an alternative ballad.  With its jangly guitar and familiar sounding chord progression, it isn’t hard to picture this placed on a less pop-oriented album.  Alanis attempts to reach out to a fragile girl who seems to be moving in the wrong direction.  I think her vocals are at their best here and the track really shows off the range she has.

The next track, “Ironic,” has been constantly slammed since Day One because what she’s singing about isn’t exactly irony in the traditional sense, it’s more like bad luck.  However, I’m going to come to the defense of this song, by quoting the definition of situational irony, which states that it is “a situation where the outcome is incongruous with what was expected, but it is also more generally understood as a situation that includes contradictions or sharp contrasts.”  Obviously no one would expect rain on their wedding day, or they’d plan their wedding for a different day.  Being late to work is bad enough, but who would expect a traffic jam on top of it to compound the issue?  So no, it’s not ironic in the way that Garland Greene defines it in Con Air (“Define irony: bunch of idiots dancing on a plane to a song made famous by a band that died in a plane crash.”) but in terms of the unexpected, I can allow some leeway for poetic license.  As I’m sure someone has said before, maybe the ultimate irony is that Alanis wrote a song called “Ironic” which, ironically, fails to include any ironic situations.  Isn’t it ironic that a song called “Ironic” is unironic?  Whatever.  It’s all kind of moronic to me.  It’s another song that got played to death, probably moreso than any of the others, but it’s catchy, upbeat, and perfectly listenable.  And I daresay it’s even a little bit funny once removed from the pedantic bickering.

“Not the Doctor” is another one of my favorites.  I don’t think I quite understood it when I was younger, but now I feel like it’s one of the album’s most clever cuts.  Here, Alanis is rejecting the position of being a girlfriend who exists to “fix” her lover.  The entire idea is that it’s not her job to turn the recipient into a better person or solve all their problems.  It’s a common problem that I don’t often hear put into words; from experience and observation it is evident that many, many relationships are based upon concepts of one partner somehow improving, repairing, or fixing the problems of the other.  “I don’t wanna be a substitute for the smoke you’ve been inhaling” sums up the idea pretty damn well.  Acoustic strumming in the verses contrasts with some subdued electric guitar notes in the chorus, pushing “Not the Doctor” towards the alternative end, albeit with a very polished feel.

“Wake Up” features an ominous guitar lick repeated over and over, balanced out by the relatively upbeat tempo.  Although the tone is fairly light, “Wake Up” is a tough little jab at someone who obviously doesn’t have the greatest grip on reality.  Unwilling to do what needs to be done if it causes the slightest bit of discomfort, whoever this is has clearly wronged Alanis with their blatant obliviousness.  I love the creepy little guitar piece that slides through the song, and I wish the rest of the music matched a little better.

I really don’t notice much difference in the alternate mix of “You Oughta Know” tacked on the end, and as such, I have no clue why the hell it was slapped on to the album.  A bit of a misstep, but the following hidden track, “Your House,” is well worth hearing.  It’s a little sweet and a little creepy.  Alanis has snuck into an ex-lover’s house, done things like burn incense, take a bath, rifle through CDs…and then finds a note from a new girl.  It’s completely acappella with a haunting tune; I’m sure it was probably left over from the recording sessions, though I can’t help but wonder what this would’ve sounded like fleshed out.  It’s actually a decent moment of Jagged Little Pill and not the throwaway track or novelty bit that comprise most hidden tracks.

Ok, so I didn’t really intend to go track-by-track on this one, but it was all too familiar when I started listening again.  At the end of the day, Jagged Little Pill is a pop record.  I’d like to think it’ll at least live on as an interesting footnote in musical history (Alanis was the youngest person to win a Grammy because of this album, a record she held until Taylor Swift came along) but I can admit that it may be nothing more than me getting hooked on something designed to get hooked on.  I do like how it ties in to the less mainstream styles of music at the time, and I appreciate that she’s actually saying something in most of these songs.  Somewhere between her voice, her harmonica, and the familiarity of the singles, it’s easy for me to get swept up in this work.  The commercialization interferes at times; I do wonder what an edgier, rawer, more wild version of Jagged Little Pill would sound like.  The subject matter is there, it’s just that the instrumentation and production are a little too neat and tidy at times.

But this is a small complaint and as I mentioned earlier, I’m not going to be one of those guys who faults someone for doing what it takes to making money from their craft.  The fact that she was known for her bubblegum pop prior to the album and came out with something as assertive as Jagged Little Pill is impressive in and of itself.  This is a record that would probably resonate louder today if nearly half of it hadn’t become so well known in the couple of years surrounding its release.  Nowadays it tends to be written off as nostalgia at best, a fad at worst.  However, when taken for what it is and when judged on its own strengths, it’s a great album.

Written by The Cubist

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Written by The Cubist

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I collect as much video gaming paraphernalia as I can get my hands on, especially when it comes to hardware. With over 40 systems including oldies like the ColecoVision and Intellivision, obscurities like the CD-i and 3DO, and the latest and greatest including the Wii U, PS4, Xbox One, 3DS, and PS Vita, I get easily overwhelmed. Most of the time you can find me firmly nestled sometime between 1985 and 1995 when it comes to my games of choice, but I’m also having a great time seeing what the 8th generation has to offer.

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