1.
2. Alanis was young.
Jagged Little Pill received nine Grammy nominations, and won five. At 21 years old, Alanis became the youngest person to ever win Album of the Year, a record which has since been broken by Taylor Swift. A 21-year-old venting her heartbreak into an album? That's always a recipe for success.
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4. It was her third album.
After a relatively successful debut, Morissette's second album failed to live up to expectations. Her music was described as "dance-pop," and she got lost in the clutter of the exploding genre.
She moved to Toronto to work on writing for other artists, and quickly met Glen Ballard. Morissette and Ballard began recording demos together and soon Alanis signed with Maverick Records.
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6. It sold 33 million copies.
Jagged Little Pill is the 11th highest selling album of all time. It has sold more copies than Nevermind, Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band, or The Wall. Kanye West's entire catalog has shipped 21 million units.
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8. Only one other person helped her write it.
Alanis and Glen Ballard began recording at Ballard's home studio, with a goal of one song a day. During this time they turned out demos of "You Oughta Know," "Head Over Feet," and "Ironic." All of the vocals on the final album are from the original demo recordings. Magic was going down in that studio.
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9. Flea and Dave Navarro were involved.
Flea and Dave Navarro played bass and guitar on "You Oughta Know."
"Flea and I did that song together in the studio. It was already written with different instrumentation and we were asked to kind of re-write the music... A lot like a remix. The structure of the song was in place but there were no guide tracks, we just had the vocal to work from. It was just a good time and we basically jammed until we found something we were both happy with. Alanis was happy too."
—Dave Navarro
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11. Dave Coulier left a mess.
Alanis dated Dave Coulier a few years before the release of Jagged Little Pill. They broke up, and it was often rumored that "You Oughta Know" was about Coulier. In 2008, Coulier admitted that the song is about him. But later in 2014, he retracted his statement and said that the song was NOT about him. Still switching up stories after 19 years? Suspicious.
It has also been suggested that Bob Saget was eating with Coulier when Alanis called and "bugged him in the middle of dinner." No word on whether or not Saget was at the theater when she "went down on him," though.
13. "Hand In My Pocket" was almost a TV theme song.
Until Paula Cole slid in with "I Don't Want To Wait," the theme song for Dawson's Creek was slated to be Morissette's "Hand In My Pocket."
15. The irony of "Ironic" has been questioned.
Comedian Ed Byrne demolished the lyrical merit of "Ironic," and pointed out that all of the scenarios Morissette sings about are not ironic, just unfortunate. But then isn't it ironic that a song called "Ironic" isn't at all ironic? Don't you think?
