What a Pill

Illustration by Jillian Tamaki. In checking off your to-do list today, did you remember to light a few candles for Jagged Little Pill? If the occasion somehow slipped your mind, you ungrateful slouch, fear not: Alanis Morissette’s got you covered.

Afraid, perhaps, that the music press might pass this historic juncture without a wistful tribute, the Ottawa-born songwriter has marked style — and releasing it today, exactly a decade after the album first pricked our consciousness.
old records to staging reunion tours, old is perpetual gold. of greatest-hits compilations, anniversary re-issues and remastered editions.

fashion seems blatantly opportunistic; certainly, the decision by Morissette’s label, Maverick Records, to has the coffee-stained imprint of some too-clever marketing department. While Jagged Little last Tuesday in Toronto) — is sure to earn her a mint, I sense the recording was driven more by ego than economics.
mode,” Morissette recently told a reporter.

“I didn't have the wherewithal to honour it and step out of my realm.” In my realm, that quote doesn’t make a jot of sense. What’s clear, however, is that Jagged Little Pill Acoustic is a stunning piece of self-congratulation.

Is Morissette’s hubris justified? Was her original Pill that magical? Ten years on, Jagged Little Pill is a triumph of attitude rather than acumen, but it galvanized a cohort of female pop singers.

Back in 1995, there were few, if any, outspoken women on Top 40 radio. traditional gender roles and sexuality, but they had faint hopes of breaching the mainstream — Bikini Kill were too screechy, Ani DiFranco too preachy, P.J.

Harvey too volatile. Liz Phair had an undeniable knack for pop hooks, but she tended to lard grime that was the trademark of indie-rock production. If anyone was going to take this concept to the big leagues, she would have to clean it up a bit.

Enter Alanis Morissette. Canadians could be forgiven for initially doing a double-take, having previously known the Ottawa singer as “Alanis,” the cipher, Morissette re-launched her career with Jagged Little Pill’s that electrified pop radio. Listeners thrilled to Morissette’s sexual adventurism (“Is she perverted like me?

/ Would she go down on you in a theatre?”), newfound pottymouth (“Are you thinking of me when you f--- her?”) and startling They were only partly right.

Jagged Little Pill, released in June 1995. the glum, male-dominated grunge scene. The fact for a new, female voice — even one as ungainly as Morissette’s.

Has there ever been a pop singer more hell-bent on ravaging a melody? Dolores O’Riordan. Morissette and to the notion, put forth by grunge, that a like you’re in physical pain.

Morissette’s been able to repeat.)
Brooks, Tracy Bonham and Patti Rothberg; the more assured second wave spawned Avril Lavigne and Pink. (Lavigne has touted JLP as her favourite album; her debut single, Complicated, may be the best by Alanis.

)
retreated, emotionally and artistically. Subsequent albums are considerably subdued. Morissette found spirituality (risibly a mystical flake.

Feel her aura: Alanis Morissette strikes a mystical pose. Photo Chapman explanation for Jagged Little Pill Acoustic. Stripped-down re-interpretations That may be true, but Morissette’s use of exotic instruments like perapaloshka, is.

Besides, didn’t she hash this all out in 1999’s Alanis Unplugged?
In retrospect, Jagged Little Pill not only softened the sonic edge of riot-grrls like Sleater-Kinney and P.J.

Harvey, it also diluted their message of empowerment. Although seen by many as some sort of girl-power manifesto, in reality, Jagged Little Pill was nothing more than of Morissette’s boundless narcissism. In turn, the album has encouraged people like Lavigne, Pink and Katy Rose to sell their sneers and confessional lyrics as ersatz feminism.

For all its false promises, Jagged Little Pill was indeed a Yes, it produced a spate of bad imitators, but it also diversified commercial radio by giving more females a voice.
Given how milquetoast Morissette’s own music has become, it’s little she at least feign modesty?
Andre Mayer writes about the arts for CBC.

ca.

U.

S. Ambassador David Wilkins criticized Ottawa's efforts to have Maher Arar removed from a U.S.

security watch list, saying the U.S. alone will decide who to let into the country.

January 24, 2007 | 1:20 PM EST

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