Alanis Morissette - Jagged Little Pill (1995)

Alanis Nadine Morissette (born in Ottawa, 1 June 1974) is a Canadian and naturalized[1] American singer-songwriter, record producer, and occasional actress, who ranks among the top selling recording artists in history, thanks to her multi-million selling third album and despite of the poorly selling rest of her discography (with sales decrease after each new release).
She began her career in Canada, and as a child recorded two dance-pop albums, Alanis and Now Is the Time, under MCA Records. Her international debut album was the rock-influenced Jagged Little Pill. Jagged Little Pill sold thirty million copies, making it the best-selling debut album of all time by a female artist.
1995–1998: Jagged Little Pill

Maverick Records released Morissette's first international album, Jagged Little Pill, in 1995. Scott Welsh, Morissette's manager and long-time friend, and executives at Maverick expected the album to sell at very best around 250,000 copies.[6] The album debuted at number 118 on the U.S. Billboard 200 album chart, but the situation changed quickly when a Los Angeles DJ from an influential radio station began playing "You Oughta Know", the album's first single.[6] The song instantly garnered attention and a subsequent music video went into heavy rotation on MTV and MuchMusic. Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers plays bass on the track, along with then-bandmate Dave Navarro on guitar.

After the success of "You Oughta Know", the album's other hit singles helped send Jagged Little Pill to the top of the charts. "All I Really Want" and "Hand in My Pocket" followed, but the fourth U.S. single, "Ironic", became Morissette's biggest hit. "You Learn" and "Head over Feet", the fifth and sixth singles, respectively, kept Jagged Little Pill in the top twenty on the Billboard 200 for over a year.

According to the RIAA, Jagged Little Pill is the best-selling debut album of all time by a female artist, with over fourteen million copies sold in the U.S. As of 2005, it had sold thirty million worldwide.[2] In Ireland, when the album Under Rug Swept was released in 2002, Jagged Little Pill re-entered the album chart on February 21 at number seventy-two[7] and reached nineteen on March 7.[8] It took nine weeks for it to depart the chart again
need i say more about this femail singer

An astonishing album that came from nowhere to take over the world in 1995. It still sounds brilliant today and it would be somewhere in my list of all-time favourite albums. This much soul, naked feeling and uplifting intelligence rarely co-incides with massive commercial success.

Every song on "Jagged Little Pill" is strong, even the odd one I personally am not so keen on. A freshness and energy come through on every track. On later albums Alanis sometimes comes across as self-indulgent, even self-obsessed, but here her screaming and ranting just sound honest and genuine. This woman has really had enough of being treated like dirt, make no mistake! Alanis goes right into her emotional and psychological troubles but empowers herself and the listener at the same time.

The production by co-writer Glen Ballard is subtle and not too sophisticated, which serves the songs well. The final song "Wake Up" is one of my favourites, a call to get up off your backside and take responsibility for your life. I love this album. Thank you Alanis, Glen Ballard and friends. An astonishing album that came from nowhere to take over the world in 1995. It still sounds brilliant today and it would be somewhere in my list of all-time favourite albums. This much soul, naked feeling and uplifting intelligence rarely co-incides with massive commercial success.

Every song on "Jagged Little Pill" is strong, even the odd one I personally am not so keen on. A freshness and energy come through on every track. On later albums Alanis sometimes comes across as self-indulgent, even self-obsessed, but here her screaming and ranting just sound honest and genuine. This woman has really had enough of being treated like dirt, make no mistake! Alanis goes right into her emotional and psychological troubles but empowers herself and the listener at the same time.

The production by co-writer Glen Ballard is subtle and not too sophisticated, which serves the songs well. The final song "Wake Up" is one of my favourites, a call to get up off your backside and take responsibility for your life. I love this album. Thank you Alanis, Glen Ballard and friends.

Trust me,buy this album! When this came out I listened to just about nothing else for a couple of months.Opening with "All I really want",we already have an introductory taste of the fcuked-up world of Alanis Morissette."Parental Advisory"sticker included.This was ground breaking stuff,genuine girl power with no gimmicks.It rocks.A vocal style that was unique then and much copied now.(never matched though)Which more recent female vocalists learnt their trade singing into a hairbrush to this album in their bedroom?Most would be my guess.Alanis' voice is hypnotically emotional and she spills out lyrics like they're her blood.Musically the songs are very simple,quite often revolving around two or even one chord.Fantastic musicians and exquisite programming and production by Glen Ballard make it work.This was Alanis' first album and wasn't created overnight.It sounded like a lifetime.I wondered if (with record company pressure to reproduce more)she would ever have this many great songs on one album again.Mmmm not easy...Not possible...Buy this album...Trust me.

You might also want to try;
The yo yo's,
Pete Swan,
Neil Finn,"One Nil"
The Noel Pryor band.

Morissette debutó mundialmente en 1995 con Jagged little pill (en español "pequeña píldora ácida"). De este primer trabajo, con bases de rock post-grunge, guitarras distorsionadas, baterías de rap y programaciones, surgió su primer sencillo: «You oughta know».

Si bien con dicho sencillo se esperaba alcanzar ventas de apenas 250.000 copias, «You oughta know», comenzó a escucharse en las radios y discotecas de EE. UU. y el single superó los 20 millones de copias, lo cual llevó a que MTV comenzara a pasar el video de la canción sin parar.[8] Posteriormente llegarían «All I really want» y «Hand in my pocket», y más tarde su mayor éxito: «Ironic». La expresividad de su música despertó elogios por una parte de la crítica y dio lugar a un movimiento de seguidores repartidos por varios países.

Obtuvo varios premios, entre ellos 4 Grammys: Álbum del año, Mejor álbum de rock, Mejor vocalista femenina de rock y Mejor canción de rock. Además se alzó con tres premio Billboard al igual que discos de platino en varios países, y el disco de diamante por haber superado los 10 millones de copias en EE. UU.

Con los lanzamientos del quinto y sexto sencillo, «You learn» y «Head over feet», Jagged little pill logró mantenerse dentro de los primeros 10 puestos del Top 200 de la Billboard por más de un año.

Morissette superó su propia edad en ventas (32 millones de copias vendidas a los 21 años), y realizó una gira mundial con más de 300 exhaustivas presentaciones, incluyendo todos los países de Sudamérica. Gracias a esto, Jagged little pill logró posicionarse como el álbum debut más vendido de toda la historia y el álbum más vendido de la historia por parte de una artista femenina.[2]

El éxito de Morissette es considerado como el disparador del crecimiento de muchas artistas femeninas, como ser Tracy Bonham, Meredith Brooks, Patti Rothberg, Avril Lavigne y Pink.[9]

Al terminar la gira, Morissette viajó a la India donde, entre otras lugares, visitó el hospital de la Madre Teresa de Calcuta. En su viaje también obtuvo la inspiración necesaria para la grabación del nuevo álbum.[10] A su retorno, colaboró en los nuevos álbumes de Dave Matthews Band y Ringo Starr, participó en el festival por la liberación del Tíbet y formo parte de la banda de sonido de la película City of Angels, con la canción «Uninvited», que le llevó a ganar 2 premios Grammy más.

ITS HARD TO BELIEVE THAT IT IS OVER A DECADE SINCE ALANIS BURST ON TO THE MUSIC SCENE WITH THIS STICK OF DYNAMITE BUT EVEN NOW JAGGED LITTLE PILL HAS THE STRENGTH TO SUCK YOU IN.
THIS ALBUM WAS HIGHLY ORIGINAL ON ITS DEBUT (IT NOW HAS SOME VERY POOR IMITATIONS BY THE LIKES OF NATASHA BEDDINGFIELD- GIVE IT UP LOVE)AND HIGHLY ADDICTIVE. FROM YOU OUTTA KNOW (A FAR CRY FROM ALANIS' USUAL STYLE BUT POSSIBLY HER BEST SINGLE EVER) TO THE ONE HAND IN MY POCKET AND IRONIC. ON FIRST BUYING THIS ALBUM, IN MY TEENS, I SENT MY POOR PARENTS CRAZY LISTENING TO IT REPEATEDLY DAY AND NIGHT FOR... WELL ABOUT A FORTNIGHT ACTUALLY BEFORE THE LYRICS WEREN'T QUITE SO "IRONIC" OR AS CLEVER AS I FIRST THOUGHT. MAYBE I OVERDOSED ON MORRISETTES LITTLE PILL OR IT WAS SO JAGGED IT BEGAN TO GRATE ON ME. IT IS A GREAT ALBUM TO OWN BUT PAY ATTENTION TO THE DOSAGE ADVICE - LISTEN TO TWICE YEARLY, IF YOU MISS ONE DOSE DO NOT DOUBLE A DOSE AS THIS COULD PROVE FATAL TO YOUR MENTAL HEALTH.