Jagged Little Pill

More 90s than a tamagotchi in Blockbuster

I want to like this record more than I do. The way that it gets influenced by grunge, trip hop to make for a richer listen. However, it is not my cup of tea.

8/10 [KEEP]

Pretty cool.

Standout tracks: You Oughta Know, Hand in My Pocket, Ironic

When I was a senior in high school I started dating possibly the most beautiful and smartest girl in the entire school. Her favorite artist was Alanis Morissette. One day she wanted to hang out after school, like we usually did, and I told her I couldn't because I had to go visit my grandparents. She was very disappointed; I'm not sure why — as I mentioned, we hung out almost every day, young and in love.

The thing is, I lied. I wasn't going to see my grandparents. What I *was* doing was taking the train into the city to purchase concert tickets from a store-front scalping operation, for the Alanis Morrissette concert. I don't think I had ever even been into the city by myself. The round-trip must have been at least 3 hours. I probably printed out directions from the train station to the store on MapQuest and I'm pretty sure I paid with a written check. On the way back, my heart was aflutter, as I felt like I had just climbed a mountain in the name of love.

My girlfriend moped around for a couple days after that, still sore about me leaving her boyfriendless that afternoon. I don't remember when I gave her the tickets, maybe for her birthday. I didn't really want to go to the concert myself. It was just assumed that she would go with her best friend, Lizzie. On the night of the concert, I drove them down there and if I recall correctly, I took them to the McDonalds drive-thru to get food before the show. I dropped them off at the venue and picked them up again when it was over. I have no memory of what I did while the show was going on. They were so happy. I was so happy.

The curse of middle-age is that nothing remotely like this will ever happen to me again.

De zang in het eerste nummer heeft iets raar. Alanis vanuit het linker oordopje begint op net een ander moment dan de Alanis vanuit het rechter oordopje. Het is op zich knap, want je verwacht daarvan een Double Date effect, maar dat heeft Alanis blijkbaar opgelost. Het effect is via oordopjes het grootst natuurlijk, net te groot zelfs. Dus ik besluit het thuis via de laptop verder te luisteren. Daar pakt het beter uit.

Verder is mevrouw al wel bekend. Ik zou haar op een onbewaakt ogenblik zo kunnen noemen als een typische '90s radio-plaat. Toch doe ik Alanis dan tekort. Ja, deels is het typisch. Maar het is toch ook echt een eigen geluid. Dat zit met name in haar stemgeluid, waarbij ze steeds een beetje varieert met het gebruik daarvan. De inzet van een lichte trilling heeft wel haar voorkeur. Mooi is dat ze duidelijk een flinke stemkracht heeft, maar eigenlijk nooit over the top gaat. Ze sluit vooral aan bij wat muzikaal nodig is. Dat is een kracht op zichzelf.

Classic of my youth

I was dreading this based on the "singer-songwriter" moniker; on first exposure, my chief complaint probably would centre on how the album perhaps isn't quite interesting enough to warrant its near-hour running time, but it wasn't an unenjoyable listen at all, and it left me somewhat pleasantly surprised.

Morissette employs a volatile vocal approach, where her little voice cracks, forceful croons and notable range add a fair measure of character to proceedings. She commands the requisite presence on an album such as this, where the instrumentation exists almost entirely as a backdrop for her performance, although the "backdrop" wasn't without its merits, despite very much confining Jagged Little Pill to its era with regards to stylistic features.

All in all, a pretty decent listen. I found it preferable to many of the other albums I've rated three stars, though it probably sits just outside of my "purchase window".

I've never actually sat down and listened to this album before, but I've heard several of the hit songs from it. I would describe this music as 90s pop rock with the occasional harmonica thrown in (which was kind of off-putting to me, as I felt it threw the style of the music off a bit). What makes this album unique, however, are the cutting lyrics and brutal honesty Alanis Morissette brings to the songs. She's not scared to say what she wants to say and if she must convey those words through grating vocals, moans, and wordplay, she will. The music itself has enough dark undertones to mesh well with the lyrics, but there's plenty of pop sensibility to make everything catchy and accessible to listen to. I enjoyed pretty much the entire album, especially after a second listening. Standouts for me included "Forgiven", "Not the Doctor", "Wake Up", and "Your House" (a hidden song).

Big favourite from my teen years. We had it in the car on tape. Good memories of driving around Cornwall listening it with my mum and brother. Recently rediscovered it. Loads of top quality songs that have aged very well, thank you very much.

Perfect time for this when it was released. Surprisingly it holds up well, I had not listened to it in a very long time. The fingerprints of this are all over a generation or two of woman singer/songwriters that were inspired to believe its ok to have raw emotion. Alanis has a very take it or leave it voice and vocal style, Ill take it.
3.67 rounded up to 4.

I was going to go with three stars with this one as I never bought it at the time but everything about it is iconic so there you go.

Never liked her pop take on 90’s heavy rock. Utterly unconvincing.

I knew of this because of its reputation and the singles from it. Brilliant album, I can see why it was one of the biggest albums of the 90’s.

This is VERY 90s. It could only have been made in the angst-filled post-Nirvana climate of the mid-90s, and could only have been successful in that time period. But it is still a good album with several classic tracks. It's not quite a masterpiece, but it works as a time capsule and as an alt-pop album. This is an essential listen, if for no reason other than how much it encapsulates the musical zeitgeist of the day. It's not the best lyrically, but it's undeniably hooky. In all, we have a good if dated album that definitely has a case for being here.

I listened to the shit out of this when it came out. We listened to it on repeat at a sleepover inside my junior high school. I pressed play on this album and was surprised how many of the words I remembered. A hugely impactful album on me as a teenager. It's production value might be a bit dated but I still love it and it gives me all the feels.

4.0

I like how strange this album is, surprising given its chart status. There’s a nice oddness to it that comes from the highly strung, neurotic vocals. Having only heard the radio singles I was taken aback that Alanis Morissette sings like that for the whole record!

Sadly I would say I prefer the singles outside of the context of the LP. Rather than enhancing them, or placing them along a journey, for the most part the album tracks just sound like worse versions of the singles. Part of the issue is the degree to which she spotlights the lyrics, which while usually not being terrible, aren’t good enough to take that degree of focus.

There are some simpler power ballads, some of which work quite well, but I have to call out Mary Jane for having some of the worst and repetitive storytelling I’ve heard in a long while. She’s going for “inspiring” and “mysterious” but it falls flat. Ironic, which has a similar level of storytelling quality, gets away with it due to its sheer force of nature - and because it’s a strong pop song!

It is the 90s and I am wearing flannel. People are arguing about what is ironic on dial up internet. The Simpsons is still good. It is a simpler time and I am happy.

(In real life I am five years old at this point and the 90s also sucked shut up a girl can dream)

No time for a proper review today. Decent album. Thumbs up.

Agree with many that this sounds very of the time but it doesn't really detract from it for some reason.

One of a kind voice with some cool songs.