To celebrate the tenth anniversary of her monster Jagged Little Pill, which has sold 30 million copies worldwide, almost 15 million in the U.S., and generated four Grammys including album of the year, Alanis Morissette, now 30, is recording an acoustic version of the album with her original co-writer and producer Glen Ballard. It will be released exactly ten years after the original debuted, June 13.
I very clearly remember sitting up in the control room of radio station WENZ in Cleveland that summer, looking out the window as a small, very thin, pale and tired young woman walked across the lobby below on her way to an interview with me on the air. The scathing, seething, orgasmic "You Outta Know" had just broken and I was expecting some crazed firebrand, not this shy, polite, soft-spoken, intelligent young woman fatigued and somewhat disoriented by the road. We had a very nice chat, played songs from the album (including "You Outta Know" and then-future hits "Hand in My Pocket," "You Learn," "Head Over Feet" and "Ironic"), and she was on her way.
A far cry from the assured young woman who, while hosting the Canadian Juno Awards in '04, disrobed on stage to reveal a skin-colored, naked body suit with nipples and pubic hair in a pointed comentary on Nipplegate.
Although she had performed on the Canadian TV show You Can't Do That On Television as a kid, and had released two dance-pop albums in Canada, the Ottawa native told me her great breakthrough came when she realized that to make truly meaningful music she would have to get real and honest, even painfully honest, and use her private journal as her lyrical foundation (which, incidentally, is remarkably similar to what Trent Reznor had told me in an earlier interview). The technique worked.
But she didn't create the alt-rock/pop sound that has energized 30 million cash registers by herself. Glen Ballard, a Quincy Jones protege and budding songwriter-arranger-producer in the late-'70s and '80s, made his first big splash in 1988 when he collaborated with Paula Abdul on her debut album, Forever Your Girl, which reached seven-times platinum and held the No. 1 position on the Billboard album chart for 10 weeks.
Article comments
1 - wally bangs
As with most great works of art, we can all thank Dave Coulier of Full House fame for being the one who inspired Alanis to write "You Oughta Know" - at least that's always been the rumor.
2 - Eric Olsen
Joey??
3 - mrbenning
Cut! It! Out!
4 - SFC SKI
Well, I like her return to angry young rocker chick with "eight easy steps"
Where is the Ann Wilson or Janis Joplin, a women who can SING like an angel and ROCK like hell, for the 21st century? (Balladeers and acoustic guitarists need not apply, sorry Ani)
5 - Eric Berlin
Very nice job, Eric. 30 million copies sold! That just sounds like an impossible figure.
Here's a quick/strange remembrance: I got up to college early, probably my junior year, and there was nothing to do for a few days except hang out and become engaged in general tomfoolery. A few guys and I wound up putting together a 5,000 or 10,000 piece puzzle of boats (lots of blue water) or something. Anyway, it was days of puzzling and Alanis and the White Album and some bad early 90s hip hop act on repeat on the 3 CD changer.
I don't think I've ever been quite the same since.
6 - Eric Olsen
Thanks EB, isn't it ironic?
7 - Eric Berlin
Indeed, I feel as though I'm four EBs sitting in a car, all at once.
(Especially since I've been on hold with my bank for the last 40 minutes!)
8 - Eric Olsen
at least Alanis isn't doing Burger King commercials like another mega-star who broke at about the same time
9 - Eric Berlin
Shaq?
10 - Geo
Who cares, quirky vocals make me sing along with a condecending attitude. For all the heavy people out there.... Morrisett was doing Hip Hop in Canada B4 she stumbled into a genre that would generate cash flow. An imposter, and she knows it. Only... you don't!
11 - Eric Olsen
so where does the impostor part come in? Was she supposed to stick with the dance-pop?
12 - Eric Berlin
Geo's right. I know I started out in fusion jazz before selling out (with heavy heart) to join the lucrative boy band industry. I miss my avant-garde days, but I got lots of Benjamins to keep me company.
13 - Eric Olsen
ironically, Alanis's success came as a result of her making her difficult and even painful move into self-revelatory artistry: she became a success by "selling-in" rather than "selling-out"
14 - Eric Berlin
I suppose it's not to far off the mark to say the same is true for Gwen Stefani and No Doubt -- she dredged up all the heartache of breaking up with a guy (in her own band!) and reached the top because of it.
The Big Picture might also be: honesty -- the real raw emotional deep gut stuff -- still sells when combined with talent.
15 - Eric Olsen
sure, it sells because it connects
16 - Lono
btw, I know that Allanis was famously tried in public for being WAY off on her definitions of 'ironic'. Good news for her, I have a story from here in Colorado that should help explain how it works:
Avalanche kills one attending an Avalanche awareness/ avoidance class
that being said - it really is a great album. I know Ballard wrote it, that's ok. The songs are great and she is nice to look at.