Alanis Morissette - Jagged little pill

I Luv Crysis

Does anyone think this is a contender for one of the best albums of all time? Just randomly decided to listen to it again tonight, and after 17 years it still sounds as fresh and powerful as it did back then. The raw ferocious emotion, the seemingly-effortless singing/song writing on the album, etc. It just reminds me of a nice time before all this X-factor crap came along, a genuinely extremely talented songwriter "making it" without the need for all this reality tv nonsense.

Da Shins Kelly

I think You Oughta Know is her best song, easily. Aside from that though, I couldn't call myself a huge fan of hers, and that album probably wouldn't make it onto my list of favourite records. I find her songwriting a little bit contrived at times. That Ironic song does my head in too.

notnumber

I do like some her songs uninvited would be my standout from her..but really a contender for one of the best albums of all time? Was it even album of that year?

Top ten albums 1995..source wiki

HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I – Michael Jackson
Oasis – (What's the Story) Morning Glory?
The Smashing Pumpkins – Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
Pulp – Different Class
Alanis Morissette – Jagged Little Pill
Björk – Post
GZA – Liquid Swords
Pavement – Wowee Zowee
P.J. Harvey – To Bring You My Love
Blur – The Great Escape

SilverScreen

Generic 90's music alert!
Generic 90's music alert!

No I certainly don't even think it's one of the best albums of 1995. Here some albums that I think were:

Radiohead - The Bends
Pulp - Different Class
Slowdive - Pygmalion
PJ Harvey - To Bring You My Love
The Flaming Lips - Clouds Taste Metallic
Flying Saucer Attack - Further
Bjork - Post

holystungun9

Check out the unplugged cover of 'King of Pain' by Alanis, so beautiful.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tcc46VYl1Bs

Welsh Megaman

A young Alanis...and a young Matt Le Blanc!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_LFnEoG62Q

Achtung Maybe

It is a good album but in the 90s Achtung Baby by U2 and Automatic For The People by REM were released and in my humble opinion both are in a different league altogether to JLP.

ElleEm

For me, it is definitely one of the best albums of all time. I didn't really rate her other albums but I go back to Jagged Little Pill again and again. I have listened to it once every couple of months since it came out!

sbsquarepants

I Luv Crysis wrote: »

Does anyone think this is a contender for one of the best albums of all time? Just randomly decided to listen to it again tonight,

Coincidentaly, i just listened to it again from start to finish yesterday (although i always dip in for the odd song here and there). It's an oustandingly good album, definitely one of my favourites. It's hard to put these things in an exact place but it's certainly top 20 or 30 i'd say, for me anyway.

notnumber wrote: »

I do like some her songs uninvited would be my standout from her..but really a contender for one of the best albums of all time? Was it even album of that year?

Same here. Uninvited is probably her best, either that or not the doctor.

Achtung Maybe wrote: »

It is a good album but in the 90s Achtung Baby by U2 and Automatic For The People by REM were released and in my humble opinion both are in a different league altogether to JLP.

Achtung baby? Achtung maybe, it's very definitely an achtung maybe not for me. One is the only good song on it! Though i have to admit, i just don't like U2, never did. Automatic for the people is excellent though.


To my mind the best original albums of the 90's are

Pulp - Different Class
Oasis - What's the Story Morning Glory
Nirvana - Nevermind
Tori Amos - Little Earthquakes
REM - Automatic for the people
Dr. Dre - The Chronic
Bruce Springsteen - The Ghost of Tom Joad

The best album although it contains no new material whatsoever was
Bruce Springsteen - MTV UnPlugged (DVD version for full effect:D)

I have never seen a live performance by anyone, anywhere that has even come close to matching it

fluke

It's a solid album definitely (though for me Ironic is a skipper) but I think time or more to the point fashion has not being kind to it.

I'd happily listen to it again but more so as a nostalgia listen, partially because other than her unplugged album none of her other albums really warrant repeat listenings (the unplugged album represents a creative peak and captures some of JLP and the best bits of the album following JLP).Also, JLP does capture a certain time in the 90's but I couldn't say it transcends that era - the mania it was caught up in ended up with that Bitch song, Alisha's Attic and Joan Osborne...

SilverScreen

fluke wrote: »

It's a solid album definitely (though for me Ironic is a skipper) but I think time or more to the point fashion has not being kind to it.

I wouldn't say fashion really has much to do with it, but yes time hasn't been kind to it. I used to listen to it quite a bit around the time it was released as my older sister had it on cassette and I used to borrow tapes off her regularly. It's an album of it's time, as in there was nothing ground-breaking or before it's time going on. It was disposable pop music aimed at the supposedly 'alternative' generation.

sbsquarepants

I have to say i disagree. I think it has aged really well.
It was a kind of a one off event for her though, she hasn't produced much else worth listening too.

SilverScreen

sbsquarepants wrote: »

I have to say i disagree. I think it has aged really well.
It was a kind of a one off event for her though, she hasn't produced much else worth listening too.

If you compare Jagged Little Pill to two certain albums released by female solo artists in 1995, Post by Björk and To Bring You My Love by PJ Harvey as mentioned above, there's no doubt which album has aged the most. The reason why Post and To Bring You My Love hold up so well today is not because of fashion, but because of how fresh they still sound today. Those two albums had an edge to them which allowed them to transcend time so well, something Jagged Little Pill lacked.

fluke

Zero1986 wrote: »

The reason why Post and To Bring You My Love hold up so well today is not because of fashion, but because of how fresh they still sound today. Those two albums had an edge to them which allowed them to transcend time so well, something Jagged Little Pill lacked.

Agreed for the most part but I do think JLP gets maligned because her music was grunge-lite and proto-girl power - two old and unfashionable niches of music by today's standards.

Also, Jagged Little Pill is an album written and produced for a mainstream audience. At one stage it was the top selling album in Ireland.

Looking at the examples you've chosen they're by artists that had and have a lot of indie cred. If Bjork and PJ Harvey were announced for Electric Picnic (a good but clearly indie festival) no one would bat an eyelid (they've both done EP). If Alanis was on the bill there'd be a lot of raised eyebrows.

Fashion might be the wrong word but what's still seen as hip has a lot to do with it.

SilverScreen

fluke wrote: »

Agreed for the most part but I do think JLP gets maligned because her music was grunge-lite and proto-girl power - two old and unfashionable niches of music by today's standards.

Also, Jagged Little Pill is an album written and produced for a mainstream audience. At one stage it was the top selling album in Ireland.

Looking at the examples you've chosen they're by artists that had and have a lot of indie cred. If Bjork and PJ Harvey were announced for Electric Picnic (a good but clearly indie festival) no one would bat an eyelid (they've both done EP). If Alanis was on the bill there'd be a lot of raised eyebrows.

Fashion might be the wrong word but what's still seen as hip has a lot to do with it.

Her music was grunge-lite but I'm not sure where you're going with proto-girl power. The riot grrrl movement was already in full swing by the time Alanis came along and she had nothing to do with it. Bands like Bikini Kill and 7 Year Bitch had already set the feminist ball rolling in the early 90's and when Spice Girls adopted the phrase "girl power" it became a joke. In fact it was actually Bikini Kill who coined the phrase "girl power". It's proof that there was just as much watering down of ideas and sounds in the 90's as there is now.

Well maybe 'indie cred' would have some part in Alanis not being popular today but for the most part I believe it's because her music just doesn't hold up well today.

Sugarlumps

Awful stuff, I remember there was no getting away from hearing this mind numbing album. Even in Portlaois they were playing it!! I'd rather get buggered than endure that album.

fluke

Sugarlumps wrote: »

Awful stuff, I remember there was no getting away from hearing this mind numbing album. Even in Portlaois they were playing it!! I'd rather get buggered than endure that album.

Ouch!

sbsquarepants

Zero1986 wrote: »

If you compare Jagged Little Pill to two certain albums released by female solo artists in 1995, Post by Björk and To Bring You My Love by PJ Harvey as mentioned above, there's no doubt which album has aged the most. The reason why Post and To Bring You My Love hold up so well today is not because of fashion, but because of how fresh they still sound today. Those two albums had an edge to them which allowed them to transcend time so well, something Jagged Little Pill lacked.

I never liked PJ Harvey for some reason, i also wouldn't be the biggest fan of post - debut was a much better album imo.
But of those albums, i would definitely rate jagged little pill as the best.

Sugarlumps wrote: »

Awful stuff, I remember there was no getting away from hearing this mind numbing album. Even in Portlaois they were playing it!! I'd rather get buggered than endure that album.

Sometimes it's beter to give than to recieve:D

SilverScreen

sbsquarepants wrote: »

I never liked PJ Harvey for some reason, i also wouldn't be the biggest fan of post - debut was a much better album imo.
But of those albums, i would definitely rate jagged little pill as the best.

Each to their own. I like Debut but it was rooted too much in early-90's dance, Post was a bit more original. Homogenic is still her best though.

sbsquarepants

Zero1986 wrote: »

it was rooted too much in early-90's dance,

That's actually what i like about it!:D

Great album as an example of how good rock bass playing can be. Fantastic groovy basslines all through that album.

That was the main reason I listened to it a lot

fluke

Zero1986 wrote: »

Well maybe 'indie cred' would have some part in Alanis not being popular today but for the most part I believe it's because her music just doesn't hold up well today.

For what its worth our opinions aren't that different; I'm not having a go at PJ Harvey or Bjork. I think Alanis's JLP is very much of it's time, and does JPL sound dated? Definitely. Though it's about whats seen as cool also e.g. David Bowie, Kraftwerk and Bob Dylan's best stuff is dated but regardless of time it's 'cool' to be a fan of those acts. Alanis isn't seen as cool.

grenache

notnumber wrote: »

I do like some her songs uninvited would be my standout from her..but really a contender for one of the best albums of all time? Was it even album of that year?

Top ten albums 1995..source wiki

HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I – Michael Jackson
Oasis – (What's the Story) Morning Glory?
The Smashing Pumpkins – Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
Pulp – Different Class
Alanis Morissette – Jagged Little Pill
Björk – Post
GZA – Liquid Swords
Pavement – Wowee Zowee
P.J. Harvey – To Bring You My Love
Blur – The Great Escape

wiki is wrong, Jagged Little Pill was 1996.

SilverScreen

grenache wrote: »

wiki is wrong, Jagged Little Pill was 1996.

http://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/alanis_morissette/jagged_little_pill/
http://www.discogs.com/Alanis-Morissette-Jagged-Little-Pill/master/31513

woof im a dog

its a poor exile in guyville imo

stone_cutter

for all its pretense to rebellion , its a very cliched - corporate created album , what with its faux feminist anthems and generally tedious stroppyness

has aged poorly

stone_cutter

grenache wrote: »

wiki is wrong, Jagged Little Pill was 1996.

well i bought it in 1995

Rothko

No, not all. I might just put it in the top 20 of 1995.

belcampprisoner

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/venues-that-rock

belcampprisoner

correct link

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/500-greatest-albums-of-all-time-20120531