Alanis Morissette’s “Jagged Little Pill” Album
On June 13, 1995, Canadian singer-songwriter Alanis Morissette released her third studio album Jagged Little Pill through Madonna’s entertainment company, Maverick Records. Before the album was released, Alanis had made little progress with her previous albums.
Morissette wrote All I Really Want, and met the Maverick Recording Company team as well as Guy Oseary while she was in her sweatpants.
The track You Oughta Know featured the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ bassist, Flea and lead guitarist, Dave Navarro.
Each of the songs’ vocals were recorded in at most two takes.
She wrote Hand In My Pocket and Perfect within an hour each.
A track named Bottom Line happened to be the first song she co-wrote with producer and co-writer Glen Ballard. It was however not included in the first but the 2015 re-release of the album.
The singer embarked on a worldwide tour for a period of 18 months through the following regions:
- Canada
- Australia
- United States
- New Zealand
- Asia
- South America
- Germany
- United Kingdom
Achievements of the “Jagged Little Pill” Album
During the 1996 Grammy Awards, the album was awarded Album of the Year. This made Morissette who was 21 at the time, the youngest Canadian artist to win such an honor. The album received nine Grammy Award nominations and won five of them.
Jagged Little Pill achieved commercial success following its release, debuting on top of the charts in about thirteen countries. The album is classed as one of the all-time best selling albums, with more than 33 million copies sold across the globe. In 2003, it was ranked by Rolling Stone as number 327 on their list of “The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time”. It would later be ranked as number 69 following the release of its updated version in 2020.
The album debuted at number 117 on the US Billboard 200 charts, finally peaking at number 1 in October 1995. Morissette earned several accolades for her work on this album including six Juno Awards in 1996. It also won the Polaris Heritage Prize Audience Award in 2018.
Jagged Little Pill has over the years influence several top female artists including the following:
- Kelly Clarkson
- Katy Perry
- Shakira
- Avril Lavigne
- Tracy Bonham
- Pink
- Meredith Brooks
