Some albums have moderate success. Some albums get multi-million selling success. But there is an album that comes along once in a generation that is a monster. Everyone has a copy, and the singles are always playing on the radio, you cannot get away from them.
This happened to a young then-unknown pop star called Alanis Morissette. Her international debut Jagged Little Pill exploded and became a must-own for everyone in the 1990s. She went from obscurity to the forefront in a matter of months. This is the story of how another pop queen signed her and how she risked it all to become an alternative rock pioneer. This week the Beat Marches On to 7th October 1995 when it reached number one in the UK.
To start this story, we must back up about a decade. A young Alanis was on TV screens across North America in the Nickelodeon show: “You Can’t Do That on Television”. This is significant because the earnings from the appearance on the show helped kick-start her recording career. At 10 years old she recorded a single for release in her native Canada. The song, Fate Stay With Me, available on YouTube, shows its age with heavy synth style of the time and very jaunty.
Praise from the single led to a couple of albums for Morrisette which were released only in Canada and got some praise. For their debut, Alanis won a Juno award, Canada’s answer to the Grammys. After a less-than-positive review for the second release, it was time to make a change.
Looking to shake her pop star moniker Alanis went to Los Angeles for a songwriting retreat. While on her stay, her publisher recommended that she contact renowned songwriter Glen Ballad, who has songs by Michael Jackson and Paula Abdul in his repertoire. The two formed a partnership that helped the singer from being a national child star to an international phenomenon.
The two spent most of 1994 recording demos for the album that would eventually become Jagged Little Pill. They ended up with about twenty songs written for the album. By the end of the year, they started shipping the recordings to the labels to try and get Alanis signed. The two knew they had something special, but the record labels thought otherwise.
Madonna co-founded Maverick Entertainment in 1992 to coincide with her controversial coffee table book Sex and accompanying album Erotica. Within the first couple of years of the label, other than her music, there wasn’t anyone signed to the label who was selling. One act on the back of the ailing Grunge trend had a moderate success but that was it.
A representative from Maverick came to visit Morissette at Ballads studio to hear what the two had to offer. Only a couple of years older than the singer at the time, Guy Oseary who now manages Madonna and U2, heard the first couple of songs and was amazed and wanted to sign the artist on the spot.
Oseary went back to Maverick Records and told anyone there who would listen about what he just heard. He convinced his bosses to sign Alanis and the green light was given to record the album. Unaware of the monster it would become.
Although the original demos were recorded by Alanis’ vocals an acoustic guitar played by Ballad, the structure of the songs stayed the same after the addition of a basic band setup: an electric guitar, bass and a drum kit. Morissette wanted the album to be basic and raw because of the overall emotion of the record. So, when the record label bigwigs tried to get a couple of the tracks to be changed, she fought back and won.
Jagged Little Pill was released in June 1995. The expectations from Maverick were low as they thought if it sold 175,000 copies then it would be a success in their eyes. Luckily, it exceeded that expectation all thanks to a Los Angeles radio station.
K-ROQ radio station got hold of the first single from JLP, “You Oughta Know”, and put it in their rotation. For those who do not know KROQ is the lead make-or-break radio station in America and if your song gets played on their station you generally have a hit on your hands. The song had a bit of a facelift for the single version with help from a couple of members from the Red Hot Chili Peppers but the radio station loved it which helped boost the album sales.
You Oughta Know was just the start A second single quickly followed: “All I Really Want”, then a third, “Hand in my Pocket” They were okay hits but nothing compared to the next single. This one was the song that tipped Jagged Little Pill over the edge.
Ironic was the fourth single released from the album in February 1996. This was the biggest single of Morissette’s career. A controversial hit as many people complained that the lyrics weren’t ironic which probably helped the sales of the single. As a song that Alanis wasn’t even considering having on the album, it did pretty well!
Jagged Little Pill has sold 33 million copies to date. It is the fourth-biggest-selling album of the 1990s. With six singles released, two of them being top 20 singles internationally. As of 2018, it has been given the Broadway treatment with a stage show.
At the time, there weren’t many women in the alternative rock genre that were selling albums. The Cranberries were just breaking through along with Elastica, PJ Harvey, and Garbage JLP helped push the boundaries of a male-led genre at the time. It helped shape the future of female-fronted bands/artists since its release.
Alanis Morissette never went on to reproduce the sales of Jagged Little Pill but, it gave her creative freedom for life. She has released eight albums since and like on the first release Alanis is still telling it like it is. This helped the artist have a loyal fanbase to this day.
The Beat Marches On is a music blog written by Jimmy Whitehead. Jimmy has been blogging for six years specialising in Sports (especially American Football). If you want to follow Jimmy on Twitter: @Jimmy_W1987
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