Why Alanis Morissette Matters
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Why Alanis Morissette Matters
Author: Megan Volpert
language: en
Publisher: University of Texas Press
Release Date: 2025-03-04
The first critical biography of iconic musician Alanis Morissette, creator of Jagged Little Pill. The 1990s hardly saw a bigger hit than Jagged Little Pill. Alanis Morissette’s defining album won Grammys, dominated the Billboard charts, and sold more than 30 million copies worldwide. It left a deep mark on the psyches of countless listeners. Three decades later, Megan Volpert checks in with Morissette, probing her rich and varied post-JLP career and bearing feminist witness to the existential anger that ties her recent work to enduring classics like “You Oughta Know,” “One Hand in My Pocket,” and “Ironic.” Why Alanis Morissette Matters builds a bridge from Jagged Little Pill to the fascinating life and subtle intellect of its creator, exploring how the artist’s philosophical interests and personal journey are reflected in each track. Morissette’s struggles with censorship, mental health challenges, and Catholicism; her queer allyship, spiritual skepticism, zealous fandom, and philanthropic passions—all are carefully observed by a critic whose own life was touched by Jagged Little Pill. In the album’s wake, Morissette has evolved as an artist and global citizen. With sensitivity and a profound love for the music, Volpert guides readers through the case for Morissette’s enduring cultural relevance and creative impact.
Why Alanis Morissette Matters
"Since 1991, only three albums have sold more than 15 million copies---Metallica (Metallica), Come on Over (Shania Twain), and Jagged Little Pill, by Alanis Morissette. JLP won Grammys, Junos, and stayed in the Billboard 200 for more than a year. The record remains a touchstone for many listeners, as evidenced by the Tony Award-winning musical by the same name that premiered in 2018. If you listened to the radio in 1995, you probably recognize "You Oughta Know," "One Hand in My Pocket," and several other songs if only for Morissette's distinctive voice (or, as the author puts it, "this aggressively female noise"). Megan Volpert works through Alanis Morissette's career via JLP, her best-known record. Each chapter dives into one of the 13 tracks from the album, dissecting that song while connecting to later work that extends the relevant theme. For instance, the first chapter makes the point that "All I Really Want" reflects a highly sensitive person rather than an angry one, and discusses Morissette's producing on the documentary Sensitive (2015). Later chapters take up mental health, queer symbolism, skepticism vs. Catholicism, as well as more explicitly feminist concerns. As with most of the books in this series, her own experience is an occasional but consistent lens. As she writes in the prologue, JLP got the author through high school and it captures a "specifically female existential anger" that suggests deploying some memoir is appropriate. References to Derrida, Sophocles, and the films of Kevin Smith among others balance the personal side. Publication of this book will coincide with the 30th anniversary of Jagged Little Pill. (Officially released on June 13, 1995.)"--
Alanis Morissette
Just two years ago Alanis Morissette was a former teen pop star, dismissed by some as a footnote in Canadian pop history. Then her album Jagged Little Pill sold over 13 million copies worldwide, and a new queen of alternative rock was crowned. Here Paul Cantin tells the tale of how Morissette transformed herself from failed teenage star into an artist whose work speaks to an entire generation. With multiple Grammys and MTV Awards under her belt; this singer/songwriter has achieved what none thought possible. This is the story of that rare second chance. Included in this book are: Morissette's own account of her songwriting inspiration, exclusive interview material, a front-row account of the 1996 Grammy Awards, and never before-seen photos. This is the one book no Morrisette fan will want to be without.