Alanis Morissette – Jagged Little Pill

Jagged Little Pill is the international debut album from Alanis Morissette, who released two previous dance-pop albums in Canada to some commercial success, but no critical recognition. It was a massive seller – over 2 million copies in Canada, over 16 million copies in the US and over 3 million copies in the UK – and topped the charts around the world, including in Canada, the US and the UK.

Alanis Morissette scored five awards at the 1996 Junos, including Best Album, Rock Album of the Year, Songwriter of the Year, Best Female Vocalist and Single of the Year (for "You Oughta Know"). Although generally well regarded (or, at least, well graded) by critics, Jagged Little Pill seemed to make them feel required to make snide remarks about it:

• AllMusic gave it 4.5 stars out of 5, but called it " the work of an ambitious but sophomoric 19-year-old"
• Robert Christgau graded it a B+, but his review includes comments like "privileged phonies have identity problems too"
• New Rolling Stone Album Guide gives it 4.5 stars out of 5, but the magazine's review called it "proof that the gods of rock are unfair bastards: a former TV moppet ... makes an opportunistic angst-rock platter that not only sells 13 million copies - it doesn't suck"

Jagged Little Pill spawned six hit singles (including "Hand in My Pocket") and gets included in most lists of greatest Canadian albums:

• Chart magazine polls: #66 in 1996, #30 in 2000, #47 in 2005
• #6 in Bob Mersereau's The Top 100 Canadian Albums book in 2007
• #9 in the 2011 Mar*Star poll
• #12 in CBC Radio's list of the 100 Greatest Canadian Albums

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Track Listing

1. "All I Really Want" (Alanis Morissette, Glen Ballard) – 4:45
2. "You Oughta Know" (Alanis Morissette, Glen Ballard) – 4:09
3. "Perfect" (Alanis Morissette, Glen Ballard) – 3:08
4. "Hand in My Pocket" (Alanis Morissette, Glen Ballard) – 3:42
5. "Right Through You" (Alanis Morissette, Glen Ballard) – 2:56
6. "Forgiven" (Alanis Morissette, Glen Ballard) – 5:00
7. "You Learn" (Alanis Morissette, Glen Ballard) – 4:00
8. "Head over Feet" (Alanis Morissette, Glen Ballard) – 4:27
9. "Mary Jane" (Alanis Morissette, Glen Ballard) – 4:41
10. "Ironic" (Alanis Morissette, Glen Ballard) – 3:50
11. "Not the Doctor" (Alanis Morissette, Glen Ballard) – 3:48
12. "Wake Up" (Alanis Morissette, Glen Ballard) – 4:54
13. hidden track (Alanis Morissette, Glen Ballard) – 8:13
    • "You Oughta Know" (alternate version)
    • "Your House" (a cappella)

Personnel

• Alanis Morissette – vocals, harmonica (on 1, 4, 8)
• Glen Ballard – guitar (on 1, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12), keyboards (on 1, 4, 6, 7, 8, 11, 12), programming (on 1, 2, 7, 12)
• Benmont Tench – organ (on 2, 5, 6, 7, 9, 12)
• Lance Morrison – bass (on 3, 5, 6, 9, 10, 12)
• Matt Laug – drums (on 2, 5, 6, 9, 12)
• Rob Ladd – drums (on 3, 10), percussion (on 10)
• Michael Thompson – organ (on 3, 10)
• Basil Fung – guitar (on 3, 10)
• Gota Yashiki – groove activator (on 1)
• Dave Navarro – guitar (on 2)
• Flea – bass (on 2)
• Joel Shearer – guitar (on 5)
• Michael Landau – guitar (on 6)