Defend the Indefensible - Alanis Morissette

Her appearance at some strange Hyde Park concert that also featured Gary Glitter with The Who meant that one person tried to get our motley breakfast stoned hungover losers there in time to see her. We failed, of course, but had we not tried to see Morissette, we'd probably have missed Dylan too, which was the point of the day.

Ken L OTM. This is worth it.

Alex in NYC OTM (as always).

I've been scared to find out what she sounds like (I'm sure I've heard her, but I really genuinely don't remember any particular song or even sound), because of the way Shiina Ringo's early music is said to be similar in some ways, but now I find I kind of like "Ironic."

(Why does everything I listen to all sound like it has doumbeks in it? Is it just me?)

So maybe 90s revival critical reassessment time is at hand.

Is this guy playing a Duesenberg guitar?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dR6mEu5-egA

I think this is okay. A couple other songs were just kind of boring.

I like "You Oughta Know." I'm relieved to find out what she sounds like, not embarrassed.

I raise a Zima to the 90s.

This is wild:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUmQXnBPeb0

This is amazing.

Memorable as image, sexual politics, lyrics, whatever but as music?

Better as music than any of those other things. I like the rhythm and energy and crescendos and so on. I remember this song, but I can't remember at all whether I liked it at the time.

"How about getting off these antibiotics" is the first line of the song, that's wild.

I think "You Oughta Know" reminds me a bit of Neil Young's "Mr. Soul" (in terms of vocal rhythms, not nec. anything else).

I love "Thank You" so much :)

Some of these old Alanis Morissette threads are pretty mean.

This shit is fucking awesome. So weird that I am only reconnecting performer and music now.

The only ones I really don't like at all so far are the ballads.

ILM's poppism in revealed-as-largely-theoretical shockah.

gypsy mothra otm.

(at least at the time he made that post.)

"Hands Clean" is better than you remember.

I like that one. I guess I wasn't including that. Thinking especially of the ballads with piano.

I wasn't going to say it, but since so many people have put down her looks in comments on ILM, I think she's cute.

1995 was a peak year for me being out of touch with anything current (musically) in the English-speaking world, so in some ways the mystery is how I even heard some of these songs. (First half of the year was dominated by not being able to breathe through my nose thanks to sinus problems; the second half was when I tried to recover from being an invalid: taking Brazilian dance classes and that sort of thing.)

there is no defense for alanis morissette.

So wrong.

I like her. I used to watch MTV just to see her videos.

i LOVE head over feet tbh.

i mean, i own jagged little pill on LP. i paid $12 for it.

No idea why Alanis is indefensible. Jagged Little Pill is total classic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7eB8mmZtlA

Jagged Little Pill is total classic

You were so close there I had to fix it.

Now listening to Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie "Baba" is great. So she apparently went to India for a time?

Okay, as I listen to more of this album I am feeling a little more sympathetic toward the anti-Alanis hostility (though I still think it's way over-generalized). She can be awfully self-righteous about being completely impossible, but it's not as though we don't have to be in a relationship with her. The lyrics here just get totally out of hand as it goes on (not exactly in a linear progression, but as the album moves on), more and more of a straight journal entry sort of sound as others have described her lyrics in general. But the music too is less interesting than on Jagged Little Pill (overall), even though there are some good things here and there. This is all on first listen (and most of this I really don't recognize).

her first two albums were THE SHIT when i was depressed during middle school/high school, but her subsequent albums have been a lot mellower, not necessarily sound-wise but personality-wise. instead of lashing-out and rage, she's processing things maturely, which lends this pop-psychology flavor to her lyrics that doesn't excite me very much.

also just in case you're feeling completionist, rudipherous, here's the Thank U b-side called Pollyanna Flower:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ug42wnTh2XY

Thanks, I like that too (now that I've heard it).

Don't miss out on "Uninvited," Rudipherous.

Okay. I'm still digesting "You Oughta Know." "but you're still alive. . ." I can relate to the viciousness of that.

I'm finding "Uninvited" a bit tedious. Maybe that was the point.