Alanis Morrisette's 20th anniversary of Jagged Little Pill

Published September 30th 2015

When Alanis Morrisette released the single “You Oughta Know” in 1995, she became the most honest musician out there at the time. Hitting you hard with a core emotion and following it up by more songs with brutal honesty. It inspired many people, even to today.

On October 30th a new edition of the album “Jagged Little Pill” will be released to celebrate its 20th anniversary. This special collector’s edition will contain 4 discs. In the lead up to the release, it has been announced that the new version will feature a disc dedicated to demos that were written and recorded with Glen Ballard leading up to the album’s original release. It includes the tracks “Closer Than You Might Believe“, “The Bottom Line” and “Superstar Wonderful Weirdos“, that have already been released to the Internet.

Another disc will contain live and accoustic versions of the original album, previously unreleased.

“Jagged Little Pill” has sold over 33 million copies so far. Before the album, Alanis already had succes in Canada making a combination of pop and dance music. When her second album failed to make commercial success, she moved to LA and met Glen Ballard through her publishing contract. They didn’t know the first thing about each other, but immediately started writing and recording “The Bottom Line“, originally inspired by the New York club Bottom Line, but used as a metaphor instead.

The song got played for the publishers and they got the go ahead to continue writing together. A system started to evolve, Alanis would write the lyrics and the both of them would write the music together. At this point, it wasn’t sure where this was going and there was no talk of an album for Alanis herself. They were just writing for themselves, which is probably why the tracks became so honest and raw.

All the songs that would become hits later, were already written at this stage, but even “You Oughta Know” didn’t bring a record company to their door. But then came Madonna, who was tipped by Guy Oseary, initiator of Maverick Records, Madonna’s label. The rest is history.

In the beginnings of her success, Alanis got seen as the angry woman, but most people who’ve worked with her state the opposite. Still, life has had its ups and downs for Alanis and she, more recently, has been able tobe at peace with herself and happy in love. Recent reports state she starts her days with yoga and meditatin.