Guilty Pleasure Video Favorites: Alanis Morissette
Hard to believe, but it's been 10 years since Alanis Morissette released her super, mega, multi-multi-platinum album, Jagged Little Pill, and it's taken me almost as long to start liking it. Though her recent appearance on the "Tavis Smiley" show threatened to undo all my goodwill: She was singing an acoustic version of "Head over Feet," and her pronunciation was driving me to distraction! She sang the line, "I couldn't help it/ It's all your fault," and it came out like, "Aye caaawldn't heeeaawlp aaaaait/ Sssss aaawwwwl yaaw faaawwwlllttt." Seriously, the caterwauling, I wanted to jump into the TV and haul her off to a speech therapist. Now, I GET the idea of, okay, I'm a singer and here's how I sing and it's unusual. But when you don't talk like that, it just sounds like you're going way far out of your way to make that sound. And back in the day, that bizarro yawlping wasn't nearly as bad. Why now? Like, it's a hell of a lot of work to add 20 more vowels to every word you sing, you feel me? Okay, so, anyway, yeah, JLP, great album.
But there are other, later songs of hers I like even better. "Uninvited" is really fantastic. It's this dirty, Led Zeppelin-y rawk song, you know? The MTV Unplugged version is spectacular, and "No Pressure over Cappuccino," from that same album, is cute and fun. And I guess I never paid too much attention, but did you know that some of her videos are pretty good? Some. "Thank U," "You Learn," and "Ironic" make me insane. "Ironic" grates especially because, as has already been discussed to death, nothing in the song is at all ironic. It would be more accurate to call it, "Unfortunate" or "That's a Drag." And the video—a whole car full of annoying Alanises misusing irony into the ground—turbo-HATE (TM, Max).
But the following two videos are both funny and clever and the songs are just as good. I never thought I'd cop to liking her, but here I am, all growed up. As usual, they can all be found at Yahoo! Music (FKA, Launch).
"Unsent"
Premise: Alanis wrote letters to some of the memorable men in her life, but, per the title, never sent them. So, over vignettes of her with these men, she sings them. And there are subtitles at the bottom that give more detail on what was going on between them at the time. Like, the first guy, she can't have because he has a girlfriend. Number two was an asshole, but she stuck around anyway. Three treated her well, but she pushed him away. Four was a playa pimp who, I think, wanted her to get down with the ladies. And five was the straight-forward doomed relationship that she probably wanted to work, but for lots of reasons, it would never.
It's the details that make this video so much fun to watch—the clothes, the settings, the facial expressions. It's all very realistic. And she is pretty good at making you understand how she felt with each of these people. For example, around 1:00, my heart starts to break because I WAS that woman, too. I've had that conversation—similar, but different—where you want to spend time with your boyfriend and he's all, "Yeah, well, I've got this thing, but maybe, MAYBE you can come with." And you're all, "REALLY? Great!" Ay yi yi. And the hair! Wow. She totally nails it.
I don't remember whether this song was big. I think I heard it on the radio a few times and I recall the complaint about it was that it didn't rhyme. Or maybe that was my complaint. But over time, it's held up nicely and the video is a great compliment. In short, a lot happens in four-plus minutes and is relatable to just about everyone who's ever been in a relationship.
"Hands Clean"
Premise: I've often wondered if this song was about her relationship with Dave Coulier. Oh wait. A quick Google search reveals that it might be about him. I mean, I knew that the majority of JLP's vitriol was directed his way, especially "You Oughta Know," but I figured that seven years later, she might be over it. Guess not. Anyway, in this video, Alanis is with this smarmy older dude and the lyrics tell us that "Dave Coulier" doesn't want Alanis to tell anyone that they're together. Probably because she was like, 15, and he was like, 30. Ew. He's got a big career and is totally full (HA!) of himself, not really giving a shit about her or her career. So fast forward a few years: He falls off, and she gets mega famous. He gets jealous of her success. And she writes a song about it, promising him that she won't let anyone know what happened between them. The song becomes huge and eventually, he finds out that the song is about him and he feels like a tool. She continues to be famous, and he continues to be a loser, who may or may not have hosted "The World's Funniest Home Videos." At least, I THINK that's what happens; a lot of this analysis was based on context clues and whatnot.
Some trivia: The Smarmy Older Dude is played by Chris Sarandon, perhaps best known as having played Prince Humperdink in "The Princess Bride." The Record Producer is played by Ian Gomez, who played Javier Qunitata on "Felicity."
Best moment: Around 3:50, the Karaoke scene where the totally spazzed out fan starts doing the Smurf or the Prep or some dance move that I can't remember the name of. She cracks me up.
The video has a lot going on, and it's engaging. The tune is hummable. The lyrics are clever and pretty staight up, no squishy psychological talk, like she's fond of. It's basically, "I dated this guy and he was too old for me and told me all these shitty things and hated on me. But I got mines! Peace."
But there are other, later songs of hers I like even better. "Uninvited" is really fantastic. It's this dirty, Led Zeppelin-y rawk song, you know? The MTV Unplugged version is spectacular, and "No Pressure over Cappuccino," from that same album, is cute and fun. And I guess I never paid too much attention, but did you know that some of her videos are pretty good? Some. "Thank U," "You Learn," and "Ironic" make me insane. "Ironic" grates especially because, as has already been discussed to death, nothing in the song is at all ironic. It would be more accurate to call it, "Unfortunate" or "That's a Drag." And the video—a whole car full of annoying Alanises misusing irony into the ground—turbo-HATE (TM, Max).
But the following two videos are both funny and clever and the songs are just as good. I never thought I'd cop to liking her, but here I am, all growed up. As usual, they can all be found at Yahoo! Music (FKA, Launch).
"Unsent"
Premise: Alanis wrote letters to some of the memorable men in her life, but, per the title, never sent them. So, over vignettes of her with these men, she sings them. And there are subtitles at the bottom that give more detail on what was going on between them at the time. Like, the first guy, she can't have because he has a girlfriend. Number two was an asshole, but she stuck around anyway. Three treated her well, but she pushed him away. Four was a playa pimp who, I think, wanted her to get down with the ladies. And five was the straight-forward doomed relationship that she probably wanted to work, but for lots of reasons, it would never.
It's the details that make this video so much fun to watch—the clothes, the settings, the facial expressions. It's all very realistic. And she is pretty good at making you understand how she felt with each of these people. For example, around 1:00, my heart starts to break because I WAS that woman, too. I've had that conversation—similar, but different—where you want to spend time with your boyfriend and he's all, "Yeah, well, I've got this thing, but maybe, MAYBE you can come with." And you're all, "REALLY? Great!" Ay yi yi. And the hair! Wow. She totally nails it.
I don't remember whether this song was big. I think I heard it on the radio a few times and I recall the complaint about it was that it didn't rhyme. Or maybe that was my complaint. But over time, it's held up nicely and the video is a great compliment. In short, a lot happens in four-plus minutes and is relatable to just about everyone who's ever been in a relationship.
"Hands Clean"
Premise: I've often wondered if this song was about her relationship with Dave Coulier. Oh wait. A quick Google search reveals that it might be about him. I mean, I knew that the majority of JLP's vitriol was directed his way, especially "You Oughta Know," but I figured that seven years later, she might be over it. Guess not. Anyway, in this video, Alanis is with this smarmy older dude and the lyrics tell us that "Dave Coulier" doesn't want Alanis to tell anyone that they're together. Probably because she was like, 15, and he was like, 30. Ew. He's got a big career and is totally full (HA!) of himself, not really giving a shit about her or her career. So fast forward a few years: He falls off, and she gets mega famous. He gets jealous of her success. And she writes a song about it, promising him that she won't let anyone know what happened between them. The song becomes huge and eventually, he finds out that the song is about him and he feels like a tool. She continues to be famous, and he continues to be a loser, who may or may not have hosted "The World's Funniest Home Videos." At least, I THINK that's what happens; a lot of this analysis was based on context clues and whatnot.
Some trivia: The Smarmy Older Dude is played by Chris Sarandon, perhaps best known as having played Prince Humperdink in "The Princess Bride." The Record Producer is played by Ian Gomez, who played Javier Qunitata on "Felicity."
Best moment: Around 3:50, the Karaoke scene where the totally spazzed out fan starts doing the Smurf or the Prep or some dance move that I can't remember the name of. She cracks me up.
The video has a lot going on, and it's engaging. The tune is hummable. The lyrics are clever and pretty staight up, no squishy psychological talk, like she's fond of. It's basically, "I dated this guy and he was too old for me and told me all these shitty things and hated on me. But I got mines! Peace."
posted by Iseult at 10:40 AM
3 Comments:
Ack phooey! The acoustic version of Jagged Little Pill should have been "Comfort-Coated Little Pill" for the bland, boring pop that it is (and for all the old farts buying it).
Sorry Iseult.
Sorry. The above opinion was brought to you by Ruby, not anonymous. This old fart can't operate Blogger.
Dude -- I'm with you on the acoustic version. I was talking 'bout the plugged-in version -- that's the one I "like." The acoustic version is totally masturbatory.
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