Defend the Indefensible - Alanis Morissette

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Sting trapped in the body of a kooky canuck

― miccio (miccio), Monday, 22 November 2004 00:48 (nineteen years ago) link

Songs I'd like if I didn't find Alanis completely unstomachable right now.

"You Learn"
"You Oughta Know"
"So Pure" (that's the one about the free-stylin' chance where she's dancing in different styles in the video, right?)
"Uninvited"
"What I Really Want"

― miccio (miccio), Monday, 22 November 2004 00:51 (nineteen years ago) link

Festivals are one of my favourite things to do. I don't know if we've ever done Reading, I'll find out and see

the nme random alanis quote generator is fun.

― keith m (keithmcl), Monday, 22 November 2004 00:54 (nineteen years ago) link

INSUFFERABLE TO THE LAST!

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 22 November 2004 00:56 (nineteen years ago) link

"what I really want" is one of the ones i liked! haven't heard it in years though.

― Ian John50n (orion), Monday, 22 November 2004 00:57 (nineteen years ago) link

It's probably my favorite in hindsight.

― miccio (miccio), Monday, 22 November 2004 00:58 (nineteen years ago) link

Is that the same as "All I Really Want"?

― Every country has their stupid (AaronHz), Monday, 22 November 2004 01:11 (nineteen years ago) link

yeah, that's it.

d'oh.

― Ian John50n (orion), Monday, 22 November 2004 01:13 (nineteen years ago) link

Oh, for a minute I thought she had a sequel on one of her newer CDs, like "Unforgiven II" or something.

― Every country has their stupid (AaronHz), Monday, 22 November 2004 01:16 (nineteen years ago) link

Ned got it right -- I heard that song hundreds of times and I can't recall it now for the life of me. Memorable as image, sexual politics, lyrics, whatever but as music? Eminently forgettable. But I have to admit I found her attractive in a tomboy-ish kinda way.

― lovebug starski (lovebug starski), Monday, 22 November 2004 02:11 (nineteen years ago) link

i don't think i'll get most of her jingles out my head

― miccio (miccio), Monday, 22 November 2004 02:17 (nineteen years ago) link

My friend Eric has memorably covered "One Hand in My Pocket" in an amusing but not ironic way.

― Sanjay McDougal (jaymc), Monday, 22 November 2004 02:34 (nineteen years ago) link

She gave her drummer to the Foo Fighters so Dave Grohl could spend less time worrying about the drum parts and more time writing awesome songs like "Learn to Fly" and "Times Like These."

Wait, you said defend?

― earinfections (Nick Twisp), Monday, 22 November 2004 02:46 (nineteen years ago) link

i really like "uninvited" and then i liked it even more when i watched some live concert they showed on VH1 at the time. i enjoyed the fake zep thing.

― scott seward (scott seward), Monday, 22 November 2004 02:47 (nineteen years ago) link

"Hand In My Pocket" makes my Anthrax On A Tampax list: Songs That Turn Me Into A Virulent Misogynist If I Am In Earshot.

― miccio (miccio), Monday, 22 November 2004 02:47 (nineteen years ago) link

Nice hair?

― Piers (piers), Monday, 22 November 2004 05:27 (nineteen years ago) link

"blessed duplicity" amazing lyric, so C for that reason.
considering the current class of awfull teen and twenty something singer songwriters, she is way ahead of the curve.

― lukey (Lukey G), Monday, 22 November 2004 09:24 (nineteen years ago) link

Where does she say "blessed duplicity"? I know she calls old man Coulier "Mr. Duplicity" on "You Outta Know".

― Every country has their stupid (AaronHz), Monday, 22 November 2004 10:01 (nineteen years ago) link

She is mortal and will die.

― Forksclovetofu (Forksclovetofu), Monday, 22 November 2004 10:06 (nineteen years ago) link

"Outta" haha.

― Every country has their stupid (AaronHz), Monday, 22 November 2004 10:09 (nineteen years ago) link

Her boyfriends are hot. Except Dave Coulier.

― Titsy Borgnine (Arthur), Monday, 22 November 2004 16:14 (nineteen years ago) link

HA HA I AM IN THERE oh damn.

― Sad, Rejected Dave Coulier (Dan Perry), Monday, 22 November 2004 16:20 (nineteen years ago) link

i didn't like anything off her first album but agree with several people that 'So Pure', 'Thank You' and 'Hands Clean' are good

― Freelance Hiveminder (blueski), Monday, 22 November 2004 16:22 (nineteen years ago) link

"Stinky britches, I got stinky britches..."

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 22 November 2004 16:24 (nineteen years ago) link

"Thank You" is astonishing. (haha I have identified another Dan/Ned bifurcation)

― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 22 November 2004 16:32 (nineteen years ago) link

Indeed! We must make careful note of this.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 22 November 2004 16:32 (nineteen years ago) link

I'll be the first to admit that many of my favorite musicians are guilty of herculean pretentiousness (Jaz Coleman could never be accused of being humble), but I find Alanis to be so incredibly, insufferably earnest and fuckin' HIGH on herself that I can barely put it into words. Indefensible. Indefensible. Indefensible.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 22 November 2004 16:32 (nineteen years ago) link

At least she's not Ani DiFranco, Alex!

― Ian John50n (orion), Monday, 22 November 2004 16:35 (nineteen years ago) link

Or Fiona Apple (whom I also like but COME ON NOW).

― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 22 November 2004 16:39 (nineteen years ago) link

Fiona Apple is great! And she's like Nellie McKay in that her incredible self-obsession and pretentiousness is actually very endearing, whereas with Ani it's a little grating and with Alanis it's bemusing and loopy.

― The Lex (The Lex), Monday, 22 November 2004 16:41 (nineteen years ago) link

At least she's not Ani DiFranco, Alex!

Fair point, Ian, but Ani's easier to ignore.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 22 November 2004 16:46 (nineteen years ago) link

i kinda like how flakey and hoser-ish she is

― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 22 November 2004 16:51 (nineteen years ago) link

She gives Celine Dion a run for her money in the long-face department

― mottdeterre (mottdeterre), Monday, 22 November 2004 22:27 (nineteen years ago) link

Someday someone will work the words "Morrissey" and "Morrisette" into a really funny, bitchy pop song.

― mottdeterre (mottdeterre), Monday, 22 November 2004 22:38 (nineteen years ago) link

Hybrid (in that short period when everything they touched turned gold) did a fantastic & huge sounding remix of "So Pure". That's about it though.

― Siegbran (eofor), Monday, 22 November 2004 22:41 (nineteen years ago) link

A horse walks into a bar. Barman says, "Alanis, why the long face?"

― Piers (piers), Monday, 22 November 2004 22:54 (nineteen years ago) link

hands clean is classik.

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Monday, 22 November 2004 22:59 (nineteen years ago) link

I like her new haircut.

― Billy Dods (Billy Dods), Monday, 22 November 2004 23:05 (nineteen years ago) link

I saw her on TV when I couldn't properly hear it and had some pleasing thoughts.

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.

― Acme (acme), Tuesday, 23 November 2004 01:48 (nineteen years ago) link

Alanis Morissette songs taught me that I should never have sex with Alanis Morissette.

― My name is Kenny (My name is Kenny), Tuesday, 23 November 2004 02:03 (nineteen years ago) link

that black and white video where the parade goes by behind her? i really like that video a lot. i especially remember some kid in a high-school band walking past in slo-mo and waving all excitedly to the camera from behind alanis. it was a really nice genuine moment.

― john'n'chicago, Tuesday, 23 November 2004 02:03 (nineteen years ago) link

I find Alanis to be so incredibly, insufferably earnest and fuckin' HIGH on herself that I can barely put it into words.

Alex in NYC OTM (as always).

― Mr. Snrub, Tuesday, 23 November 2004 03:04 (nineteen years ago) link

a poor woman's tori amos.

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Tuesday, 23 November 2004 05:02 (nineteen years ago) link

I never really got into her but her "rage" was a lot more believable, tolerable and understandable than a lot of the crap that was plowed into our ears back then. I'm looking at Mr. Rat in a Cage and his fellow whiners here.

― danh (danh), Tuesday, 23 November 2004 15:26 (nineteen years ago) link

You seem aggrieved.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 23 November 2004 15:27 (nineteen years ago) link

No, not really, but at least Alanis had good reason!

― danh (danh), Tuesday, 23 November 2004 15:36 (nineteen years ago) link

Well, you know that some people say what is lost can never be saved.

― Tantrum The Cat (Tantrum The Cat), Tuesday, 23 November 2004 15:38 (nineteen years ago) link

Yay!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 23 November 2004 15:41 (nineteen years ago) link

I'm regretting my exclamation mark. But turning on the radio in the mid-90s meant getting an earful from some rich rocker about how their life is just unbearably, and worse, often existentially hard. At least Alanis had some prick to be pissed at.

― danh (danh), Tuesday, 23 November 2004 15:55 (nineteen years ago) link

I am decidedly not in the habit of cutting extra slack for my fellow Canadians, but "You Oughta Know" is absolutely classic, one of the 15 greatest singles of the '90s, and "Hand In My Pocket" and a coupla others are pretty good too. Most of the rest sucks, but give her credit for having the balls to feature her own crappy harmonica playing on a record.

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Tuesday, 23 November 2004 16:05 (nineteen years ago) link

Skipping 40 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

I still would love hear someone sample the opening of Thank You to great effect.

― tart w/ a heart (a hoy hoy), Monday, 3 May 2010 00:09 (fourteen years ago) link

The beginning is especially great. Actually, when I heard it I thought I had heard it somewhere else, but I think I was being reminded of something on side two of "Aerial Tal"!

― _Rudipherous_, Monday, 3 May 2010 00:14 (fourteen years ago) link

iirc UR is also terrific off that record

― tart w/ a heart (a hoy hoy), Monday, 3 May 2010 00:28 (fourteen years ago) link

Awful drum machines on everything I've heard from her.

― Moka, Monday, 3 May 2010 05:26 (fourteen years ago) link

one year passes...

http://open.spotify.com/track/0Dw9z44gXhplDh5HCWZIxP

― an independent online phenomenon (DJP), Thursday, 12 April 2012 15:50 (twelve years ago) link

six months pass...

http://gawker.com/5952403/alanis-morissette-music-leads-to-domestic-abuse-case-in-florida

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 17 October 2012 04:53 (eleven years ago) link

how have i never seen this thread before

― 69, Wednesday, 17 October 2012 05:12 (eleven years ago) link

"You live you learn, You love you learn, You cry you learn, You lose you learn, You bleed you learn, You scream you learn." You just don't hit your boyfriend in the face with a plate. But, you learn.

^ lol @ this

― suggest butt (Pillbox), Wednesday, 17 October 2012 05:15 (eleven years ago) link

three years pass...

http://www.poynter.org/2016/alanis-morissette-is-taking-over-molly-ringwalds-advice-column/391110/

Many people in dire need of help and possibly even contemplating suicide will be now be jolted out of their emotional paralysis as they scurry off in search of thesauruses.

― clemenza, Saturday, 9 January 2016 00:10 (eight years ago) link

She's now an advice columnist for the Guardian

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/jan/09/alanis-morissette-queen-alt-rock-guardian-advice-columnist

― paolo, Saturday, 9 January 2016 12:22 (eight years ago) link

if only someone had mentioned that sooner

― japanese mage (LocalGarda), Saturday, 9 January 2016 14:21 (eight years ago) link

Oops :s

― paolo, Saturday, 9 January 2016 16:22 (eight years ago) link

hehe

― japanese mage (LocalGarda), Saturday, 9 January 2016 16:29 (eight years ago) link

Dear Alanis: it rained on my wedding day. What literary device best describes this situation?

Dear Alanis: My boyfriend has left me for someone who I suspect will suck him off in a movie theater. What is the proper way to communicate my displeasure with this state of affairs?

― Satan's hairpiece = hell toupee (Ye Mad Puffin), Saturday, 9 January 2016 16:42 (eight years ago) link

Never seen so many "Removed by moderator" in the comments section.

― Mark G, Saturday, 9 January 2016 16:57 (eight years ago) link

Wait - Molly Ringwald had an advice column?

― the top man in the language department (誤訳侮辱), Saturday, 9 January 2016 17:49 (eight years ago) link

my wife and i honeymooned in oct on the central coast of ca and stayed for a couple nights at the esalen institute in big sur. alanis was there and teaching a workshop called 'hurtling toward wholeness'. we didn't attend any of her workshops but did dine with her at the communal dinners. she's lovely and thoughtful and wise.

― Yelploaf, Tuesday, 12 January 2016 20:55 (eight years ago) link

I thought you were kidding until I googled "esalen institute alanis." Wow. Perhaps one day she'll create an ingenious ad campaign for Coke.

― clemenza, Tuesday, 12 January 2016 22:06 (eight years ago) link

three months pass...

so I guess she has a brother named Wade who is a yoga master!! this video is redonk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A16YQm_tqjI

― rockpalast '82 (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, 2 May 2016 19:34 (eight years ago) link

this whole thing is hilarious but i laughed the hardest at 'wade morrissette' for some reason

― dynamicinterface, Monday, 2 May 2016 21:05 (eight years ago) link

four years pass...

I hear her more now than ever, pretty much daily--she seems to have replaced the Guess Who as every milquetoast Canadian radio station's default Cancon (on whatever the proper name is right now for Top-40/AOR/Boomer stations). "Ironic," "Hand in Pocket," and "Thank You," mostly--at least I've been spared "You Oughta Know."

What a terrible trade.

― clemenza, Thursday, 8 April 2021 22:44 (three years ago) link

You Oughta Know that you made me imagine 1970-era Burton Cummings singing that song.

― Halfway there but for you, Friday, 9 April 2021 00:15 (three years ago) link

Burton has a light touch next to Alanis: "You Oughta Know" would need Rare Earth or Blood, Sweat & Tears or the Ides of March.

― clemenza, Friday, 9 April 2021 00:38 (three years ago) link

OK, it's not necessary to bring out the big guns.

― Halfway there but for you, Friday, 9 April 2021 00:41 (three years ago) link

Actually, I was never bothered by her vocal affectations - they seemed a lot more playful and eccentric than the oversouling of Clayton-Thomas or Joplin.

― Halfway there but for you, Friday, 9 April 2021 01:51 (three years ago) link

I’ve been in a room with her twice (once professional, once incidental). She seemed cool both times.

― Yawnsomely Literal Cover Band (morrisp), Friday, 9 April 2021 01:57 (three years ago) link

One can't say that about Burton Cummings.

― Halfway there but for you, Friday, 9 April 2021 02:06 (three years ago) link

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