Thus, "Thank U" seemed self-serious and impossible to scream or dance to. And as a 13-year-old miles from seeing nudity as anything other than a hard pass (and even now: there's a time and a place), the video wasn't fodder for anything I aspired to be - especially compared the pop that defined the rest of the year: around the same time, Britney Spears dropped ".Baby One More Time" and the Spice Girls were riding an all-time high. Written after a trip to India (alongside "Baba," which kicks off the record), the video features a nude - albeit blurred - Alanis who spends most of her time in a street being approached by strangers who offer gratitude.įrankly, compared to the playfulness of "Ironic" (which sees several Alanises hanging out in a car) or "You Learn" (which gave us Alanis doing dozens of cartwheels), "Thank U" seemed.boring. Released in October of 1998, the single reflected Morissette's personal evolution over the course of the mid-90s. So perhaps understandably, I wanted nothing to do with "Thank U." My newfound respect for Katie was not returned.) When "You Learn" appeared on Pop Up Video, I used its trivia as conversation starter with cool kids at recess (it didn't work), and I counted the days until I could begin smoking so that, like Alanis, I could keep one hand in my pocket while the other one flicked a cigarette. (Sadly, I'd settled on Bonnie Raitt's "Something To Talk About" with my next-door neighbour, who made me dress up like Dennis Quaid. Without knowing what the songs were about, my friends and I scream-sang her singles at recess, pretending we know what "Ironic" meant and assumed it related to the "cross-eyed bear" she referenced in "You Oughta Know."įor a lip syncing project in fifth grade, countless female students selected songs by Alanis, with the most memorable being a girl named Katie who performed "Hands Over Feet" with choreography impressive enough for me to see past our longtime feud and begin to respect her. (It arrived alongside Jewel's Pieces of You and the Grease soundtrack, respectively.) Which makes sense because Morissette's debut was nothing short of iconic.
The last thing I wanted to listen to in 1998 was Alanis Morissette's Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie.Īt 13 - and still years from the instantaneousness of Napster - I was finally revelling in the anger and brilliance of Jagged Little Pill and considered myself "old enough" to order it from Columbia House.
Donahue that explores and celebrates the pop culture that defined the '90s and 2000s and the way it affects us now (with, of course, a few personal anecdotes along the way). Anne-iversaries is a bi-weekly column by writer Anne T.