How Alanis Morisette's Jagged Little Pill changed my life

The groundbreaking album is turning 20 this week. Here's what it meant to one young feminist.

Alanis Morrissette
(Image credit: AP Photo/Cheryl Gerber)

It was a set up for a laugh. In 2014's The Trip to Italy, Rob Brydon discover that the only CD he brought for his road trip with Steve Coogan is Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill. "You're kidding me," Coogan says.

But then a curious thing happens. As these two middle-aged men wind around the Italian countryside, they don't mock the lyrics; they start belting them out. And, as Morissette excavates her emotions, we realize how much digging Coogan and Brydon need to do into theirs. The scene helped send Jagged Little Pill back up the U.K.'s album charts last year, almost two decades after it was first released.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
Elissa Strauss

Elissa Strauss writes about the intersection of gender and culture for TheWeek.com. She also writes regularly for Elle.com and the Jewish Daily Forward, where she is a weekly columnist.