The world outside of Canada didn't really know "Too Hot"-era Alanis, but it seems silly in hindsight that the emergence of the "adult" Alanis Morissette and Jagged Little Pill towards the mid-1990s was initially viewed with suspicion by observers on both sides of the border intent on excavating her dance-pop past.

People grow up, losers. And Morissette grew up in spectacular fashion on Jagged Little Pill, a masterclass in three-dimensional femininity -- wounded and vulnerable one minute, vengeful and tough as nails the next, honest all around -- that's struck a sufficiently deep chord with listeners both male and female to move a whopping 35 million copies worldwide since its unassuming release on June 13, 1995. Whatever alchemy she and producer/co-songwriter Glen Ballard were messing with when they recorded this thing, it conjured nothing but hit after hit after hit: "You Oughta Know," "Ironic," "Hand In My Pocket," "All I Really Want," "Head Over Feet" and "You Learn" are all ringin' through your head right now just from reading the titles and you know it. You can't fight this one. 

Katy Perry calls it "the most perfect female record ever made," while no less an authority on top-shelf pop music than Benny Anderson of freakin' ABBA enthused to The Guardian in 2009 that Jagged Little Pill is one of his favourite albums of all time.

"I listened to this a lot when it came out, at a time when I wasn't writing pop songs any more," he said. "It was a remembrance of solid golden pop, from a fantastically talented woman with great writing and a great voice, and a very nicely produced album by Glen Ballard. It's one of the top 10 albums in my life when it comes to pop records, alongside Rumours and Hotel California."

Again, you can't fight this one. Just give into it.

TRACKLISTING:

1. All I Really Want
2. You Oughta Know
3. Perfect
4. Hand In My Pocket
5. Right Through You
6. Forgiven
7. You Learn
8. Head Over Feet
9. Mary Jane
10. Ironic
11. Not the Doctor
12. Wake Up