The MARK’S VINTAGE VINYL page features something from Mark’s collection of recordings from over the years. Most of it is on vinyl – hence the name – though there will be a few entries from his CDs (remember those?).
Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie, by Alanis Morissette
- Fourth studio album by Morissette, released in 1998.
- It was the follow-up album to her 1995 alternative rock masterpiece Jagged Little Pill, which won 5 Grammy awards and sold over 33 million copies worldwide, and was certified 16x platinum in the U.S. – a very big deal.
- Jagged Little Pill was so big, and her 18 month tour to promote it was stressful, so she decompressed for a year and a half before recording the 17 songs from Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie over a period of 6 weeks. Prior to her time off, she was feeling the pressure to produce another hit album. Realizing that she couldn’t write while she was motivated by fear, she traveled to India and Cuba, and competed in 3 triathlons. She returned with the approach that she didn’t have to write the record – instead, she just had to want to write it.
- While not as successful as Jagged Little Pill (nothing could have been that successful), SFIJ debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 album chart, and at the time it had the most sales in the first week of release by a woman artist in history (later surpassed by Britney Spears in 2000). It went on to be certified 3x platinum in the U.S. Two songs were nominated for Grammy awards – Thank U for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and So Pure for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance (neither won the award). The album won a Juno award (Canada’s version of the Grammy awards) for Album of the Year.
- I bought the album on a whim, sometime in the early 2000s, as I was getting back into music and realized that I had not paid much attention to the music of the 90s. I knew that Jagged Little Pill was huge, so I gave SFIJ a random chance. I wasn’t disappointed – the fact is that Morissette is one of my favorite artists of the 90s, given her unique vocal style and the raw energy of the music. For more on Morissette, check out my post about her from March 31, 2017.
- The video for Thank U features Morissette walking in public and getting hugs – with Morissette totally naked throughout. Thanks to her long hair, and video blurring technology, the video received heavy airtime on MTV. Take a peak – literally! You’ll hear lots of Morissette’s unique vocal style of singing in the whistle register in this song.