Here Today... Gone To Hell!

She is incredible. I have been going through songs on You Tube and there is so much more to her than Jagged Little Pill.

She is an incredible songwriter, not a lyricist or a studio made somebody, She writes, produces and her songs have heart,emotion,depth and stick with u forever.


My favs are:

Unsent
I would Be Good
Everything
This Grudge
Joining You
Uninvited
So Pure
Thank U
Hands Clean
Doth I Protest too much
Precious Illusions
8 easy Steps
Still

Of course? the Jagged little Pill CD

I am rediscovering her as we speak so I'll post more once I get through some songs I havent heard in a long time.

Anyone else think she is the greatest female artist of our generation?

If not, Id love to hear who is.

I think the damn Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie album is right on par with Jagged Little Pill.

She is also an incredible live vocalist.

I've always stayed clear of her offerings after Jagged Little Pill for some reason, though been meaning to change that

She is (was?) an outstanding singer - Jagged Little Pill is a superb offering, transcending pop, rock and probably grunge too.

She's in one of my favourite films - Dogma!

i saw her perform "Wunderkind" from the chronicles of Narnia? Soundtrack on Leno. i liked it alot, i've heard a couple other songs and from what i've heard i think shes great. im gonna try to get into her more.

I don't know about overrall greatest female artist of our generation......but as for female albums, Jagged Little Pill is definitely the greatest.  There's not a song I've ever disliked on it.  It's actually in my list of top 20 albums of all time.

Avril Lavigne


I can't think of anyone better right now so I guess you're right.  Alanis Morrissette is indeed very talented. :yes:

she's good, but ani difranco walks all over her.

Jagged little pill is a great disc, really really good.  The one after that was ok, and most after that is kinda ..."eh".

Sheryl Crow might top her though, shes been around for a long time and has had a lot of successful songs/albums. 

Dido had a really good disc to.  dont' know much about the rest of her catalog though.

I give u Sheryl Crow

i'd have to agree with hannahat as far as nominating dido. she has two very good albums. but her career can't be compared with alanis' because she hasn't been around that long.

Alanis is the modern female version of Bob Dylan.  Her music is timeless.  Although she may not be the most talented singer in the world, she is a tremendous songwriter.  That and her popularity makes me want to compare her to Dylan.  She keeps her music simple and classy and does not alter her artistic integrity to conform to trends.  Reminds me of Dylan, once again.

Sheryl Crow is good, but her songs aren't timeless and she has had the tendency to conform to "pop" somewhat.

My second place star would be Jewel.  People say "she went pop,"  but that was clearly a satirical performance of what female pop music has become.

She's OK

Not the greatest though

not even in the league of tori amos if you ask me.

Alanis ? what a joke.

As a Canadian, I can tell you that years ago you couldn't go anywhere without hearing one of her songs, and now it appears her spotlight has sadly faded.

now how could i forget tori?
i think she's better than alanis :yes:

Tori Amos better than Alanis?

U gotta be kidding.

Mysteron u cant leave the thread hanging.  If she isnt the best who is?


The way Alanis paints a story is amazing, her characters are truly brought to life but yet her material stays relatable.


I dont think Tori Amos comes anywhere close to Alanis.

Voice-wise, I think Fiona Apple is better than Alanis.

Jenny Lewis (the former child actress turned indie rock star) has an amazing voice and is incredibly talented at song writing.

Madonna would fall into our generation.

Tori Amos is up there.

Bjork to some might be up there, I'm not into her though.

Definitely not into Sheryl Crow. 

Linda Perry could write some kickass tunes.

Shania Twain can wail!

Album wise though......Jagged Little Pill has them all beat.  It's just an amazing album from start to finish.  Tidal by Fiona is up there for me too, I like every single song on it.  Nothing either artist has done lately has been that great though.

I love Fiona Apple but she doesnt have the catalog Alanis has.

Madonna is more of a pop type who relied a lot on producers etc etc

Madonna is more famous and popular and BIGGER but she isnt as profound lyrically as Alanis.

Alanis had Glen Ballard on Jagged, but she has proven that she can write great songs on her own.

Jenny Lewis,,,,, no

Bjork........ NO

Shania twain is great but nowhere on Alanis' level lyrically and just musically.

she's great!  : ok:

i have every cd she ever put out, including the albums before Jagged.

my favourites are Under Rug Swept and Feast On Scraps from 2002... i feel she peaked with those releases.

favourite songs at the moment:

The Time Of Your Life (from Now Is The Time)
Precious Illusions (from Under Rug Swept)
Crazy (from The Collection)

Alanis was even on You Can't Do That On Television.  How many people can boast being on there and still be successful?

Bjork is the greatest, without any doubt.

Haha, I forgot about that.  I wonder how many people actually remember that show??  That was on when I was a kid so I remember it pretty well.

Anyway, I do like Alanis and saw her live a couple of years ago with my girlfriend and she played a solo acoustic show and she was great.  But I don't think she is the greatest of this generation.  I don't think she can compare to Jewel in almost every aspect.  Jewel is one of the best performers I have ever seen live and I have seen hundreds of shows and don't listen to that type of music too much at all.  I met Jewel after a solo acoustic performance she put on, which by the way was unbelievable, and she was the sweetest and one of the hottest chicks I have ever met in person.  Compare Jewel's first album with Alanis's... both great, great albums.  Jewel has the voice, the songwriting (which is just as good as any female artist EVER) and she can even fucking yodel (Which is really fucking cool if anyone here has witnessed it).  Bob Dylan is a fan of hers and they toured together a few years back and she's performed with Neil Young as well.  Hey, and the Replacements 'Let it Be' album is one of her favorites of all-time.

Jewel in my opinion is as good as it gets when it comes to female artists.  Alanis is up there with her but I just don't think is as good as Jewel.  I saw Jewel this summer with a full band and about 20,000 people watching, and she fucking rocked the house.  Unless you have heard the music then don't even make an opinion.  Go check out 'Pieces of Me' and then tell me there is anyone better.  Janis Joplin and Jewel are my two favorite female musicians of all time but Janis was never a strong songwriter, so I have to give the top spot to Jewel. 

Good thread though D... Alanis does deserve a lot of recognition because she is one hell of a talent.  One of my buddies saw her a few years back and this guy is Mr. Rock N' Roll and is so picky with what he listens too and is the type of guy that thinks he "Isn't being a man" if he listens to female artists, but he said it was one of the best concerts he has ever seen anyone put on.  I'm sure there are a lot of guys here that feel the same way, whether they admit it or not.  Me though, I don't give a fuck if the music is coming from a male or a female, if it's good then it's good.  You're just being a fucking pussy if you feel any other way.



Here's a cool fact I just found:

"When Jewel was 20 she fulfilled a dream she had when she was 18 by opening up for Bob Dylan. Bob Dylan, who never watches nor meets his opening acts, watched her performance and asked her to meet him!"

Jewel is great, but I dont think she has had the same consistency as Alanis.


Their first albums were both enormous and amazing, But look at the albums afterwards and I think Jewel's quality kind of diminished somewhat whereas Alanis' Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie and Under Rug Swept were great albums as well as her newest album that has the incredible song "everything"


What was Jewel thinking on that Pop album she did?


Song wise though it is hard to choose.

I mean uare right, not much beats You Were Meant for Me and Foolish Games. Those songs are just absolutely heartbreaking.


However judging entire bodies of work I personally give the nod to Alanis.

but I cant argue with those who say Jewel, She is a great choice as well.

I feel the same way about everything after JLP by Alanis.  To me it's only been hit and miss with the majority of it being bland in comparison.  Jewel's first album was amazing, then everything else just blew.  Jewel has something really special on Pieces of Me, but when the industry tuned in and said whoa we can do sooooo much more, they truly killed her.

Agreed. Tori's the best. Period.

I agree Bill

When Jewel just used her guitar and sang she was amazing.

the record label added drums and session musicians and changed what made her so appealing in the first place.

I realize I'll get shit for this but...the greatest female artist of our generation is:

Madonna.

It's not even close.  I'll admit....I'm not a HUGE fan of her music (especially the dance/techno type stuff), but...

You can't argue with hard numbers.  Alanis's one album did very, very well (the best, ever, right?), but Madonna has sold more albums than any other female, ever (Guiness book of world records).  In '05, Warner said she'd sold over 200 million albums. She's the highest earning female artist of all time (Guiness book of world records).  Her Confessions tour was, according to Billboard, the most successful/profitable tour by a female artist of all time.

I can see the arguments against her, artistically (ie: her music not being your cup of tea) but any way you slice it...she's the greatest female artist (from a music standpoint) of our generation, and maybe of all time.

My sister saw Jewel at a huge festival before anyone knew who she was and I guess Jewel came out with just her guitar and was so fucking nervous but gave one of the best perfomances of the night.  Nobody knew who she was but I guarantee that when those people first heard her voice, it's something they will never soon forget.

The pop album D??  I don't know what she was thinking but if you've ever had the chance to listen to the whole thing, it's not too bad.  She pulled it off.  Her new album is amazing and is worth checking out.  I think AMG gave it a 4.5 out of 5 stars which was her best since the debut. 

Someone mentioned Tori Amos as well... I like Tori Amos a lot.  She has some balls (not literally speaking of course)  and her lyrics prove that.  I have a ton of live shows from Tori and my collection of bootlegs from her is larger than any other female artist that I have.  She always does some interesting cover songs during her shows, from 'Bonnie and Clyde '97' (I think that's the song name) by Eminem to 'Don't Look Back in Anger by Oasis'.  Her version of Bonnie and Clyde is almost creepy to hear.

But back on topic to Alanis, she is great.  D, your opinion of her being the greatest female artist of this generation isn't even really arguable.  She may very well be and that opinion is a respectable one.  It's not like you're saying that, "Mandy Moore is the greatest female artist of this generation" or something completely fucking crazy.  Sheryl Crow is another one that I think deserves some respect.  She is a pretty talented songwriter herself.  Any chick that plays guitar or piano and writes their own music gets at least some respect from me.  Even if their music is terrible, at least they are being themselves and being creative.  I tend to not like artists that have ALL of their songs written for them.  Alanis, Jewel, Sheryl Crow and Tori Amos are 4 of the best artists out there today (talentwise), PERIOD.  Male or female.  There aren't very many male singer\songwriters out there today that can compete with those ladies.  Their lyrics and melodies are some of the best to ever be written by anyone.  I don't even listen to that type of music that much at all but I can give credit where credit is due.  And those 4 deserve a lot of credit and get the utmost respect from me anyway.

Madonna is the greatest female POP Star. I dont know about artist. Her lyrics arent very deep and she is more of an entertainer than an artist in my opinion.

Thing about Alanis, she has the artistic and Commercial success that not many can match.

I agree with Sheryl Crow being up there also, She has a song called "The Difficult Kind" I think is the title and it is one of the most amazing songs I have ever heard.

Sheryl Crow has a really cool song that I think was used in one of the James Bond films.  I can't remember what it's called but it's a pretty fucking kick ass song.  Look it up if you get time and give it a listen.  It's actually a pretty 'dark' song, especially for her.

She's one of the only female artists I like. I have most of her CDs, JLP is by far the best......

Alanis Morissette the Greatest? Can't agree with that.

I like her albums a lot, and have about 5 of them.

But as far as success goes, no one can beat Madonna, and as far as good music goes, I prefer Tori.

But she is excellent, and I listen to her very often. No doubt about it.

I for some reason have never gotten into Tori Amos.....................

I heard  a few songs but I didnt connect like I do with Alanis,Jewel and Sheryl Crow.

I listened to the new Alanis album 'The Collection' all day in the car yesterday and it's a nice little set of some of her best songs.  I hadn't heard some of those songs for a couple of years and she definitely kicks some ass.  Plus, she can fuckin' rock out with the best of 'em when she wants too.

Alanis or Tori? Tori released A Piano: The Collection 5 CD-set some months ago.

Is that a question you're asking me??  If it is, I said Alanis in my post.  If not, then I don't understand your point.

I don't know what would qualify as the 'greatest of our generation' but i'm diggin' Nellie McKay right now!  she's has a little bit of Axl in her...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJZY-Czcp2E

 :drool:

Pretty good Tippasaurus

To me she sounds kind of like a Fiona Apple Clone


I think to be best of a generation, no offense but people have had to hear of u.


Axl? Where do u see that?

fiona apple is a great talent!!!

Bjork the only one whose music sounds really different/original, I can recognize the talent of the others, but Bjork is the only one I could listen to willingly.

I dig Fiona Apple.  I also like Shirley Manson from Garbage.  Both great talents in my book.

I'll be interested to see how Fiona does if she decides to make an album without Jon Brion.  He's basically been compared to Brian Wilson (of the Beach Boys) in terms of musical genius.  Right now I consider Fiona Apple's success to be partly attributed to Brion as much as anyone...not to take anything away from her. 

To stay on topic: it's hard to gauge McKay from one video, you'd have to check out her two albums "Get Away from Me" and "Pretty Little Head" to really be able to claim her as a Fiona "clone."  She's a little more versatile than Fiona, as she dabbles in jazz, rap, cabaret, rock, classical, and a little bit of everything else (spanish guitars and reggae choruses have popped up in a few of her songs).  ...I think at the moment she's been performing in a musical in New York.       

The Axl comparison was in reference to her uncompromising vision of her music.  Her label dropped her because she wouldn't cut a few tracks (she insists on releasing double albums) off of her album "Pretty Little Head."  Basically she has a reputation of being stubborn, a control-freak, and a hot head.  Sound familiar?

And "best" is arbitrary.  If you go by record sales and longetivity, you'd have to go with Madonna...but most people here wouldn't say she has the most talent or is the greatest "artist" of our generation based on ability. 

I've been enjoying McKay a lot lately, so I mentioned her, but it's too tough to say who is the "best."  Because one needs to outline what truely makes them worthy of being called the "best" or "greatest."     

Well, as far as the music industry goes, they are all performing artists/recording artists.

Again, I can see people not liking her music and it not being their "thing".

But you can't argue with numbers.  Asthetics, "lyric deepness", etc are all subjective.  The milestones by which Madonna is measured are not...

i just caught the video for "Head over Feet" on TV. WOW. i am definitely getting into her she rocks. i'm gonna get Jagged Little Pill at some point soon!!

i got Jagged Little Pill, its great. my favorite songs are:

All I Really Want
Hand in My Pocket
You Learn
Head Over Feet
Ironic

i really like Alanis, she comes off as really sincere and down to earth and its clear she loves what shes doing. i also love that she was in Dogma. bow down to god!!

I love ALanis ....keekee...I love her anger  :D

She's a mediocre talent. Can't sing and not a very good songwriter, as Glen Ballard wrote all her hits. She's a bit of a fraud too, as she jumped on the alt. bandwagon in the mid-90s for her Fem-lite tripe. Before that she was into dance-pop and dating uncle Joey from Full House. Still, JLP is a good album, I'll give you that.

Tori Amos is like, 100000000000000000000000000 times better.

Christina Aguilera has a much better voice, live performance, etc. than Alanis and so does Sarah mcLaughlin

but from what i've heard after Alanis, she is definitly not the best

yeah but Alanis Morisette's lyrics are much stronger in my opinion. i do like Christina Aguilera's voice. But i think overall Alanis is better.

I prefer Sarah Mclaughlin & Ani Difranco to Alanis...

I'd also prefer to listen to Gwen Stefani or Emily Haines, but I don't know if I would rank them as better artists because they have a band backing them and can't receive all the credit.  Gwen is also not great live from what I've seen, but I haven't seen Alanis live before to compare.


The lyrics to "Alanis Morissette" by Wesley Willis:

You are a rockin? maniac.
You are a singin? hyena.
You are a rock star in Jesus? name.
You can really rock Sadam Hussein?s ass.
You are so lovable to me in the long run.
ALANIS MORISSETTE!
ALANIS MORISSETTE!

Alanis the greatest female artist I think NOT. Tori Amos blows her away hell Jewel is a way better artist than Alanis. My favorite would have to Christina Aguilerra she has a way better voice and can sing many different styles plus she is hotter than the butch Alanis.

Someone mentioned that she was on You can't do that on TV so was the lead singer of an amazing band called BAD FOR GOOD.

good to see someone else mention ani in this thread. she's amazing. especially considering she's running her own label, so doesn't have the kind of promotional power alot of other artists have.

she's made consistantly good music since the early 90's and has changed her sound quite alot as well.

Good to see u like Mickey  mousketeer pop singers over true artists.

haha good call D. i needed someone more articulate than me to state the obvious!! sure Christina Aguilera has a nice voice but theres no comparasion to Alanis, who i agree really is a true artist. i also quite like Alanis's voice, its not stunning but it does have some nice aspects to it, i enjoy it greatly.

What? Fiona Apple is a way better singer and songwriter. I liked Alanis on JLP, but the rest of her work is average, IMO.

Also, check Carina Round. She's a really awesome singer and has a lot of cool songs:
How I See It: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9V8MCdDB7A
Coming To You: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMoxyxqCyRI
Lacuna: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ur8M8gHqP5A

Her last album, Extraordinary Machine, only had Jon Brion in 2 songs - the title-track and Waltz (Better than fine) - and the rest was produced by Mike Elizondo (altough the first version of the album - wich leaked on internet a couple of years ago - was all produced by Brion). Also, all the words & music of all albums were written by Fiona herself. BTW, her first album, Tidal, wasn't produced by Brion as far as I know.

Not to mention that Aguilera was nothing but a 2nd rate Britney Clone when she came out.

Her best Song "Beautiful" was written entirely by Linda Perry


AT least Alanis wrote her lyrics and vocal melodies and later wrote it and produced it all herself.

Comparing Christina to Alanis doesn't make much sense at all.  I can see a Christina and Brittany comparison because they are both singers and dancers BUT NOT songwriters.  Christina can sing, I'll give you that much.  But as an overall artist she ain't fucking shit compared to Alanis, Fiona, Tori, Jewel, etc.  Hell, that's like saying Justin Timberlake is a better artist than Bob Dylan because he has more of a vocal range. It's stupid and doesn't make sense.

Anyway, outside of some of the females that have been mentioned in this thread, I have been listening to a little bit of Liz Phair lately. I'm starting to like her a lot and she reminds me a little of Tori because of her "edge" and "not giving a fuck" attitude. I don't really know too much about her and I only have one live show that I downloaded off of DIME a few weeks ago, but it's not bad at all. Anyone else listen to Liz Phair or know anything about her??

Can't agree with you there; listen to all of stripped and back to basics; not just the radio songs ;D

Alanis is definitely one of the best female artists' of our generation. 'That I Would Be Good', is one of the greatest songs, in my opinion. It's hard to say who the best is. Fiona Apple, Tori Amos and India Arie are right up there with her.


I really love 'Hurt'. It's beautiful and touches a lot of nerves. Linda Perry co-wrote it. She's a genius too.

christina writes or co-writes the majority of her songs, the only one she hasn't had a hand in is beautiful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W91sqAs-_-g

And this is how it's done.

Alanis Morrissette :greatest female artist of our generation?

I think so...

Don't forget Fiona Apple

COUGH...tori amos....COUGH!!!!!!

my discovery of this musical goddess made me retract my feelings on alanis being the best of our generation, Tori owns all.

http://emuse.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/18070

How could anybody think this is the greatest female musician of our generation ?

bjork is my pic for best female artisit of our generation. nobody else like her. I also like cat power and fiona apple a lot

That's exactly why the very argument can be justified..

i'm pretty Alanis was making fun of the song....its not supposed to be taken seriously. thats what makes her so cool.