Alanis Morissette – "You Oughta Know" (1995)

And I'm here to remind you

Of the mess you left 

When you went away

A few years ago, 2 or 3 lines featured Alanis Morissette’s “You Oughta Know,” which manages to be scarier in three minutes than Fatal Attraction was in two hours.

That’s not to say that Fatal Attraction didn’t creep the bejesus out of me when I saw it, BECAUSE IT DID.  But I forgot about how creeped out I was as soon as I left the theater.  After all, Fatal Attraction was just a movie.

But “You Oughta Know” is a whole ’nother thing.  Alanis Morissette meant every word she sang, and the dude who pissed her off should be very, very afraid.  Since it’s not impossible I will come across a woman just as crazy as Alanis someday and  will do something to piss her off, the song makes me very, very afraid as well.

Glenn Close in "Fatal Attraction":
not as scary as Alanis Morissette

Alanis has refused to identify the male who is the object of her venom in “You Oughta Know,” but one possibility is Dave Coulier, an ex-boyfriend of Morissette’s whose career highlight was portraying the doofus uncle on the very popular Full House sitcom – a show that was must-see TV in my house because my identical twin daughters were the same age as Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen.  

(Over twenty years ago, I was seated near Bob Saget, the comedian who played the father on Full House, on a flight from Los Angeles to Philadelphia.  I showed him a photo of my twins because I hoped he might tell the show’s producers that Sarah and Caroline –  who were clearly cuter than the Olsen twins – should replace them.)

Dave Coulier

Years ago, Coulier took credit for being the assh*le ex-lover in the song.  But recently he’s been singing a different tune.  He admits that a couple of the lines in “You Oughta Know” may have been inspired by things he said or did, but denies that the song is about his relationship with Morissette.

He also denies that there are any hard feelings between the two of them:

"I like to think that we parted as good friends.  I think nothing but the world of her.  I think she's a pretty outstanding human being to be quite honest."

Alanis Morissette:
Be afraid . . . be very afraid

“You Oughta Know” hit the airwaves – and hit them hard – in 1995.  From Elle magazine:

"You Oughta Know" instantly became that summer's fist-pumping anthem – especially for the legions of young women who embraced it as a declaration of independence from sugar and spice and always having to be nice, even when they were filled to choking with ugly, not-nice feelings (often stirred up by the miserable behavior of the men in their lives).  The sound of Morissette's voice slashing through the guitar and bass of The Red Hot Chili Peppers' Dave Navarro and Flea broke like thunder across a landscape recently lulled by the likes of Ace of Base and Hootie & the Blowfish.  The song's lyrics – referencing a public act of fellatio and dropping the f-bomb, among other things – landed with an impact equal to its aural assault.

Today the very mellow Ms. Morissette is a wellness guru.  Her website has articles titled “The Soulful Rx of Hugging,” “Relationships – Our Hotbeds for Healing and Wholeness,” and “Favorite Incenses of All Time.”

A very pregnant Alanis Morissette

Alanis is also a new mom.  In June of this year, the 42-year-old Morissette gave birth to a daughter named Onyx Solace Morissette-Treadway.  She and her husband, rapper Mario “Souleye” Treadway, are also the parents of a five-year-old son.  (Alanis, who is an outspoken breastfeeding advocate, once said she would let her son breastfeed until he was five or six if he wanted to.)

Alanis "Wonder Woman" Morissette
breastfeeding her daughter Onyx

As for Dave Coulier, he’s a regular on a lame updated version of Full House that’s airing on Netflix.  It’s called Fuller House.  

Most of the rest of the original cast – including John Stamos and Bob Saget – were desperate enough to join him.  The Olsen twins demurred, although the producers of the show hope to eventually persuade one of them to appear on the show.

Bob Saget and the Olsen twins

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Neil Cicierega is best known as the creator of a genre of animation called “Animutation.”  

Click here for an example.

(Don't feel bad . . . I didn't get it either.)

Cicierega is also a musician.  He’s released nine albums as Lemon Demon and a bunch of mashups under his own name.

“Alanis” is a mashup of “You Oughta Know” and Jesse Frederick’s “Everywhere You Look,” which was the theme song to Full House.

Click here to view his “Alanis.”

Click here to download Mouth Sounds, the album that includes “Alanis,” for free.