June 13, 1995: Alanis Morissette Releases "Jagged Little Pill"

June 13, 1995, 30 years ago: Alanis Morissette releases her album Jagged Little Pill. It makes her the most influential musical performer of the 1990s.

Stop laughing. She was the one. Not Kurt Cobain, or his band Nirvana as a whole.

I might have said 4 Non Blondes, Linda Perry's then-band, but if you can think of a song of theirs other than "What's Up?" (a.k.a. "What's Going On"), then you know more about them than I do.

By the time Alanis came out with Jagged Little Pill, not only was Cobain dead, but Nirvana's grunge aesthetic was buried as well. Dave Grohl went on to form Foo Fighters, who sound very different. Pearl Jam moved away from that style as well.

Without Alanis, there's no Pink, no Kesha, no Ariana Grande, no Halsey. Christina Aguilera doesn't do Stripped. Taylor Swift probably remains a country singer.

Her lyrics and attitude influenced black women, too: Without Alanis, we might still have had Beyoncé, Ashanti, Nicki Minaj and Cardi B, but they would have sounded very different. I'll bet you any money you like: If Alanis had gone into another line of work, Beyoncé would never have sung "If I Were a Boy."

Did Alanis influence guys, too? Yes: Without Alanis, we might have had a very different Eminem.

The native of Ottawa caught flak for apparently not understanding the meaning of the word "Ironic," the title of one of the songs on the album. But "You Oughta Know" was a scathing indictment of an ex-boyfriend, rumored to be Full House star Dave Coulier. And while it was never actually released as a single in the U.S., "Hand in My Pocket" became an inescapable song in the Autumn of 1995.

So what it all came down to was that, having just turned 21, she really did have a lot figured out. To put this in perspective: Elvis Presley was 21 when he hit it big nationally, but never wrote a song; Paul McCartney and Brian Wilson were both 21 when their bands first hit it big; Bob Dylan was 22 when his 2nd album made him a legend; Michael Jackson was 21 when he released Off the Wall, but 24 when he released Thriller; Joni Mitchell, the previous standard for a Canadian woman writing her own songs, was 24 when she released "Both Sides Now"; and Cobain was 24 when Nirvana released Nevermind.

Alanis has never hit such heights again, but she remains a solid songwriter.