You Oughta Know

Single infobox
Name = You Oughta Know


Artist = Alanis Morissette
from Album = Jagged Little Pill
Released = July 1995
Format = CD single, cassette single, 12" single
Recorded = 1995
Genre = Hard rock Post-grunge
Length = 4:09
Label = Maverick
Writer = Alanis Morissette, Glen Ballard
Producer = Glen Ballard
Certification =
Last single = "(Change Is) Never a Waste of Time"
(1993)
This single = "You Oughta Know"
(1995)
Next single = "Hand in My Pocket"
(1995)

"You Oughta Know" is a Grammy-winning song written by Alanis Morissette and Glen Ballard, and produced by Ballard for Morissette's third album "Jagged Little Pill" (1995). The song, the lyrics of which describe Morissette's fouled relationship with an unnamed lover (later identified as David Coulier) [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/detail?blogid=7&entry_id=29123] , introduced her harsh, angst-ridden lyrics to the public.

History

The song reached number one on "Billboard" magazine's Modern Rock Tracks chart in the U.S. and charted at number four in Australia and number twenty-two in the United Kingdom. Launching Morissette's career, and the album, "Jagged Little Pill", to the top, the coarse language, violent revenge scenarios, and piercing vocals were a jolt to mainstream pop music. "You Oughta Know" was not eligible for the U.S. "Billboard" Hot 100 in 1995 because a retail single was not released, but it reached number thirteen on the Hot 100 Airplay chart and the top ten on the Top 40 Mainstream chart. A live version of the song, recorded at the 1996 Grammy Awards ceremony on February 28, was a B-side on the retail single for "You Learn", and "Billboard" credited the single's Hot 100 number-six peak position to "You Learn"/"You Oughta Know".

Flea played the bass on the song, while Dave Navarro played guitar (both were in the Red Hot Chili Peppers at the time). Taylor Hawkins, who became the drummer for the Foo Fighters in 1997, played drums. The music video was directed by Nick Egan and features a dimly lit Morissette hitchhiking across a desert. Morissette has reimagined the song numerous times, most recently on her 2005 album "Jagged Little Pill Acoustic", which featured mellowed vocals and chord progressions; the lyrics, however, were not softened.

It won two Grammy Awards, Best Rock Song and Best Female Rock Vocal Performance. Also was nominated for Song of the Year, losing to "Kiss from a Rose" by Seal, at the Grammy Awards of 1996.

The song is a playable track in the 2008 music/rhythm video game "Rock Band 2", developed by Harmonix.

"You Oughta Know" was ranked #12 on VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of the 90's in December 2007.

ubject

A common rumor about the song is that it was written about Morissette's one-time boyfriend Dave Coulier of the television sitcom "Full House". According to an ABC News Web article, [ [http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/popup?id=3405785&contentIndex=1&page=7 'Full House': 20 Years Later] ] "Ex-girlfriend Alanis Morissette revealed that her angst-ridden hit 'You Oughta Know' was about her relationship with Coulier." The Urban Legends Reference Pages places this rumor in the context of the credence fans have given contradictory or demonstrably false accounts of songs' relationships to singers' lives, [http://www.snopes.com/music/songs/oughta.htm "You Oughta Know"] . Urban Legends Reference Pages. January 10 2000. Retrieved December 16 2006.] and in fact there are other celebrities who have been rumored to be the lover in the song, including:
* Bob Saget, Coulier's co-star on "Full House" (appearing on the "Opie & Anthony" show on June 28 2006, Saget denied ever having a relationship with Morissette and tended to agree with speculation that the song was about Coulier)
* Hockey player Doug Gilmour of the Toronto Maple Leafs. When Keith Olbermann used to work for the ESPN program SportsCenter, he would say during Toronto highlights relating to Gilmour, "Here's this for Alanis's pain."
* Hockey player Mike Peluso of the New Jersey Devils (he played for the Ottawa Senators in 1992-93).
* Actor Matt LeBlanc, who appeared in the video for Morissette's single "Walk Away" (1991)
* Musician Leslie Howe, the producer of Morissette's first two albums in the early 1990s

Coulier admits that he indeed is the unnamed lover targeted in the song, saying that when he first heard it, his thoughts were "'Wow, this girl is angry.' And then I said, 'Oh man, I think it's Alanis.'... I listened to the song over and over again, and I said, 'I think I have really hurt this person.'" [cite web|url= http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/entertainmentstory.html?id=c45ecf89-0be3-4177-825c-9206a0b775be|title= Olsens, Alanis part of Coulier's house|accessdate= 2008-08-20|author= Kirstie Mclellan|date= 2008-08-09|publisher= Calgary Herald] Coulier has told Us Weekly that he and Morissette have discussed the matter and are now on good terms. [http://www.usmagazine.com/dave-coulier-on-ex-alanis-morissette-were-good]

The topic of the song is discussed in an episode of "Curb Your Enthusiasm". Morissette told star Larry David who the song is about (then David to a disappointed friend), but the audience never hears who Morissette said the song was about. In one of the Jay and Silent Bob promos created for MTV, Jay told Silent Bob that he was the boyfriend that inspired the song. Jay told the story of the break up, and after he finished Silent Bob wiped a tear from his eye while Jay laughed at him confessing to have been lying the whole time. Morissette appeared with the two as God, in the 1999 film "Dogma".

On an "AL-TV" special "Weird Al" Yankovic joked that he and Morissette "used to date. I especially liked it when we went to the movies", a reference to the song's lyric about the singer performing oral sex in a theater. Yankovic also included the song in his polka medley "The Alternative Polka", on his 1996 album "Bad Hair Day".

The mystery surrounding the song brought comparison to Carly Simon's "You're So Vain".

Charts

¹ "You Learn"/"You Oughta Know"

Cover versions

* A lounge music style cover of the song was recorded by Canadian band Jaymz Bee and the Royal Jelly Orchestra for their 1997 album "Cocktail: Shakin' and Stirred".
* Another lounge music cover of the song was recorded by Richard Cheese for his 2005 album "Aperitif for Destruction".
* The Killing Moon covered the song for the 2006 compilation "Punk Goes 90's".

Notes