Ironic: The Story of Alanis Morissette

Jack S. Broumpton is an assistant professor of music at Huntington
College, Laurentian University.

Although it contains aspects of the fan bio, Ironic offers a good
grounding in the personal and professional life of the phenomenon that
has become Alanis Morissette.

Morissette’s drive to succeed in the music business can be traced
back to her early years. At 10, she was sending tapes of her music to
artist friends of her parents. At 16, she released her first album,
having co-written each of the 10 selections. The following year she
released Now Is the Time, which sold 100,000 copies and cemented her
reputation as the “Paula Abdul of Canada.”

Grills titles each of the chapters after Morissette’s hits
(“Forgiven,” “You Oughta Know,” “All I Really Want”). Given
the self-referential nature of Morissette’s most recent work, this
strategy works as a way of marking the various stages of her artistic
development.

Students of Canadian popular music will appreciate the book’s
detailed bibliography and discography.