Alanis Morissette

“Hey, Alanis?”

“Yeah, Moose?”

Look, I don’t mean to be a hipster about this. But, yes, I do remember Alanis Morissette peeking out of a locker or doing the introduction to the opposites or what have you in a haircut that was the fashion at the time but didn’t suit her. (Actually, I think my older sister had that haircut for a while.) That would have been in the ‘80s. She only did five episodes, but given my sisters and I would watch the show every chance we got, there’s no way I didn’t see them in those days. She’s actually one of the only kids from the show to go on to a career in media, along with Adam Greydon Reid, who has, weirdly, played Brandon Tartikoff twice.

Morissette is a twin, born on June 1, 1974, along with her twelve-minutes-older brother Wade, also a musician. (Older brother Chad is in mergers and acquisitions.) The family moved from Ottawa to Germany when Morissette was three, where her parents taught at the Canadian airbase, then back to Canada. Morissette was twelve when she appeared on her five episodes of You Can’t Do That on Television, which included the episode where Alasdair decided to become a rock star. It was Morissette’s television debut.

Her first album, Alanis, came out in 1991, riding the pop wave that also included Debbie Gibson and Tiffany, to whom she was compared. The studio pressured her to lose weight, giving her an eating disorder. It also seems there was no one really concerned with her as a person, since she would go to the studio after school and stay up until all hours, drinking and smoking pot. Her second album, Now Is the Time, was released only in Canada and was more ballad-focused but still not who Morissette was musically.

I don’t remember the exact day, but it was 1995. My older sister and a friend had come to pick me up in Port Angeles, Washington, and drive me down to Tacoma, and as we crossed the Narrows Bridge, out of Gig Harbor, “You Oughta Know” played on the radio. “Do you know who this is?” my sister asked. “She used to be on You Can’t Do That on Television.” But even for people who hadn’t watched the show, her album resonated. Those of us who had just got to feel smug before hipsters came along.

She’s closer to my sister’s age than mine, about three months older than she is. But that’s not much older than I am, either. And I still like her music—I still listen to the songs from Jagged Little Pill, to which I bought the sheet music in college. I was delighted with her turn as God in Dogma. I’m glad her career continues despite an industry that isn’t kind to women as they age. But, yes, there’s still a part of me that remembers her stomping on Alasdair’s foot or sitting in a booth or popping out of a locker.