Alanis Morissette Trivia Quiz

Answer: You Can't Do That on Television

Before Alanis was selling out stadiums, she was acting in the Nickelodeon show 'You Can't Do That on Television', where she appeared in five episodes, her first being entitled 'Pop Music'. Many participants on the show were covered in green slime if they said 'I don't know', and Alanis was no exception, though 'Pop Music' was the only episode with an Alanis sliming that got aired. 'You Can't Do That on Television' has launched the careers of many a Canadian star, from voice actor Adam Reid to TV producer Bill Prady.

Answer: True

Alanis' parents are Alan and Georgia Morrisette. Following the Roman tradition of naming daughters after their fathers, 'Alanis' is a feminised version of her father's name. The members of Radiohead jokingly nicknamed her 'Alan Morris'. When asked by a fan in a Q&A if she had ever met another Alanis, Alanis said that she had met several babies called Alanis, but her parents also knew of a Canadian Abenaki filmmaker called Alanis Obomsawin, who had made several documentaries about the lives of indigenous Canadians.

Answer: 16

Yes, Alanis was only sixteen when she released her first album, though it was only available in Canada at the time. The image of a young overly made-up Alanis with big hair on the cover is at odds with the grungier image she later chose to present; Alanis also developed eating disorders as a result of being pressurised into losing weight by MCA, her then record company.

The previous year, she had appeared on 'Star Search' after multiple auditions.

Answer: My Humps

Alanis' version of 'My Humps' is very different to the Black Eyed Peas' version, to say the least. She turned it into a mournful piano ballad, complete with a parody video with her copying Fergie's dance moves. Luckily, Fergie saw the funny side of it and sent Alanis a cake shaped like a pair of buttocks. Alanis also hosted the video on her website and 'TIME magazine claimed that it was proof that she did understand irony, 'Ironic' often being accused of featuring situations which were not actually ironic. On the flipside, Rolf Harris covered 'Hand in My Pocket' (or 'One Hand in My Pocket', as he called it) for his covers album 'Can You Tell What It Is Yet?'

Answer: Glen Ballard

Alanis wrote the lyrics for the songs on 'Jagged Little Pill', but co-wrote the music with Ballard. Ballard also played guitar and keyboards on multiple tracks. Besides Alanis, Ballard has worked multiple times with Michael Jackson, producing 'Thriller', 'Bad' and 'Dangerous', and co-writing 'Man in the Mirror' with Siedah Garrett.

He won a Grammy Award in 2006 for 'Believe', sung by Josh Groban, which appeared on the soundtrack of 'The Polar Express'. (Karen Poole, incidentally, was in Alisha's Attic with her sister Shelly at the time 'Jagged Little Pill' came out, though she would later go on to write songs for other musicians.)

Answer: Alanis appears naked

In the video for 'Thank U', Alanis is wandering around various places in Los Angeles singing the song, such as a supermarket and a subway car, while people embrace her. And yes, she is actually naked in the video, with her hair covering her breasts and some strategically-placed blurring to get it past the censors, although further editing was required for certain markets before the video could be aired.

The video was filmed on a closed set. Alanis said that she had the idea for the video in the shower and that she liked the idea of being naked in environments where a person might need protection.

Answer: True

The jukebox musical is a type of musical based on the songs of a certain musician. The Spice Girls had 'Viva Forever', ABBA had 'Mamma Mia', Queen had 'We Will Rock You', and Alanis had 'Jagged Little Pill', a musical that premiered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 2018. Diablo Cody of 'Jennifer's Body' fame wrote the book.

The musical features songs from both 'Jagged Little Pill' and other albums, and is about a woman called Mary Jane, aka MJ, who is recovering from a car crash and addicted to painkillers. Steve, MJ's husband is addicted to porn; Frankie, her daughter, is a young lesbian who writes a short story full of things that her classmates claim are not ironic, just unfortunate (sound familiar), and Nick, her son, is at Harvard University.

The overall theme of the musical is healing and empowerment.

Answer: Havoc and Bright Lights

'Havoc and Bright Lights' was the first album to be released by Alanis on the Collective Sounds label. She co-wrote the music with producer Guy Sigsworth, who had previously announced that he was working with 'a certain amazing Canadian lady'. Three singles were released from the album: 'Guardian', 'Lens' and 'Receive'. One of the bonus edition's extra tracks, 'Magical Child', was recorded for 'Every Mother Counts', an album of songs about motherhood and a soundtrack to Christy Turlington's documentary 'No Woman, No Cry', released via coffee chain Starbucks. (The clarification regarding the number of albums Alanis has released is because her first two albums were only released in Canada, whereas everything from 'Jagged Little Pill' onwards was released worldwide.)

Answer: Your House

'Your House', which follows on from 'You Oughta Know' (which, incidentally, features Red Hot Chilli Peppers Dave Navarro and Flea on guitar and bass respectively) is entirely a cappella and only appears on the CD version of 'Jagged Little Pill'. Arguably, 'Your House' is more of a bonus track than a hidden track, as it comes straight after 'You Oughta Know', as opposed to the listener having to wait several minutes (such as 'Gyda Gwen' on Catatonia's 'Way Beyond Blue', which kicks in after six minutes of silence following the title track).

However, it not being mentioned on the tracklisting would still qualify it as a hidden track.

Answer: God

'Dogma', which attracted heavy criticism from various church officials (despite Smith being a Catholic himself), had a star-studded cast including Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Jason Lee, George Carlin, Alan Rickman, Salma Hayek, Chris Rock, and Alanis, who shows up near the end and makes Bartleby (Ben Affleck)'s head explode with an ear-shattering scream.

Although the film's heroine Bethany (Linda Fiorentino), an abortion clinic worker who turns out to be a descendant of Jesus, dies in order to summon God, God resurrects her and makes her pregnant. Alanis does not have any speaking lines herself.