girlofprey (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
girlofprey) wrote2021-03-03 07:56 pm
girlofprey) wrote2021-03-03 07:56 pm
Women's History Month - Day 3
Alanis Morissette
(tw: child abuse)
The other day I was reading a fic, and they quoted a line I recognised, and looking it up I realised it was from 'Hands Clean' by Alanis Morissette. It's a song I used to really like, assuming it was about a relationship Alanis had had with a younger man, and he sort of took advantage of her connections in the music industry and now doesn't talk to her. But reading the lyrics, I thought "hmm, that does sound like an abusive relationship though", so I looked them up again, and it turns out the song is actually, reportedly, about a relationship Alanis Morissette had with an older male music executive when she was 14 years old.
Years before Me Too, women were outright talking about being abused in entertainment industries, and we all just sort of bought it as a pop song.
Head Over Feet is the first song I ever heard and loved by Alanis Morissette - I heard it on the radio when I was a teenager, without knowing who sang it or what the song was, and ended up in an HMV trying to sing what I remembered of it to a shop assistant, in the hopes they could help me identify it. They couldn't, but luckily it was on the radio and around enough after that that I could eventually find it. The beginning could be argued as okaying sexual harassment ("I had no choice but to hear you/You stated your case time and again/I thought about it"), but I still think it's a really nice love song. And seen through the lens of Hands Clean and the experiences Alanis Morissette apparently had...I think it's even more touching.
Alanis Morissette is apparently still hanging out and creating music. She had a new album out just last year, and apparently played in London (presumably before the lockdown). I think I'm going to try to check out what she's doing now.
(tw: child abuse)
The other day I was reading a fic, and they quoted a line I recognised, and looking it up I realised it was from 'Hands Clean' by Alanis Morissette. It's a song I used to really like, assuming it was about a relationship Alanis had had with a younger man, and he sort of took advantage of her connections in the music industry and now doesn't talk to her. But reading the lyrics, I thought "hmm, that does sound like an abusive relationship though", so I looked them up again, and it turns out the song is actually, reportedly, about a relationship Alanis Morissette had with an older male music executive when she was 14 years old.
Years before Me Too, women were outright talking about being abused in entertainment industries, and we all just sort of bought it as a pop song.
Head Over Feet is the first song I ever heard and loved by Alanis Morissette - I heard it on the radio when I was a teenager, without knowing who sang it or what the song was, and ended up in an HMV trying to sing what I remembered of it to a shop assistant, in the hopes they could help me identify it. They couldn't, but luckily it was on the radio and around enough after that that I could eventually find it. The beginning could be argued as okaying sexual harassment ("I had no choice but to hear you/You stated your case time and again/I thought about it"), but I still think it's a really nice love song. And seen through the lens of Hands Clean and the experiences Alanis Morissette apparently had...I think it's even more touching.
Alanis Morissette is apparently still hanging out and creating music. She had a new album out just last year, and apparently played in London (presumably before the lockdown). I think I'm going to try to check out what she's doing now.