Urban Arson

Jagged Little Pill by Alanis Morissette

In order to understand why this album is so important to me you have to know a bit about my upbringing. I grew up in my father’s very strict Christian household and wasn’t allowed to listen to anything but Christian music. I had a little AM/FM radio and listened to the pop station (96.7 KHFI for all you Austin cats) in bed at night so I could appear to be in the “know” with my elementary school friends. It was ridiculous.

Its 1995 and I’m 10 years old. My maternal grandmother, is dying a slow death from cancer in her Houston apartment. I was her first grandchild, we shared the same birthday and thus had a special bond. She had family from all over the world there to see her through the final days. She lay jaundiced and thin on the living room couch as we sat around her trying to make her as comfortable as possible, the disease slowly taking her away from us, away from me.

So it was at this sad and somber time that my mother and I were in a Barnes and Noble browsing through the music section. Out of the blue I spotted it. Jagged Little Pill, an album that none of my friends or cousins had. Its maroons, indigos and turquoises stared back at me tauntingly. I had to have it. I begged my mom to get it, she complied and this became my first of many cassette tapes. She also got me a tape player and a 24 pack of batteries at Sam’s Club and I was in business, I was in love. She was my first real “crush”, Alanis. For a long time after this I would see her face everywhere and in every woman I met. I used to think she was what Eve must have looked like. Whatever, don’t laugh too hard I was 10. An interesting sidebar, I was pleasantly surprised to see her cast as God in Kevin Smith’s Dogma. If Eve was the made in God’s image then she might have looked like God from Dogma. Thus my 10 year old theory had a bit of confirmation from someone else I greatly admired.

This album showed me how to feel in bad situations; that it was ok to be angry and let it show. It gave words to the inexplicable pain that was coming from my first big loss. After a while I moved over to some of her more optimistic songs, I’d sit in my room for hours listening to Side B “Head Over Feet” over and over again. To this day this song is in my Top 10 list. I don’t know why, call me a hopeless romantic or a girl or gay but this song is incredible. From the first time I heard it, love was all I wanted in life, it still is. I want someone to feel about me as I do about them. Love is all you need to quote the prophet John Lennon.

Every song on this album is killer. They’re packed with angst and disappointment, contrasting loss with boundless happiness. I was talking with my friend about influential music and she said this was her first cassette too. I’ve met so many people who remember where and when they first got it. It’s just that striking.

30 Million copies worldwide and still counting. I know this was her third studio album but it was the first to be released internationally so it counts as an Incredible Debut.

Franz Ferdinand by Franz Ferdinand

Named after the Archduke of Austria who’s assassination sparked World War I, Franz Ferdinand popped on the scene rather unexpectedly. They’ve got a funky Alternative Rock sound which emulates a lot of the bands from the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s. The drums pop, the bass bumps, and the guitar licks are incredibly catchy. I could listen to them all day.

Sure some of their songs are about gay dudes dancing so sexy in the club, but if I let that get to me I’d have to take the whole of 80’s New Wave music and throw it in the garbage. Franz Ferdinand is an incredible debut. (Yes I’ll probably say that every time.)

Tidal by Fiona Apple

She came out of no where and brought a voice that was just as surprising. The writing is honest and deep, sprinkled with genius sized portions of metaphor and imagery, this album is beautifully crafted from beginning to end. 

I came to the Fiona Apple game late. I’d seen her in a couple of interviews and listened to her songs without putting much thought into their lyrics. The first time I heard all 10 tracks in a row from “Sleep to Dream” to “Carrion” something clicked, I suddenly got it. 1996 was in important year for music and this album was among the best. Its an incredible debut.

Incredible Debuts is a new article which highlights the debut presentations of artists. I’ll be covering the debuts of musicians, directors, writers, actors and producers.