Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie

Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie
Studio album by Alanis Morissette
Released	November 3, 1998 (U.S.)
Recorded	Royaltone Studios, Los Angeles
Genre	Post-grunge, alternative rock, pop rock
Length	71:50
Label	Maverick, Reprise
Producer	Glen Ballard, Alanis Morissette
Alanis Morissette chronology
Space Cakes (1995) Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie (1998) Alanis Unplugged (1999)
Singles from Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie
"Thank U" Released: October 13, 1998 "Joining You" Released: January 3, 1999 "Unsent" Released: March 18, 1999 "So Pure" Released: June 14, 1999

Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie is the fourth album and second internationally released album by singer-songwriter Alanis Morissette, released by Maverick Records in the United States on November 3, 1998. The album moves to a more post-grunge style than her previous album, which was more pop rock oriented.

Background

After the massive success of Jagged Little Pill (1995), Morissette was considered one of the biggest music stars in the world, and many fans anxiously awaited a follow-up album. A dark and wandering album, the mystery of Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie began on its cover, with an image of Alanis's mouth while laughing and the following text printed over that image that refers to The Eight Precepts of Buddhism.

“

We ask you to abide by the following moral code upon the premises. Please refrain from killing stealing lying sexual misconduct taking intoxicants playing music, singing please dress respectfully.

”

Morissette wrote "Thank U" and "Baba" after her trip to India. The protagonist of "Baba" goes on a spiritual pilgrimage to India where she encounters a guru who, like many spiritual teachers in India, is referred to as "Baba". The word "Baba" means "father" in the Hindi language. Morissette opened most of shows during the Junkie era with the song, and it was featured as an opener during her 2002 tours. It has been seldom played since then. "Baba" opened Morissette's performance on the television show MTV Unplugged in 1999, but it was excluded from the CD release Alanis Unplugged. Another live version of "Baba" was released on the No Boundaries: A Benefit for the Kosovar Refugees CD.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic
Robert Christgau	A−
Entertainment Weekly	B+
Rolling Stone
Slant

Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie received positive reviews from music critics. Stephen Thomas Erlewine from Allmusic awarded the album four stars. He labeled the album a "clear step forward". But they had concluded saying "Morissette is a weird acquired taste, due to her idiosyncratic vocals and doggedly convoluted confessionals -- but it certainly confirms that she doesn't quite sound like anyone else, either." Robert Christgau gave the album an A-. He said about Morissette, "Morissette blows up to such a scale" and concluded "Here's hoping lots of young men feel the same.". Ken Tucker from Entertainment Weekly gave it B+, complimenting the new style. He said "I'd counter that Morissette has used her year-plus recording hiatus and newfound star status wisely, in pursuit of a way to make a vulnerable, openhearted album in the face of intense commercial expectations". He also compared some of the tracks to her previous Jagged Little Pill. Sal Cinquemani from Slant Magazine gave it a very positive review from Morissette's career, awarding it four-and-a-half stars out of five. He complimented Morissette's emotions and writing in the album, but also said "The album is nearly 15 minutes too long (did an ode to her mother, the sweet "Heart Of The House," really need to be made public?), but not one moment of Junkie's 70-plus minutes is less than captivating."

Commercial response

Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie had a lot of publicity throughout Morisette's career. The album topped the charts worldwide as well. It debuted at number one on the New Zealand Albums Chart, Morissette's second consecutive number one album, and was certificated 2X Platinum by RIANZ, selling over 30,000 copies. The album also debuted at number one in Switzerland, and stayed in the charts for thirty-one weeks. It was certificated Platinum in that country. The album debuted at number nine in Norway, but fell out, until it re-entered at number one, staying there for three weeks. It was certificated platinum there as well. It also peaked in the top ten in many countries, including the United Kingdom, Australia, United States, France, Sweden and other European countries.

"Thank U" received a Grammy Award nomination for "Best Female Pop Vocal Performance", and "So Pure" was nominated in the category of "Best Female Rock Vocal Performance". The album itself won a Juno Award for "Album of the Year".

Singles

The first single from Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie, "Thank U", was released to U.S. radio in October 1998. It charted considerably high in initial airplay because of the anticipation for the album, but many critics and listeners who had pigeonholed Morissette as an angry woman were surprised by the song's calm and serene feel. Released in November, the album debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200 with the highest first-week sales for a female artist at the time, selling 469,054 copies in its first seven days. She held this record for two years, until being outsold in first week sales by Britney Spears' Oops!...I Did It Again which sold 1.3 million copies in 2000. It held the number-one spot for an additional week, before falling to eighth place in what is generally a busy shopping period because of the holiday season. Over the next few weeks sales for the album slowly declined, and then faltered drastically. After 28 weeks, the album had fallen off the Billboard 200, and as of September 2008 it had sold 2.6 million copies in the U.S., less than a fifth in sales of that of Jagged Little Pill.

Though not an official single release in the US, "Joining You" became a modest hit on the Modern Rock Tracks chart; it was released as the album's second single in the UK and Europe. "Unsent", the second US single, peaked outside the top 40 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. The third single "So Pure" made the top 40 in the UK as well as certain airplay charts in the US, though not the Billboard Hot 100. None of the singles revived significant interest in the album.

Promotion

Like with the previous album, Morissette did an extensive amount of touring in support for this record. In the fall of 1998, she embarked on a club tour across North America with select appearances in Europe, Asia, and Australia. The North American leg of the tour included opening act Chris Whitley.

Guitarist, Nick Lashley and bassist, Chris Chaney remained for this album's touring from the previous years, although there were several new band members. The band now incorporated a keyboardist, Deron Johnson, and welcomed guitarist, Joel Shearer (from the Jagged Little Pill recording sessions) and drummer, Gary Novack. Morissette herself continued playing guitar (however moreso than previous tours), and harmonica. She also started playing the flute in concerts, during the song "That I Would Be Good".

In January 1999, "The Junkie Tour" kicked off, and lasted through July, then returned in October up until the end of December. Opening acts included Garbage and Liz Phair, among others. The worldwide tour had alternating setlists for every leg, but included the usual set openers and closers. The concert introduction music was a track from DJ Shadow, entitled "Building Steam with a Grain of Salt".

During the tour, Morissette wrote the song "Still" for the Kevin Smith film, Dogma. This song was performed live for the first time in July at Morissette's VH1 Storytellers special. After that special, she performed in front of thousands during 1999's Woodstock concert festival in New York. Unlike the previous tours, Morissette focused mainly on performing songs that had been released and didn't perform any new songs - aside from a couple B-sides during the second half of the year.

In May, Morissette and Tori Amos announced the "5¹⁄₂ Week Tour" which filled the touring void in August and September before "The Junkie Tour" re-commenced. The tour would be a joint venture, as they both co-headlined the bills. Toward the end of the tour, Morissette recorded her MTV Unplugged concert special. During the final weeks of "The Junkie Tour", keyboardist Deron Johnson had left the band and was replaced - and Gary Novack took a temporary leave and was replaced as well.

Morissette announced a summer tour in 2000 called "The One Tour" which kicked off with two dates in North America, before continuing in places she had never toured (or rarely toured) before across Europe and parts of Asia. In each city, she selected an ambassador through a website contest on "Z.com", to show her around and teach her the culture. It was after this tour that Morissette kicked off MSN and DirecTV's concert series, Music in High Places where she performed acoustic in the Navajo Nation in Arizona, and also learned the cultures, practices, traditions and songs from the natives in the area. This was Morissette's final performance and release that tied into promotion for Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie before she started writing her follow-up, Under Rug Swept.

Track listing

All lyrics written by Alanis Morissette, all music composed by Alanis Morissette and Glen Ballard, except where noted.

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Front Row"	4:13
2.	"Baba"	4:29
3.	"Thank U"	4:18
4.	"Are You Still Mad"	4:04
5.	"Sympathetic Character"	5:13
6.	"That I Would Be Good"	4:16
7.	"The Couch"	5:24
8.	"Can't Not"	4:35
9.	"UR"	3:31
10.	"I Was Hoping"	3:51
11.	"One"	4:40
12.	"Would Not Come"	4:05
13.	"Unsent"	4:10
14.	"So Pure"	2:50
15.	"Joining You"	4:24
16.	"Heart of the House"	3:46
17.	"Your Congratulations"	3:54

Bonus track on Australian, Japanese and New Zealand issues
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
18.	"Uninvited" (demo)	Morissette	3:02

Unreleased songs

B-sides and unreleases

There had been many songs performed live during the tour in support of Jagged Little Pill, and during festivals in between albums that did not appear on the album. It was never specified if those songs were supposed to be included or not, but one of the songs did make its way through, "Can't Not". This version of "Can't Not", however, was slightly more mellow - and differed from the demo version previewed on the home video, Jagged Little Pill, Live. The song "King of Intimidation" (also previewed on the video) was never released on any album, but appeared in a live clip along with the original "Can't Not" live clip on 2005's The Collection DVD.

"No Pressure Over Cappuccino" was another song that popped up from the previous tours, but not until 1999's live album, Alanis Unplugged. This song was previewed on the above mentioned video, but only in acoustic form. That version is mistakenly believed to be a studio demo, but it is merely an acoustic version performed with the band. The final song previewed on Jagged Little Pill, Live is "Death of Cinderella", which has never been released. Other songs include "Gorgeous", "London", "Pray for Peace" (a.k.a. "She Gave Me a Wink"), and two untitled songs that fans refer to as "The Weekend Song" (or "I Don't Know") and "A Year Like This One". "London" appeared as a B-side to the "Joining You" and "Unsent" singles.

Aside from the songs written and performed during concerts 1995–1997, there were songs specifically written for Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie. "Pollyanna Flower" was released as a B-side to "Thank U", while "These Are The Thoughts" appeared on the single to "Joining You" (and later on Alanis Unplugged). "Can't Not" was originally intended to be a B-side, but Morissette and Ballard decided to put it on the record. Another song left off the album was "Princes Familiar", whose studio version has yet to surface. It has only been released in live, acoustic form on both Alanis Unplugged and The Collection.

Demo versions

Over the past several years, demos of songs have leaked online. These demos include:

1. "Thank U" (with additional verses and lyrics, as well as a more upbeat drum track).
2. "Unsent" (not available in high quality, but features 2 extra verses, and different names).
3. "That I Would Be Good" (including Morissette clearing her throat in the beginning and a slightly longer flute solo).
4. "Can't Not" (30 second clip)
5. "Uninvited" (just vocals and piano, officially released on the "Thank U" single).

Personnel

• Glen Ballard – synthesizer, guitar, piano, programming, producer, engineer, string arrangements
• Benmont Tench – organ, chamberlin
• David Campbell – string arrangements
• Scott Campbell – engineer
• Gary Novak – percussion, drums
• Alanis Morissette – flute, harmonica, piano, vocals, producer, photography
• Joel Shearer – guitar
• Jolie Levine – production coordination
• Nick Lashley – guitar
• Chris Bellman – mastering
• Chris Fogel – programming, engineer, mixing
• Kevin Reagan – art direction, design
• Roger Sommers – engineer, second engineer
• Dash Mihok – photography, loop
• Regina Thomas – photography
• Chris Chaney – bass
• Stefan G. Bucher – design
• Shad T. Scott – programming
• Heather Stanley – photography

Charts and certifications

Chart (1998–9)	Peak position
Austrian Albums Chart	3
Australian Albums Chart	2
Belgian Albums Chart (Flanders)	5
Belgian Albums Chart (Wallonia)	15
Canadian Albums Chart	1
Dutch Albums Chart	2
Finnish Albums Chart	4
French Albums Chart	5
German Albums Chart	1
New Zealand Albums Chart	1
Norwegian Albums Chart	1
Swedish Albums Chart	2
Swiss Albums Charts	1
UK Albums Chart	3
U.S. Billboard 200	1

Certifications

Region	Certification	Sales/shipments
Australia (ARIA)	2× Platinum	140,000^
Austria (IFPI Austria)	Platinum	20,000x
Belgium (BEA)	Gold	25,000*
Brazil (ABPD)	Gold	100,000*
Canada (Music Canada)	4× Platinum	400,000^
Europe (IFPI)	2× Platinum	2,000,000*
Finland (IFPI Finland)	Gold	20,000
France (SNEP)	2× Platinum	600,000*
Germany (BVMI)	Platinum	500,000^
Netherlands (NVPI)	Platinum	100,000^
New Zealand (RIANZ)	2× Platinum	30,000^
Norway (IFPI Norway)	Platinum	50,000*
Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland)	Platinum	50,000x
United Kingdom (BPI)	Platinum	300,000^
United States (RIAA)	3× Platinum	3,000,000^
*sales figures based on certification alone ^shipments figures based on certification alone xunspecified figures based on certification alone

Notes

Preceded by Vol. 2... Hard Knock Life by Jay-Z

Billboard 200 number-one album November 21 – December 4, 1998

Succeeded by Double Live by Garth Brooks