The 50 Best Pop Singles Of 1995 (Featuring New Interviews With Alanis Morissette, Garbage, Kylie Minogue, Monica, Ace Of Base & More!)

1. ALANIS MORISSETTE, “YOU OUGHTA KNOW” (Interview)

What can be expressed about “You Oughta Know” that hasn’t already been covered in the oral histories, the feminist roundtables, the glowing retrospectives? How about its impact on the car ride. In 1995, the car radio fueled epic struggles, particularly among siblings. It was always a battle between the boy’s music — Nirvana, Beastie Boys, R.E.M. — and the stuff his sisters liked — TLC, Mariah Carey, No Doubt. As antiquated as these sentiments sound in the year 2015, that’s how delineated and conditioned music listening was 20 years ago. “You Oughta Know” blew that up. It was the first song brothers and sisters of the ’90s agreed on.

“For me and everyone around me, it was such a no brainer to have [‘You Oughta Know’] be the start,” Morissette tells Idolator. “The expectations were really low. I remember the record company saying to me, ‘We may sell 100,000 copies of this record.’ And I remember telling them ‘Please don’t tell me that again, that’s too daunting. The bar is too high!’ I definitely loved the record so much, but there was no way for me to see what was to come.”

All the reasons that this concoction of feminist post-grunge shouldn’t have worked were the same reasons it did work. There was this striking female voice showing up in a sea of growly butt-rock. There was the racy “go down on you” line, years before the Clinton scandal would normalize BJ talk. There was the fact that two bona fide ’90s rock gods, Flea and Dave Navarro, were added to the track and were by far the least remarkable thing about the song, outshined by this commanding and fiery and honest newcomer at the center. And, of course, there was the song’s so-called “angry woman” narrative, which instantly pigeonholed Morissette.

“I was one-dimensionalized and perceived for a moment as singularly angry. And I thought, ‘Hey, in a patriarchal world, I can think of worse things to be perceived as.’ It was an egregiously incomplete perception, but I took it at the time.”

“You Oughta Know” didn’t invent feminist pop, but it proved feminist pop could break through the patriarchy on a mass scale without the aid of sexualization. And Morissette achieved this universal appeal by using the most personal and microscopic of relationship details to illustrate a perspective that those kids in the backseats weren’t used to singing along to. This wasn’t a heartbreak song; this wasn’t a breakup ballad; this wasn’t about yearning for a lost love; it was a shameless, warts-and-all scolding with no interest in courting sympathy from listeners.

“I thought it would be terrifying to be so transparent and autobiographical in my music. But the opposite wound up being the case,” she explains about the song’s content. “I felt like it was such a combination of devastation combined with the power that comes from admitting how angry I was. I was so transparent about that, I didn’t have to put on any false presentations in the public eye, so it was actually kind of relaxing.”

This confessional style is now the default stance for current superstars like Taylor Swift and Drake. But “You Oughta Know” was more than just a great song that served as a template for future generations of pop stars. It’s a timeless classic because it tapped into so many new cultural pivot points simultaneously, even though the industry, and the people who grew up under the song’s ubiquity didn’t realize it at the time. The monogenre, self-exposure, rebranding, empowerment, feminism: the DNA of “You Oughta Know” is the DNA of modern pop. And that’s why it’s the best single of 1995. — CARL WILLIOTT

Alanis Morrissette’s Jagged Little Pill was recently re-released in a four-disc, anniversary Collector’s Edition.

What are some of your own favorite songs from the year 1995? Let us know below!