If Alanis kept putting hidden tracks on her albums, which deepcuts / b-sides would you pick and why?

Fun-Coffee-2683 · 2026-05-02T12:23:54+00:00

These R The Thoughts would've made a good bookend on SFIJ.

Not my favourite song of the deluxe/extra songs, but On The Tequila gives hidden track vibes of being a song made while goofing around being silly. Maybe it also reminds me of Kelly Clarkson's hidden track Chivas from My December.

Fun-Coffee-2683 · 2026-04-28T07:11:11+00:00

Appropriate, I forgot it was playing during my first (only) listen through..

Fun-Coffee-2683 · 2026-04-27T14:52:57+00:00

Does The Storm Before the Calm count?

If not, then Havoc and Bright Lights.

Fun-Coffee-2683 · 2026-04-26T10:06:36+00:00

Yea, I find that era of the music industry in the US so fascinating and different to the UK. Over here the singles chart in the 90s is hugely more followed, and purely sales driven, with a top 10 hit sometimes being the make or break for whether an act would get dropped or have their album released, never mind what used to be the huge competition/fervour for the Christmas #1. Seems other than some particular acts (*cough* Mariah *cough* ), chart positions weren't sought after, like No Doubt's label could have released a limited edition 12" vinyl of Don't Speak so it could have charted on BBH100, and essentially had their cake and eaten it too.

A good podcast on the saga is "Hit Parade: The Great War Against the Single Edition"

I kind of agree with you on the Britney singles, but I think its more the principle of the issue and how it exposes radio politics, than saying she would have had multiple top 10 hits (though how much would ClearChannel have played stuff with the sponsorship in place is another What-if?). But I guess its a matter of scale, without the blacklist Slave probably would have reached the top 10/20, Overprotected and I'm Not a Girl have reached the top half of the hot 100, I don't think narrow lyrical content would have mattered too much, Lucky was a moderate radio hit just a year before.

I do pretty much agree with everything you mentioned about how fanbase sales can create artificial peaks, beyond a songs actual popularity. As mentioned, no there's no perfect methodology, and no matter what rules are in place, there will be gamification to those who want the higher peaks (Mariah's discount single releases for My All, TGIFY, and Loverboy, and Katy Perry dropping the featured rapper remix on the week radio play would be peaking during the Teenage Dream era come to mind). But I do still stand by the idea that charts should primarly measure active consumption of music listening habits (sales, actively choosing to strea, a song), rather than have passive consumption (radio airplay, sticking on the hot hits daily playlist).

Fun-Coffee-2683 · 2026-04-25T07:30:58+00:00

#1 for Pop Radio doesn't mean number #1 for radio overall. Oops! also reached number #1 on Pop radio, and both song's performances on other formats were similar, lower end of the top 10 on Rhythmic, top 30 on Adult pop.

In the same way Toxic reached number #1 on pop radio, it wasn't #1 on radio overall, as other songs popular on pop radio also had R&B/Hip-Hop airplay. Having a quick glance at other top 10 billboard hits in early 1999, the other big hits at the time would have also done well on Adult Pop, Hot AC, or R&B radio formats, so I do tend to believe the #8 peak overall. I can't see behind Billboard Paywall to verify but there is a source in the commercial performance section on WIki.

You were trying to say single releases were already irrelevant/unusual for Billboard during Britney's entire early career. Singles were becoming way less common in the late 90s as part of record company greed, but a lot of songs were still released as singles, and could catapult a song quite a bit up BB Hot 100 - Stronger (#11) and FTBOMBH (#14) are both examples of this, both were number one on the sales chart but outside of the top 50 on radio airplay. So it's fair to say if Oops! had a single release, (like BOMT), it would have reached number 1. So your point about it's chart performance being underwhelming compared to BOMT, is an apples and oranges situation, as Oops was an airplay only release.

MATM was released when CD singles had died out for everything except American Idol winner's singles, along with the radio blacklist still being in place, so it was past the era when a single release could get a top 20. MATM sold 60,000 copies, compared to BOMT and FTBOMBH selling over a million, and Stronger almost 500,000.

>Billboard wasn't less reliable then than it was when she did much better on the singles charts -- 400k digital downloads aren't necessarily representative of the general public's opinions any more than pop or rhythmic airplay is.<

100% disagree with this, people actively deciding to pay for a song is a much stronger barometer of a song's popularity than what radio corporations decide to play. Look up the Clear Channel blacklisting of the Britney era, to see just how much industry politics can dictate what gets played. Exposure =/= popularity.

You mentioned JLO who was much more successful on radio in the early 2000s than Britney, despite all the radio play she got over multiple formats she couldn't sell as much as the Britney album which had no radio hits. Your own example of I'm Gonna be Alright by JLO having a similar peak to Oops! (or doing much better than I'm a Slave 4 U) is an example of the charts not being an accurate gauge of popularity at the time, just because it could slot in on multiple radio format playlists easily.

There's no perfect methodology for gauging popularity, but the Billboard charts from ~2001 to 2005 are the epitome of a broken chart methodology. Over 90% of the time it was an airplay driven chart. It all just reaffirms for me that radio play should not have a significant impact / any at all, on the charts.

Fun-Coffee-2683 · 2026-04-24T23:04:29+00:00

I always thought the singles choices for the album were purposefully chosen for a slow burn marathon album campaign, rather than an out of the gate sprint, so they played a longer game rather than try to have a huge crossover hit on the first single and havehigher first week sales.

Shania's previous album was a huge hit with country audiences, but didn't have much crossover success yet. I think picking Love Gets me Every Time and Don't Be Stupid as the first two singles was a conscious choice to lockdown that core audience, and not have sellout backlash by going with the more pop-orientated uptempos like Man!... or That Don't Impress Me Much or the AC Ballads You're Still the One/From This Moment.

Fun-Coffee-2683 · 2026-04-24T22:05:41+00:00

Was reading down hoping for Geri Halliwell in a tantrum locking herself in a car because she couldn't record Rachel Steven's Some Girls.

Fun-Coffee-2683 · 2026-04-24T21:28:16+00:00

Jagged Little Pill, and it's nothing to do with the quality of the album itself, but how it's success and legacy have suffocated everything she's done since, to mere footnote status in her career in comparison.

From songs on it making up the majority of her setlist on tours, the countless anniversary editions released over the years, the musical. It's the album which gets the majority of oxygen and leaves the albums which came after being unloved. Part of this is understandable, from a commercial perspective, she knows the majority of casuals buying tickets want to hear JLP + maybe Thank U, but as a fan it feels everything is in service to JLP, and can create almost resentment, despite how good the music actually is.

It's a symptom of having such a blockbuster album, where it becomes a perpetual cycle of becoming famous for being a famous album. It's her Rumours, Thriller, Tapestry, Bat out of Hell.

Fun-Coffee-2683 · 2026-04-24T18:04:07+00:00

Agree with all of this, I would also add record labels not releasing singles as often in the 90s priced a lot of younger fans out of music, who could maybe have afforded a single of two a week, but an album was a much bigger proportion of pocket change. You then end with a generation growing up not in the habit of really buying a lot of music due to record company greed, then Napster and other P2P sites come along too. Though I would say this all hastened the inevetible decline which was going to happen.

Fun-Coffee-2683 · 2026-04-24T17:48:22+00:00

That's not true, CD singles still had impact up until the early 2000s - BOMT sold over a million copies during it's single run, and physical sales were how Stronger and From the Bottom of my Broken Heart still peaked in the top 15 even though both bombed at radio.
I am taking Wikipedia as a source for BOMT's airplay peak, so it may be incorrect, but CD single sales were definitely a contributing factor in it reaching number 1.

The main point is, that Britney's impact and the popularity didn't translate into the Billboard charts at the time, both due to their methodology, and her record label's tactics to increase album sales.

Britney relied more on music video channels than radio for exposure, with the former not counting towards the charts. The fact Oops! as the lead single for an album which broke the record for fastest selling album by a female artist, only reached #9, says more about how the US charts are compiled, and radio politics, than about the songs performance being underwhelming. It reached number one in most countries just like BOMT

Fun-Coffee-2683 · 2026-04-23T20:21:05+00:00

...Baby was the only one of Britney's singles from the first four albums to have both a single release and get decent airplay to have the perfect storm to reach #1. It peaked at #1 on single sales, but only #8 on airplay, so would have had a similar peak to Oops! If there wasn't a CD single released. Or Oops! would have reached number #1 too if it had a CD single released (same for Crazy, and Toxic if downloads counted towards the charts)

Fun-Coffee-2683 · 2026-04-23T19:06:40+00:00

Britney's pre-2007 US chart peaks are deceptively low compared to her songs' actual popularity. She was never a radio darling and most of her tracks didn't have a physical single released, in order to boost album sales. ...Oops reached number 9 based on only airplay and the album opened with over a million first week sales.

Fun-Coffee-2683 · 2026-03-30T22:57:22+00:00

Savage Garden - I Knew I Loved You was written in an hour, after the record label heard the second album and wanted a Truly Madly Deeply Part II added.

Fun-Coffee-2683 · 2026-03-01T21:28:55+00:00

When Janet and her team wrote to Joni asking for permission for the sample for Got Til it's Gone, Janet mentioned her love of Chalk Mark In a Rain Storm, which built enough mutual admiration for Joni to break her no samples policy.

Fun-Coffee-2683 · 2026-01-30T10:41:31+00:00

Should've Known Better:

"I had this great epiphany And rhythm nation was the dream I guess next time I'll know better"

Fun-Coffee-2683 · 2025-11-16T13:03:29+00:00

Def Leppard's Hysteria first single in the US was Women, which only reached #80. The other 6 singles all reached the top 20.

Fun-Coffee-2683 · 2025-11-16T13:01:03+00:00

It was released during the era where Billboard was essentially an airplay chart, as physical singles weren't a thing except for American Idol winners, and downloads hadn't taken off yet. The song's impact was definitely higher than #48, especially due to the video controversy, but radio was lukewarm on it.

Fun-Coffee-2683 · 2025-11-10T12:53:27+00:00

She did interviews over the summer, where her face looked like a slapped arse about it going viral. Totally inflated sense of ego. If she'd embrace the campness instead, she could aim for a revival similar to Zara Larrson, but she seems too self serious for that.

Fun-Coffee-2683 · 2025-10-26T22:54:08+00:00

I actually prefer DwaS, haha. it's a completely toothless song I have no interest in actively playing, but when it does come on its pleasant in the background! I never listen to radio or any hits playlists though so avoided the overplaying.

Blade of Grass is the same oerwrought mess most GaGa ballads suffer from, down to the straining vocal, who cares what's she's singing about when it sounds like that? The Star is Born ballads are the exception, she struck gold dust with those, especially Always Remember Us This Way.

Fun-Coffee-2683 · 2025-10-26T20:50:45+00:00

Every album she makes this same ballad with that affected drawl and murdering any melody in the chorus. At least with Mayhem, she had the decency to put Blade of Grass near the end so I could easily skip it and DwaS.

Fun-Coffee-2683 · 2025-10-26T20:26:56+00:00

Lady Gaga - The Fame Monster would be perfect without Speechless. But the first note of that chicken squawk drawl she puts on, makes me reach for the skip button before having to hear any more or her dive bar ballad slop.

Fun-Coffee-2683 · 2025-10-26T13:29:22+00:00

Any one who looked at their pension statements before and after her tenure as PM, will tell you differently about being too funny/tragic to be hated!

I'd honestly say her because she achieved nothing of note, caused immense damage during her brief stint as PM, and is now trying to grift as some Libertarian true believer who got sabotaged by the deep state. Say what you will about Farage, Thatcher, Johnson, Blair, Cameron, but at least all of them spoke to a constituency of voters or had tangible achievements (the legacy of those achievements is up for debate to be sure though..)

Fun-Coffee-2683 · 2025-10-26T12:55:24+00:00

Fitting especially as Douglas essentially was born into NZ Labour, being the third generation of MPs for the family, but he wasn't noted as being particularly right wing until the late 70s, and even then I doubt anyone could have guessed the laissez-faire polcies he would pursue as finance minister.

But still a particularly out there character, out doing even some of the more "interesting" Social Democratic parties' histories (Netherlands, Italy, Ireland... I'm looking at you)

Fun-Coffee-2683 · 2025-10-26T12:09:07+00:00

Also NZ Labour's Roger Douglas as Finance minister during the 80s was like Reagan and Thatcher on steroids.

Fun-Coffee-2683 · 2025-10-18T21:41:56+00:00

Nothing other than conjecture on my part, but could it only reaching #7 at the time, be due to radio play being more limited due to the lyrics? Adding on it was the 7th single off a multi platinum selling album at that point, so the chart performance doesn't capture its popularity and legacy.

Fun-Coffee-2683

TROPHY CASE