You Oughta Know

Morissette and Ballard wrote it, and Maverick released it in July 1995. She said she wrote it from her subconscious, going into the booth to sing when the ink was barely dry. The demo was recorded on 28 November 1994, with more vocals two days later. Rhythm recording with Chris Fogel began on 1 December, with Matt Laug on drums and Lance Morrison on bass. Benmont Tench added Hammond organ on 5 December. In early 1995 the producer Jimmy Boyle brought in Dave Navarro on guitar and Flea on bass. Navarro said there were no guide tracks, only the vocal to work from, and that they jammed until everyone was happy.

The album carries two mixes. Track 2 was mixed by Fogel, and the Jimmy the Saint Blend, mixed by Boyle, appears as a hidden track and was used in the original 1995 video. Nick Egan directed the video, which was filmed in Death Valley. In 2008 she said she had never talked about who her songs were about and would not.

The song went to number one on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart for five weeks, the longest run there by a woman to that date, and also reached number 7 on the Mainstream Top 40. In Canada it began as a modest hit and eventually peaked at number six, helped by a live version from the 1996 Grammy Awards that was issued with You Learn. It won the Grammys for Best Rock Song and Best Female Rock Vocal Performance and the Juno for Single of the Year.

Live

She performed it at the 1996 Grammy Awards. On 26 May 2010 she sang it as a duet with Crystal Bowersox on the American Idol season finale.