"You Oughta Know" is about...
- Dave Coulier, who played Joey Gladstone on Full House. He started dating Alanis in 1992, when the two met at a hockey game. Coulier himself believes that the song is about him, claiming that the lyrics hit very close to home
.- I second Coulier. I mean come on, it's Joey here, and heck, he says it's about him. Case closed.
- Alanis has specifically disavowed this one, however, word is that her song "Hands Clean" is about her relationship with Coulier.
- Leslie Howe, the producer of Alanis' first two albums.
- Bob Saget, also of Full House. He denies having ever been in a relationship with Alanis, and agrees with the idea that "You Oughta Know" is about Coulier.
- Matt LeBlanc, who played Joey Tribbiani on Friends, and appeared in one of Alanis' early videos.
- All of her past exes. It's not about one man in particular, but about all men.
- Me.
Robin Scherbatsky is an Alternate Universe version of Alanis.
Both were Canadian teen idols in the early '90s. They both had over-the-top '80s fashion when they were famous (The '80s reached Canada late). Both have disowned their teen pop pasts and become a lot darker and snarkier since. Robin was in a relationship with a man who appeared in one of her music videos, and the man that inspired Alanis to write Jagged Little Pill was (according to rumor; see above) someone who appeared in one of her videos. Robin is basically Alanis if she didn't continue making music.
- This is verified by the commentary on How I Met Your Mother, when the writers say they were thinking about bringing Alanis on for the Robin Sparkles episode and having them be a pop duo together in Canada, but it never worked out.
- Confirmed once and for all in season 8 when it was revealed that Robin went through an angsty stage and remade herself as Robin Daggers, a full-on parody of Jagged Little Pill-era Morissette. Unlike with Morissette, this appeared to have been a Creator Killer for Robin.
Isn't It Ironic? IS actually ironic.
The lyrics are decidedly not ironic, even though the song suggests that they are. This was her goal all along: ironically, the song that is so often called out for not being ironic when it is supposed to be ironic is ironic simply because the song is a failed attempt at irony. After all, Isn't It Ironic? that "rain on your wedding day" isn't ironic even though she claims it is? Well played, Alanis Morissette.