SONG DUEL!: “You Oughta Know” by Alanis Morissette vs. “You Oughta Know” by Das Racist
Two songs enter. One song leaves. Well, OK, both leave. It’s not like we erase all traces of the losing song from the Internet, but we determine once and for all which tune has the right to their strikingly similar titles. This is SONG DUEL!
In this corner: “You Oughta Know,” the song that inflicted Alanis Morissette on the world; proved that girls could make angsty, grungy alternative rock, too; and launched more speculation about Dave Coulier’s love life than any of us ever cared to hear.
You Oughta Know
Alanis Morissette | Myspace Music Videos
And in this corner: “You Oughta Know,” the standout track from the first of two mixtapes released last year by rap crew Das Racist, the pranksters behind the inanely repetitive opus “Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell.”
FIGHT!
Precedence: The first of the 33 million copies (!) of Jagged Little Pill sold worldwide hit store shelves in June 1995. Das Racist’s first mixtape, Shut Up, Dude, was released in March 2010. Ah, but it’s not so simple as that. Das Racist’s song is based heavily on a sample of Billy Joel’s 1977 hit “Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song).” Point: Das Racist.
Chart performance: It’s not even close. Alanis’ song was all over the radio in the summer of ’95, topping Billboard’s modern rock chart. Das Racist, meanwhile, released theirs as part of a free download. Point: Alanis.
Critical mass: Jagged Little Pill, of course, predates all of our modern review aggregation technology, but an acoustic, 10th-anniversary version of the album scored a paltry 40 on Metacritic. VH1, however, named the unwussified, original version of “You Oughta Know” No. 12 on its Best Songs of the ’90s list. Das Racist’s mixtapes, hailed as a much-needed breath of fresh (though inarguably marijuana-scented) air in hip hop, made a few year-end best-of lists and scored an impressive average of 8.25/10 from Pitchfork. Point: Das Racist.
Technique: I don’t know if you’ve noticed this, but Alanis isn’t that great of a singer. Her piercing voice works with this song, only because she’s throwing an anguished fit. Das Racists’ dual emcees, Himanshu Suri and San Francisco native Victor Vazquez, on the other hand, do some impressively bizarre rhyming, bending various pop culture references to their will. Point: Das Racist.
Bad-assity: As weird as it feels to say this, I think Alanis has the edge here. This song is as bad-ass as she’s ever been, and Flea and Dave Navarro provided her with a pretty raging chorus. “Movin’ Out,” meanwhile, was the basis for a Broadway musical. Frankly, if I were walking through a dark alley, I’d be more worried about running into the unhinged chick that Alanis presents than the Das Racist dudes, who’d just offer me a blunt. Point: Alanis.
Sexitude: Eek. Well, Alanis’ line about scratching her nails down someone else’s back is sort of sexy, in a “crazed stalker who probably hasn’t brushed her hair in five days” kind of way. Das Racist is going for more goofy than sexy, but dang it if it doesn’t have a smooth groove going on. Point: Das Racist.
Redeeming social value: One talks about blow jobs in public theaters. One preaches the virtues of marijuana cigarettes. Point: I’m calling this one a draw.
The victor, by a score of 4-2 … DAS RACIST!
