10 Hated '90s Rock Songs That Are Actually Really Good

Let’s get it out of the way: yes, some of the examples of irony cited by Ms Morissette in the song “Ironic” are not, strictly speaking, ironic. An excess of spoons and no knife - not ironic; a fly in a glass of wine - not ironic.

This aside, “Ironic” remains one of the great rock singles of the 1990s and is the key song from a major selling album that catapulted Morissette to superstardom, for good reason. Few songs are so instantly lyrically memorable. Even if the dictionary might disagree with some of what’s said, there’s not a wasted word.

The production, as with all of Jagged Little Pill, is pitch perfect, finding the ideal middle ground between Morissette’s Canadian pop star past and the rising tide of alternative rock in the early ‘90s. The song works precisely because it never tries to be cool - it’s knowingly twee, but with enough pumping rock in the chorus to keep everyone happy.

Plenty of songs have dumb lyrics, but few have ever been pilloried like those in “Ironic”. If you’re able to get past a little linguistic mishap, the track remains great.