Great Grammy Moments: Alanis Morissette Shows There's A New Kind Of Diva

The 53rd Grammy Awards are upon us, and music's biggest, most prestigious awards show will feature a number of killer performances, appearances and potential acceptance speeches from the likes of Eminem, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Cee Lo Green, Muse, Arcade Fire, B.o.B, Justin Bieber, Lady Antebellum, Jay-Z and scores of others. In order to appreciate what's to come, every day the MTV Newsroom Blog will deliver a classic moment in the history of the Grammy Awards. Today's installment: Alanis Morissette tops Mariah Carey for some jagged little trophies.

When the nominations for the 38th Grammy Awards were announced, everybody assumed that Mariah Carey — who was nominated for six prizes, all surrounding her massive 1995 album Dadydream — would be the night's big winner. It made sense, as she had spent most of the previous year raking in both critical and commercial success, mostly due to the huge singles "Fantasy" and "One Sweet Day" (a collaboration with Boyz II Men that spent 16 weeks on top of the Billboard Hot 100, a record for the longest-running chart-topper that still stands).
However, when the night was over, Carey walked away empty-handed, while a totally new kind of diva ended up scoring four prizes. Alanis Morissette, the bile-filled Canadian rock singer who blew the doors off the pop music establishment with 1995's Jagged Little Pill, ended up winning four awards, including Album of the Year, Best Female Rock Vocal Performance, Best Rock Song and Best Rock Album. Her score for Album of the Year was particularly impressive, as at 21 years old she became the youngest person ever to win that award (though that record was broken when Taylor Swift won the same prize for Fearless in 2010).