"You Oughta Know" is a song by Canadian singer-songwriter Alanis Morissette, released as the lead single from her third studio album, Jagged Little Pill (1995), on July 6, 1995.

After releasing two studio albums, Morissette left MCA Records Canada and was introduced to manager Scott Welch.

"You Oughta Know" signaled Morissette's departure from bubblegum pop to alternative rock, and features guitarist Dave Navarro and bassist Flea of Red Hot Chili Peppers.

After the influential Los Angeles modern rock radio station KROQ-FM began playing it, the single reached the top ten in Canada, Australia and the United States.

It was a multiformat hit in several US genre charts, and made the top 40 in Belgium, Iceland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

[5] Her publisher funded part of her development and when she met producer and songwriter Glen Ballard, he believed in her talent enough to let her use his studio.

In early 1995, producer Jimmy Boyle recruited guitarist Dave Navarro and bassist Flea of Red Hot Chili Peppers to play on the track.

[14]Nonetheless, in comments made on different occasions, actor-comedian Dave Coulier has alternatively admitted to[15][16][17] and denied[18] being the subject of the song.

'"[19] Coulier's former television co-star Bob Saget said in one interview that he was present when Morissette made that call during dinner.

[21] Other celebrities have been rumoured to be the lover in the song, including: Mike Peluso, hockey player for the New Jersey Devils;[19] Doug Gilmour hockey player;[22] Matt LeBlanc, the actor who appeared in the video for Morissette's single "Walk Away" in 1991;[19] and Leslie Howe, a musician and the producer of Morissette's first two albums in the early 1990s.

[28][29] Directed by Nick Egan and produced by Mark Fetterman, the accompanying music video for the track was filmed in Death Valley.

In the video, Morissette aggressively runs around the desert landscape and sings into a microphone on a mock-up stage with her then band-members performing, including Taylor Hawkins.

"[31] David Browne of Entertainment Weekly also praised the single's lyrical content, calling them "spiteful and seething", and continues by saying that Morissette was able to turn "jealous bile into something worth hearing.

"[32] Chuck Campbell from Knoxville News Sentinel felt it "promises to be one of the year's most memorable songs", remarking that it "belongs to Morissette, who builds to a rage-filled chorus".

Her man has walked away with 'another', and she can't hide that jealousy, which is stirred by a mean beat and an aggressively rocking wah guitar.

"[34] British magazine Music Week gave it three out of five, adding, "The Canadian songstress shows startling maturity for her years, and this debut single from her album Jagged Little Pill is made all the stronger by guests Flea and Dave Navarro of the Chili Peppers.

"[35] David Sinclair from The Times wrote, "The arrangement bustles along, thanks to the rugged bass and guitar-playing (...), gradually building to a knockout punch of a chorus.

But the song's tremendous thrust derives primarily from Morissette herself as she nails down a rapid succession of home truths with vengeful enthusiasm.

However, it would eventually reach a number-six peak in the artist's home country, thanks to a resurgence of popularity in the United States later in the fall of 1996 resulting from the release of a "live" version that Morissette had performed at the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles earlier that year.

Music journalists have attributed the uneven chart performance of "You Oughta Know" to resistance from Canadian radio programmers,[37] because the aggressive, hard rock nature of the song marked a dramatic shift from Morissette's established image as a teen dance-pop star.

Composer Tom Kitt noted that it was particularly difficult to adapt "You Oughta Know", questioning how they could "take something that already is a ball of fire and truth and emotion" and still have it "stake its own claim in the musical".

[47] The song was sampled by American R&B singer Beyoncé during her 2009 I Am... World Tour,[48] her I Am… Yours residency in Las Vegas, as well as at the 2010 Grammys[49] and her historic headlining Glastonbury Festival Performance.

"[W]eirdly enough, 'You Oughta Know' was held up in 1995 as some kind of feminist anthem of empowerment, an angry yalp of rebellion from ladies who had enough," she recalled.

While she found nothing wrong with that idea in principle, she compared Morissette's perspective in the song to men who lash out at women who they believe have put them in the "friend zone."

[54][55][56] Released March 25, 2022, Season 2 Episode 5 of the Netflix drama Bridgerton included a classical strings rendition of "You Oughta Know", appropriately placed in a break-up scene shortly after male romantic interest Anthony had indeed "bugged her in the middle of dinner".