"Eight Easy Steps" is a

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

song written by

Alanis Morissette Alanis Nadine Morissette ( ; born June 1, 1974) is a Canadian and American singer, songwriter, musician, and actress. Known for her emotive mezzo-soprano voice and confessional songwriting, she became a cultural phenomenon during the mid 199 ...

for her sixth

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

, ''

So-Called Chaos ''So-Called Chaos'' is the sixth studio album (fourth released internationally) by Canadian singer-songwriter Alanis Morissette, released on May 18, 2004, through Maverick Records. It was preceded by the single "Everything" on April 13, which we ...

''. The album's

opening track An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track or cassette), or digital. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century a ...

, it was released in 2004 as the ''So-Called Chaos'''s third (and final)

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

. The song may be seen as discussing

self-help Self-help or self-improvement is "a focus on self-guided, in contrast to professionally guided, efforts to cope with life problems" —economically, physically, intellectually, or emotionally—often with a substantial psychological basis. When ...

, with the message that it is the "course of a lifetime", but the help that is actually "offered" in the song is tongue-in-cheek, with lines like "How to lie to yourself and thereby to everyone else" and "How to control someone to be a carbon copy of you." The song reached number nine on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

Hot Dance Music/Club Play The Dance Club Songs (also known as National Disco Action, Hot Dance/Disco Club Play, and Hot Dance Club Play) was a chart published weekly between 1976 and 2020 by ''Billboard'' magazine. It used club disc jockeys set lists to determine the mos ...

and number 27 on the

Adult Top 40 The Adult Pop Airplay (formerly known as Adult Pop Songs and Adult Top 40) chart is published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine and ranks "the most popular adult top 40 as based on radio airplay detections measured by Nielsen Broadcast Data Syste ...

Music and structure

"Eight Easy Steps" is a song composed in the key of A♭ major. It is written in

common time A time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, and measure signature) is an indication in music notation that specifies how many note values of a particular type fit into each measure ( bar). The time signature indicates the ...

and moves at a moderately fast 132

beats per minute Beat, beats, or beating may refer to: Common uses * Assault, inflicting physical harm or unwanted physical contact * Battery (crime), a criminal offense involving unlawful physical contact * Battery (tort), a civil wrong in common law of in ...

. Its verses are set to a

Middle Eastern The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

beat Beat, beats, or beating may refer to: Common uses * Assault, inflicting physical harm or unwanted physical contact * Battery (crime), a criminal offense involving unlawful physical contact * Battery (tort), a civil wrong in common law of inte ...

.Klunk, Christine.
"Alanis Morissette: So-Called Chaos

PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, ...

. September 9, 2004. Retrieved June 1, 2007. Morissette's

vocal range Vocal range is the range of pitches that a human voice can phonate. A common application is within the context of singing, where it is used as a defining characteristic for classifying singing voices into voice types. It is also a topic of stud ...

spans nearly an octave and a half, from A♭₃ to C₅.

Critical reception

Stylus Magazine ''Stylus Magazine'' was an American online music and film magazine, launched in 2002 and co-founded by Todd L. Burns. It featured long-form music journalism, four daily music reviews, movie reviews, podcasts, an MP3 blog, and a text blog. Addi ...

'' gave the song a negative review, finding it a "flaccid and innocuous" attempt to recreate the

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and Distortion (music), distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the Garage rock, garage, Psychedelic rock, psychedelic and blues ...

sound of her 1995 single "

You Oughta Know "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'', on July 10, 1995. After releasing two studio albums, Morissette left MCA Records, MCA Re ...

disagreed, commenting that the

chorus Chorus may refer to: Music * Chorus (song), the part of a song that is repeated several times, usually after each verse * Chorus effect, the perception of similar sounds from multiple sources as a single, richer sound * Chorus form, song in whic ...

's "one shining moment of Alanis Anger" was one of the album's few energetic moments. ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' called the song "triumphant", and ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' found the song's

distortion In signal processing, distortion is the alteration of the original shape (or other characteristic) of a signal. In communications and electronics it means the alteration of the waveform of an information-bearing signal, such as an audio signal ...

effective, as well as its "

Nine Inch Nails Nine Inch Nails, commonly abbreviated as NIN (stylized as NIИ), is an American industrial rock band formed in Cleveland, Ohio in 1988. Its members are the singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer Trent Reznor and his frequent col ...

-like metallic rage".

Music video

The song's

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

was directed by

Liz Friedlander Liz Friedlander (born December 9, 1970) is an American music video, television director and television producer. Originally from New York City, Friedlander moved to Pennsylvania to attend the Drama Conservatory school at Carnegie Mellon Universit ...

."For The Record: Quick News On Nicky Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, Nelly, Jessica Simpson, Coldplay, Mike Shinoda & More"

MTV News MTV News was the news production division of MTV. The service was available in the US with localized versions on MTV's global network and an online news team. In 2016, MTV refreshed the MTV News brand to compete with the likes of BuzzFeed and ...

. August 16, 2004. Retrieved June 1, 2007. The video opens with a scene of Morissette performing with her

backing band A backup band or backing band is a Band (music), musical ensemble that typically Accompaniment, accompanies a single artist who is the featured performer. The situation may be a live performance or in a Studio recording, recording session, and the ...

. It then presents sequences from Morissette's previous music videos, television appearances like ''

You Can't Do That on Television ''You Can't Do That on Television'' is a Canadian sketch comedy television series that aired locally in 1979 before airing in the United States in 1981. It featured adolescent and teenage actors performing in a sketch comedy format similar to A ...

'', and

home video Home video is recorded media sold or Video rental shop, rented for home viewing. The term originates from the VHS and Betamax era, when the predominant medium was videotapes, but has carried over to optical disc formats such as DVD and Blu-ray. ...

s in reverse chronological order. The scenes are digitally edited to create the appearance that Morissette had sung "Eight Easy Steps" in them.Cohen, Jonathan.
"Alanis 'Steps' Back Into The Past In New Video"
''

''. August 13, 2004. Retrieved June 1, 2007. It took Morissette over 16 hours, to recreate her facial expressions from the clips. Friedlander commented that "It was eerie to watch the footage of present day Alanis run side by side with the early footage…Her ability to match her old actions was uncanny." The video peaked at #11 on the

VH1 Top 20 Video Countdown ''The 20'' (formerly known as the ''VH1 Top 20 Video Countdown'') is a weekly music video countdown television show that aired on the VH1 cable television network in the United States. The long-running show was first introduced in 1994 as ''VH1 T ...

Track listing

# "Eight Easy Steps" (Thick Dick Filter Mix) – 6:56 # "Eight Easy Steps" (Jez Colin & Flipper Dalton Remix) – 6:35 # "Eight Easy Steps" (The Orange Factory Remix) – 6:58 # "Eight Easy Steps" (Smitty & Gabriel D. Vine Remix) – 7:03 A second acoustic single was planned with more tracks from the Vancouver Sessions. However, it was scrapped before it was released.

Charts

Credits and personnel

Vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

: Alanis Morissette *

Guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

: Joel Shearer *

Producers Producer(s), The Producer(s), or co-producer(s) may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *Producer, a stakeholder of economic production * Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes t ...

: Alanis Morissette,

John Shanks John Matthew Shanks (born December 18, 1964) is an American songwriter, record producer and guitarist. He has been a longtime session and touring member of the rock band Bon Jovi. Early life and education Shanks was born in New York City and m ...

Tim Thorney Tim Thorney (February 4, 1955 – June 15, 2021) was a Canadian guitarist, songwriter, and record producer, working out of his studio Villa Sound near Collingwood, Ontario. History Thorney first came to prominence as a recording engineer and s ...

Audio mixing Audio mixing is the process by which multiple sounds are combined into one or more audio channels. In the process, a source's volume level, frequency content, dynamics, and panoramic position are manipulated or enhanced. This practical, aest ...

Chris Lord-Alge Chris Lord-Alge is an American mix engineer. He is the brother of both Tom Lord-Alge and Jeff Lord-Alge, both of whom are also audio engineers. Chris and Tom are known for their abundant use of dynamic range compression for molding mixes that ...

, Adam Schiff

References

{{authority control 2004 singles Alanis Morissette songs Music videos directed by Liz Friedlander Song recordings produced by John Shanks Songs written by Alanis Morissette 2004 songs Maverick Records singles