After the failure of Y Kant Tori Read, Atlantic decided to give Tori one more chance and gave her until March of 1990 to create a new album. A slap in the face will certainly break down some barriers while in the safety of your own home. Tori took that new vulnerability and poured it out on paper. After Doug Morris, Atlantic's Presidenet listened to her new material, he said, "What is this shit? I don't know what I'm going to do with you. Where's Rocket Man?", remembering that Tori had told him before that the new material would be more piano-oriented. Another slap in the face but this time it took some help from her friends to put her back into her "Rock Chick" mode. She picked herself back up and followed friends' advice and kept true to herself. Creating a faerie ring in her living room, she placed some envelopes in the middle, vowing that each would get a name and become a song. The first to be born was, "Take to the Sky". But only the names were new, the songs were exactly the same as they were the last time Doug Morris heard them.
In early 1990, Atlantic grew worried at the likelihood of having hits by March and sent Davitt Sigerson to "help" Tori with her songs. When he got to her house, he heard what she had written and promptly left, saying "You don't need my help". Toir let Atlantic take another listen and they said she should take a chance in London. Off she went and loved every minute of it - playing clubs was a setback, but then again, she wasn't getting fired. People loved her, for who she was and the writer she truly was.

Tori spent a lot of time in England soaking up as much information as she could about the country, and revelling in the history and literature inspired by the land. She always was a history buff, particular to the Norman invasion, so this was her chance to immerse herself. When the album finally pierced the American market, she was most of the time mistaken as British. That didn't stop her fans from taking to her like a duck to water. It was during this stay in England that Tori went to the cinema to see "Thelma & Louise" and was once again reminded of the horror she experienced many years before in L.A. "Me and a Gun" was penned later that day and sung for the first time at the gig she played the same night. This would later become one of Tori's trademark songs and the inspiration for the creation of RAINN, the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network, an organization which puts sexual abuse victime in touch with a local Rape Crisis Center.

Later in 1992, Tori released the Crucify EP which included a solo-piano version of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit", this offered a hint of what was to come on her next album, Under The Pink, released in 1994. The 1st single released was "God" which got its share of attention from critics and listeners alike. It highlighted the idea of God needing a woman to take care of him. Another song off of the album was "Cornflake Girl" which speaks about the way woman just shred each other apart. Tori has said this album was about the violence that exists between women - the meaning of the title "Under the Pink" was inspired by Tori's idea that "underneath it all, we're all pink" After a lenghty relationship with Eric Rosse, who co-produced both "Little Earthquakes" and "Under the Pink" he and Tori went their seperate ways. The breakup provided a lot of fuel that created the fire on "Boys For Pele", which Tori explains is more like a novel, each chapter exploring a different theme. Also, this album is said to be about Tori "stealing the fire from the men in her life".


Click Here To Continue