I really don’t get the big deal about Exile in Guyville. There’s a few nice songs in there, but it doesn’t hold up as an album for me.
Then again, this was the first song of hers that I heard:
I’m not sure what it is you “don’t get”.
Assuming you’re anything like 99% of Ministry fans, you’re NOT the demographic.
She’s a poppy chick rock act. A low rent Sheryl Crow
meets Taylor Swift. Do either of those names get you excited and make you wanna run out and dance barefoot in nothing but your boyfriend’s long flannel shirt? If not, yeah, this music ain’t for you.
There’s nothing wrong with her, from what I can tell. Easy listening music with a pleasant voice and whatnot.
I’m sure she’ll have a decent slot at Lillith Fair somewhere after Ani DeFranco but before Tracy Chapman.
But I don’t really see much to discuss here if you’re looking for someone to explain the brilliance behind her. You may as well wonder why Justin Bieber or Kelly Clarkson are so popular.
Among those of us whose musical tastes are more eclectic, Liz Phair’s “Exile In Guyville” is rightly considered a landmark. I have it, but rarely listen to it – because I like more aggressive stuff, as a rule.
That having been said, everything Phair’s done since has been met with scorn and rejection by the musical community at large. How she still fills clubs is beyond me.
I remember the name from the 90s but never listened to her, sounds like i saved myself a bit of hassle, although i wouldn’t be the target audience either.
I’m not sure what it is you “don’t get”.
Assuming you’re anything like 99% of Ministry fans, you’re NOT the demographic.
She’s a poppy chick rock act. A low rent Sheryl Crow
meets Taylor Swift. Do either of those names get you excited and make you wanna run out and dance barefoot in nothing but your boyfriend’s long flannel shirt? If not, yeah, this music ain’t for you.
There’s nothing wrong with her, from what I can tell. Easy listening music with a pleasant voice and whatnot.
I’m sure she’ll have a decent slot at Lillith Fair somewhere after Ani DeFranco but before Tracy Chapman.
But I don’t really see much to discuss here if you’re looking for someone to explain the brilliance behind her. You may as well wonder why Justin Bieber or Kelly Clarkson are so popular.
But that’s not how she’s regularly portrayed at all.
http://www.spin.com/articles/liz-phair-exile-in-guyville-oral-history-best-1993/
http://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/exile-in-guyville-at-twenty
Yes, I may not be the target audience for it. But I know quite a few who love indie/alternative music and highly rate this album for some reason.
girlysounds was better.
I don’t know much about her, other than the few videos MTV would play.
I remember she was pretty hot for a 90s alt chick.
Times were different in 93. Back then a pretty white girl throwing in a couple f-bombs or some salty sex references in her lazy coffeehouse alt-rock was enough to make her revolutionary and edgy.
Liz who?
Liz who?
I had precisely the same reaction when she walked into ‘my’ old record mega-store, and bought a bunch of records (!!!)
A co-worker of mine was apparently in awe of her, to the point of standing back and gawking, frozen in place, as I rang up her order…I asked her what the big deal was and, yes, got an incredulous “what do you MEAN? You didn’t recognize that was LIZ PHAIR!!!”
I got pretty much the same impression from that nano-encounter as I did from listening to her music - pleasant but not really remarkable.
She kinda looks like Meg Ryan…when both of them were young that is…actually have no idea what Liz Phair looks like now…
I am amazed that this thread has multiple posts though…[:P]
She kinda looks like Meg Ryan…when both of them were young that is…actually have no idea what Liz Phair looks like now…
I am amazed that this thread has multiple posts though…[:P]
I bet Aimee Mann has a Liz Phair dartboard.
HAHAHAHAHA!!! I kept waiting to figure out what HWC was. Then I was like, “Did I hear that right?”
And THAT is why Liz Phair is awesome.
Hardcore White Chicks?
And THAT is why Liz Phair is awesome.
Yeah, and I get that. But . . . ultimately, it’s just pleasing coffee rock. I mean, is being “open” about being a horny little gal all that it takes to become a visionary?
I do still think it was just an issue of timing. She wasn’t at all on my radar in the 90’s, but as a horny teenager that may have been enough for me too. But hearing it for the first time as a jaded 40 year old man in 2014 is much akin to trying to figure out what the big fuss about “Midnight Cowboy” (the 1969 film which was . . . get this . . . rated X at time of release) is.
Juliana Hatfield wins em all
From Blake Babies
To The Lemonheads
And “solo” material
Liz was one of my crushes when I was really young, I had and still have a soft spot for female fronted or all-female rock groups…
I think she is (was?) a victim of what happens when you listen to your record label too much, she all but went light rock or pop when the new millennium came around. She was basically a mom with a six-string.
The difference between her and the others who could’ve and should’ve made it bigger was that she got more money for putting on a face for sales. There’s a reason why all those girl bands didn’t go anywhere…
But hearing it for the first time as a jaded 40 year old man in 2014 is much akin to trying to figure out what the big fuss about “Midnight Cowboy” (the 1969 film which was . . . get this . . . rated X at time of release) is.
Terrible film, totally overrated balls.