I'm not posting this because I agree with it 100%, I just thought it was funny. And I just know it'll kickstart another spine-tingling intellectual discourse among the lot of you.


Happy Accidents
Relieving Your Liz Phair Anxieties
BY ZAC PENNINGTON


I know that this might come as an extremely difficult thing to come to terms with—to look back over the stretch of the last decade and realize that the very foundation you've built a healthy fraction of your indierock existence upon was never as sound as you thought it was—but trust me, it's for the best. So say it with me now: I've been lying to myself. Exile in Guyville was (gulp)... an accident.

In the 12 years since its release, Liz Phair's landmark debut record has maintained a surprisingly monolithic presence in the lives of those whom it initially enraptured—myself included. Considering that the vast majority of today's contemporary music critics were weaned from its rather succulent teat, it's no surprise that so much ink has been passionately lavished on Guyville—and continues to be, virtually anytime Phair stumbles back into the limelight. You see, Guyville—with its loose conceptualism, conflicted feminism, and surprisingly enduring production quality—is something of a perfect critic's record. Because of this, every subsequent release Phair has flung (the Guyville afterglow of Whip-Smart, the resoundingly mediocre whitechocolatespaceegg, and Liz Phair, perhaps the worst album of 2003) has been met with the sheer vitriol of critics, who—seizing yet another opportunity to write about Guyville—take great pleasure in charting the "Fall of Phair." All this just works to reinforce the misconception among her former fan base that—for a laundry list of reasons that include motherhood, marriage, divorce, age, money, etc.—Liz Phair has somehow "blown it." But I, for one, prefer to look at things in a slightly more positive light: Exile in Guyville was sort of a happy fluke.

I know it's crass oversimplification (and more than a little condescending) to suggest that Phair's debut was merely the result of a brief flirtation with talent, but it's a hell of a lot more pleasant to swallow than accepting that she dramatically tanked at 26. So for your sake, why not do what I do? Embrace Guyville as a happy accident—you know, like an unplanned pregnancy. Trust me, it'll feel better.

depressing article.

I will reserve my opinion until I actually hear the older stuff. All I was able to find in the Music store was Liz Phair. IMHO the best was "Why Can't I". I did also like "Extraordinary" very much. Didn't care much for WHC but the melody is catchy. I ordered the older CD's. There are three other writers credited with WCI and I wondered what their contributions are. We had a producer in West Texas who would not produce unless he had an input and got credit as one of the authors even if he only changed one word. It could be that Liz has moved in the direction of my musical taste but I have bought CD's before that I only liked one song on. This one has at least two that I really like. Girl singers may not last but good writers of any gender can hang around a long time.

I am not really sure what the writer is trying to say.

I guess he wants us to wrap our minds around the idea that EIG was a decent album that came out at the right time, and was therefore able to be lionized by critics and fans alike. If EIG comes out earlier or later, it becomes a decent album fondly remembered by some and not a rock landmark.

Or that Liz blew her wad (all puns fully intended) on EIG and we never really should have expected any more and certainly no better?

Of course this critical vein runs along the line that time plays a huge part in rendering an album a classic. Does EIG seem better because everything she has done since pales in comparison? Or does everything pale in comparison because EIG was so great? Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

I think the writer is just making the same old argument (Liz was so great, what the hell happened!), but is wrapping it in different rhetoric.

I think what he really wants to say, but, like most critics, lacks the testicular fortitude to do so, is that she was never that great to begin with. That is certainly not a new idea when it comes to Liz Phair.

Me, I have always loved EIG, I think it is her best work, but I have never given in to lionizing EIG. To me it is not the Holy Grail. It is the best album by my favorite artist. Ironically, I don't think it makes my all-time top 10, though. Top 20 for sure, but I think there are 10 albums I would rank higher.

Then again, this fits into my theory about Liz, that the total is greater than the sum of the individual parts.

Whatever, Liz rules, this guy drools.

I have gotten a headache reading long artical on the new web outfit