i remember the first and only glee fic i've ever read had a running theme on "liz phair used to be awsome. r.i.p liz phair's awesomeness" and that was the best part of it. we should all collectively mourn liz phair's awesomeness
ahhh man iâve been saying this for literal years!!! liz phair is such a TRAGEDY though, like easily one of indie musicâs most brutal casualties. and i hate to be that wayâi tried with her post-guyville music and i donât think thereâs anything wrong at all with radio-baiting or fishing for a wider audience, i mean, it worked for pavement (until they followed crcr with wowee zowee i guess, if they even meant for crcr to be a pseudo-success), it worked for yo la tengo, it worked for spoon, it worked for modest mouse (unfortunately), it worked for weezer (also unfortunately) etc etc, and so i take issue with the way some of the criticisms of her music/herself, personally, have been framed since the late 90s: Â this woman wants to be heard, how very fucking dare she. unfortunately what liz has had to say since roughly â95 wavers between a rejected seth rogen movie and the tinny soundtrack of your local sears, with all the flavor of knockoff dollar store wonderbread.
exile in guyville was such a revelation way back when i first started branching out at 15/16 and consciously seeking out music that wasnât the prevailing boys club indie fare that always has and probably always will drown out everything else. thereâs a confessional bite to it and this thready, crackly intimacy that feels so rawâi think thatâs part of what resonated with so many of us who listened to it and could hear some part of ourselves, however big or small, breaking the surface for the first time. i donât come back to it very much nowadays, but it really is a specialâand really, truly game-changingâalbum. we can mourn/eulogize it together <3
i hope sheâs having fun though, regardless of reviews, press, overwrought hand-wringing about mediocrity, airplay or lack thereof. maybe itâs all been an elaborate inside joke! but iâd like to hope sheâs enjoyed the ride and milked the indie scene for all itâs worth and had herself a good laugh along the way. i root for her.
