Ok so typically I wouldn't allow my blog to be a rant about anything seriously musical, because most of the time those people who do that need a good swift kick in the nuts for even delving that deeply into something, but today I feel like being that asshole so here I go.
First and foremost, I love Liz Phair. 'Exile in Guyville' is just awesome. It's not a collection of singles; it's an album. It's hard to pick out one song over another, because they all seem so connected. I mean clearly such standards as 'The Divorce Song' and 'F*ck and Run' are memorable, but it doesn't mean the rest of the album is soft. 'Whipsmart' is a decent followup with 'Supernova' and 'Cinco de Mayo' and I personally have been in love with 'Whitechocolatespaceegg' for the past few weeks for some strange reason. Anywho, being on such a Liz Phair kick, I decided to spit in the critics faces and pick up her new album. Hmm. I'm bummed. If you were to play 'find the singles' on this album, it'd be like trying to find pink Easter eggs in snow, or shooting fish in a barrel. It's that easy. Oh Liz...why? I mean seriously, do you really want to be Avril when you grow up, because the rest of the world knows it should be vice versa. You made one of the best debut albums of the past 25 years, and 10 years down the road you are working with people who call themselves 'The Matrix' making singles for pop radio stations. If it was about the money, you should have just sent a letter to previous fans that said, "Dear fans: I'm broke and if you don't' help me out, I'll release a pop-rock album like Avril." and you know what? I would have sent you my savings account. And we all know what a good songwriter you can be, you're wonderful. But this whole album is about you getting laid, trying to get laid, reminiscing about getting laid, being mad about not getting laid, having your son see you get laid, cheating on someone so that you could get laid, and anything else about getting laid that I haven't mentioned. It could have been called, "Help Liz get laid" and maybe then you could tie it in to a whole theme but come on now. At least before you could disguise it a bit. You even crossed the line into something only rappers and Craig David usually do in their songs: You mention yourself. "Your record collection don't exist/you don't even know who Liz Phair is..." Hon, THAT WAS PART OF YOUR APPEAL. You weren't as recognizable (and thus as dispensable) as the Celienes, Shanias, Sheryls (but she's another issue too), Avrils, Vanessa/Michelle Branches of the world. Of course we can't be too surprised; she did release the song, 'Shitloads of Money' on WCSE ("It's nice to be liked/but it's better by far to get paid...") so selling out did seem like the next logical step. And in her defense, Liz has never really sold herself as an ideological, indie queen a-la Ani DiFranco that she's been made out to be--she's always just been a gritty girl with guitar sorta thing.
WHY DID YOU SELL OUT LIZ, FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THINGS HOLY, WHY???
See? I am that asshole. But at least I know it. Now I'm gonna go mope.
