Know what show was just hitting its stride in 1993? Wings.

So, in 1993, I was a freshman in high school, trying to be an angsty, brooding, mean-mouthed woman. Such a woman would be more wise than clever, with an edge of sexuality too strong for the 4-H crew but too strong to be touched by the weak of courage and with the right tinge of bitterness to frighten my parents and teachers. Exile in Guyville fit in neatly with this not-to-be self-conception. But it’s also awesome.

Fast forward to, oh, about 2003, commiserating with one of my best friends over his recently ended relationship. “I should have known” he said “when she told me her favorite song was ‘Fuck and Run’”. No one should ever become what I wanted to be when I was 14. But I still love Liz Phair. I no longer brood to it - it just makes me the kind of happy only inspired by singing at the top of my lungs.

Liz Phair 2008: milf city

Liz Phair 1993: requires ear plugs and a sixer of colt-45 talls

a fond look back at 1993:

the first ladies’ man begins his 8-year white house tenure

afghan whigs release their album ‘gentlemen’:

“ladies let me tell you about myself/
i gotta dick for a brain/
and my brain is gonna sell my ass to you.”

(quite the contemporaneous compliment to ms. phair)

michael ian black & crew begin the short-run mtv comedy show ‘the state’

gotta respect those roots.

n the early 90’s I was barely a teenager and Exile in Guyville came out while i was still in my “holy shit alternative music phase!” and I loved it!

I didn’t truly love Liz right away though, it took a little program that used to run Sunday nights on 99.1 WHFS called Inside Dave’s Garage to get me truly hooked… It was probably closer to the Whip Smart days as she opened with a song called Wasted and closed with Cinco De Mayo on the more or less corresponding Daves Garage, I can’t remember if it was live or not anymore, but I happened to have taped that session and after I rocked it in my tape player on the bus ride to institue for the arts it grew and grew on me… Now I can never get by a Cinco De Mayo wihtout thinking of Liz Phair and remembering how I used to listen to Daves Garage before I was able to go to shows on my own…

Unfortunately for my Liz Phair early days I soon got into the hardcore scene and disowned anything remotely alternative for about 6 years… but then one summer while working at tower records I picked up both Exile in Guyville and Whip Smart from the 7.99 bin and was hooked again By my 20’s I really had a much greater understanding of how amazing Guyville truly was, thankfully I still had some old posters and stuff tucked away in a box at my moms house, but I lost that tape… and sadly will never get it back…

I generally agree with the trend of not liking the newer stuff, I felt the same way about Matthew Sweet, Billy Corgan/The Pumpkins and countless other early 90’s singer songwriters… I would love to beef up my vinyl Liz Phair collection as of now I’ve only got two 7″inch singles from Whip Smart…

as a final note, or the topping on the carrot cake, I love liz enough to sing fuck and run @ karaoke and not give a shit about being a dude, because the song (as is the record) is just that damn good.

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