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Liz Phair Articles



Liz Phair
Woman of the Year?
From society and men to sex, Liz Phair does not keep her opinions secret. Quite the opposite: her songs hit you right in the face.
TEXT: FRANK SAWATZKI

She is 26 years old and a distant descendant of Marie Antoinette, the famous daughter of the duchess of Austria, who landed on the scaffold in 1793. The adopted daughter of a rich married Chicago-physician couple, she spent time at a boarding school for girls in Southern France. No one notices it today. Liz Phair's albums Exile In Guyville and Whip-Smart has conquered the hearts of all indie pop fans with its two -- we say times 'offenherzigen'. Her debut album, Guyville, sold 200,000 copies in the USA alone. Magazines such as the Village Voice and Spin named Guyville the album of the year for 1993. Collegue Chrissie Hynde did not hold back appreciative words for her young peer: "Liz Phair is a strong-willed singer. Her songs have soul, poppy but also punky."

Liz Phair is however first of all one: engaged Fuersperecherin of a parliamentary group of women in the American Rock'n'Roll, those in the post office Madonna era the toolism in their way interprets and their male colleague quite new, without twitching with the ungeschminkten lash, a few richlich feminine Kicks misses. Them efficiently heat, without stoben they however from the bed edge. Liz Phair: "I am glueklicher humans. I do and leave, what I want. Which also to always be likes." The young lady makes, dab her clear the booklet in the hand holds, if it concerns Sex: "I'll fuck you 'til your dick is blue," she sings in the Song "Flower".

"Damais, in this French girl boarding school", she remembers, "me taught themselves, wei a young lady with best manners to take away and like it after a suitable gentleman for a standesgemaebe marries themselves look out to hold has. I learned even, in which long one carries a perlenkette mub. The typical role evenly."

But that is long past. Liz studied art and came to the Rock'n'Roll little like the virgin to the child, although the term appears daring nevertheless to the virgin in connection with texts "I want to be your Blowjob Queen" now something. She celebrated their musical beginning with the selbsveroeffentlichen Girly Sound cassettes, 28 Phair songs on two handmade cassettes, from which she still klaut today, "therefore I the Dinger aucht not so soon on CD to publish", does not admit her without shyness. The Girly cassettes brought it a deal with the small New York Matador label and the CD Guyville. Whereupon Mrs. Phair zaubert over a dozen of knackiger sounds of alternative skirt, those from first to the last TRACK the quality mark "absolute freshly and unspent!" earn. Songs with pop melodies, which call Americans gladly "catchy", eingespleit with punk force and sensiblilitaet, which put increased value on internmediate tones.

And who it not yet woman: Guyville is song for song a response to the Rolling Stones classical author of Exile on Main Street (1971). Or differently ausgedruekt: A likewise decided like beherzte response on the Rock'n'Roll still dominated by men. So and not differently the Phair, young enough, wants in order to be Mick Jagger's daughter, it anyhow understood to know. Nevertheless it conversed with the Mr. Jagger and Richards times gladly on a Schwaetzchen: "I would like to hear simply once, what those at all to my music to say to have. Perhaps they get even still fear of me."

The new CD Whip Smart produced control freak Phair. And thus also none in their creative process to intervene can become, also the pertinent videos under their direction turned. And again the songs are gespickt with juicy references to their Sexleben, in each form and Groebe. Liz Phair's songs spit all the masters of the creation in the face, who are even for the end of this millenium of the opinion to look women up would have in the Rock'n'Roll nothing. "Most men are often struck as before the heading, if they hear texts like 'You fuck like a volcano'. They cannot introduce themselves simply, dab nice women from good house such unorthodox things out hedges." Liz Phair's appeal to their sex companions reads therefore: to "women, goes raus, does which and places you the man world. There are still too little female voices in the today's pop culture, which have the courage, to open also times the mouth."

Despite all Selbstbewubtsein, also Liz Phair is not quite free from fears. "I woman not whether I will ever feel free on the stage." Although, it analyzes the weakness accumulation equivalent away: "...the relation between Kuenslter and public is nevertheless like between two humans, who have rough-like Sex together, without knowing each other wirlich. This realization verscheucht then more weider all the doubts from my heading. I feel as if I closed even pact with the devil." Privately the 26-year-old already sealed her pact: together with its married man, the songwriter Peter Margasak she inhabits a three-floor house in Illinois. Also with it: her parents, two children and -- believe it or not -- 17 cats.



musikexpress sounds, December 1994



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