High School Albums: The Missed Ones! Pt. 1

I can't remember the exact summer that I actually found this damn thing (I'm thinking between Freshman and Sophomore years, maybe). I was on a family vacation and at that time, I really was not into sight seeing. I couldn't stand being around my extended family, they were a total bore to me. I'd rather sit in the camper and watch DVDs and listen to music. Every new town we hit, I'd immediately look for either the book/comic book shop or a great record store. And most of these towns didn't have them.

But I was lucky. One town that summer had a great mall. And at that age, I was a complete mall rat, always ready to leave the family to browse the stores.

Durring those years, I was heavily into Weezer and more male fronted bands. And I really was not into singer/songwriters. I hadn't found Brendan Benson or Pete Yorn or the Haden Sisters or Anna Waronker. And there was a reason I hadn't. It was because I hadn't found Liz Phair yet.

I was just getting into a lot of the indie review sites and half of them at the time were talking about what a big influence Liz Phair's Exile In Guyville was on every female indie rocker. How could this damn thing influence everyone? I hadn't heard of it. Well, as I've learned many times in the proceeding months and years, what I knew didn't mean jack shit.

I actually bought the album unheard, which is probably the rarest thing for me. Now a days, I usually download a few tracks or see the band live. But for some reason, I plopped down the $13 and said "Ring it up, register jockey!". I got out of the mall, tore open the packaging and checked out the CD. I popped it into my portable (I KNOW, PORTABLE CD PLAYERS, CRAZY!) and absorbed this thing. And my first thought was...."This girl has got balls!". I mean, she's showing part of her nipple on the cover. She is exposing herself to us!

And expose she did. Right from the start, she attacks the losers she's already gone through with the great anthem "6'1"". It's like she was thinking, "I'm not gonna pussyfoot around, I'm gonna knock it out of the park with the first track." And she continued to do it throughout the album. I wish I could post every track, but I won't, because it'd be wrong and I don't have that kind of time. Go buy the damn thing. But yes, almost all of the tracks are great, but it wasn't until the tenth one that everyone stopped and said, "We really have a force here."

"Fuck & Run" is a bonafide classic. There's no other way around it. It is probably the best song she'll ever write, sad to say. But when this is your best song, you shouldn't feel bad. I know when I heard this song, I actually cried a little. This song gave me a bit of hope. While Liz says in the song that she's just screwing to get buy, she asks that perfect question, "What ever happened to a boyfriend, the kind of guy who tries to win you over? What ever happened to a boyfriend, the kind that makes love because he's in it?" Oh my god, even my 15 year old mind grasped that this is the kind of guy I should be. That one song helped shape how I'd treat women. How many people can say that about another song?

And the album keeps going. With the amazing "The Divorce Song", you get the opposite of "Fuck & Run". Instead of a wish of what could happen, you get the end of what could have been. And after watching my parents in a very bitter divorce, I could relate to this very well.

But my actual favorite song on the album goes to the album closer, "Strange Loop". I could atribute it to this great opening set of lyrics:

"The fire you like so much in me
Is the mark of someone adamently free
But you can't stop yourself from wanting worse
And nothing feeds the hunger like a thirst"

And for some odd reason, those lyrics have stuck with me now for well over 5 years. But the song has more going for it, some of Liz's best guitar work on the whole album. She let's the song just sort of drift into a great jam and the slowly falls apart. A perfect way to end an album.

Now, I kind of feel bad, because when I was preparing my previous High School Albums (5,4,3,2,1), I really left out a ton of albums that should be near the top. This one was the closest to making the Top 5 and I actually think it should. But since I already put Pete Yorn's musicforthemorningafter there, I'm not gonna change it. But there will definitely be more High School Albums to come, stay tuned for them. I hope to have at least one or two more done before I leave for Chicago, then finish them after I'm back. I thinking that if the next four go well, I can just do sets of five till I have nothing else to talk about. Yeah, you guys will get some of my world famous monotany. Oh yeah.