Liz Phair - Why Can't I?

brigden

Diamond Member
Dec 22, 2002
8,702
2
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I hear this song every day at work. It got into my head, and now I can't get it out. I like it, but I'm ashamed to admit it. And it could be an Avril Lavigne song.
 

DaveSimmons

Elite Member
Aug 12, 2001
40,730
670
126
Originally posted by: brigden
I hear this song every day at work. It got into my head, and now I can't get it out. I like it, but I'm ashamed to admit it. And it could be an Avril Lavigne song.
Her new CD is just as prefabricated as Avril or Hilary Duff, quite a step down from her first 3.
 

0roo0roo

No Lifer
Sep 21, 2002
64,795
84
91
Originally posted by: DaveSimmons
Originally posted by: brigden
I hear this song every day at work. It got into my head, and now I can't get it out. I like it, but I'm ashamed to admit it. And it could be an Avril Lavigne song.
Her new CD is just as prefabricated as Avril or Hilary Duff, quite a step down from her first 3.

say her music snob fans:p

her new cd's fine. a catchy song isn't a sell out song:p
 

DaveSimmons

Elite Member
Aug 12, 2001
40,730
670
126
Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
Originally posted by: DaveSimmons
Her new CD is just as prefabricated as Avril or Hilary Duff, quite a step down from her first 3.

say her music snob fans:p

her new cd's fine. a catchy song isn't a sell out song:p
Well, she used to be a singer-songwriter, now she's admitted she's collaborating with the pop trash music machine to go for Big Hits. She was quite frank in the interview I read that she was selling out for the cash.

It's her life and her choice to make, I just don't happen to enjoy that kind of processed cheese food music and think she's wasting her talent by becoming one more interchangeable pop tart. If you like it, great.
 

0roo0roo

No Lifer
Sep 21, 2002
64,795
84
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well thats one way to interpret it. another is that she doesn't want to be pidgeon holed into being only one thing:p

course theres nothing more rabid then fans that think their artist sells out by doing something different:p
 

0roo0roo

No Lifer
Sep 21, 2002
64,795
84
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so you don't have to guess at what she said.

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/newsarticle.asp?nid=18393

Liz Phair's self-titled fourth album ignited a critical firestorm when it was released last month. Appalled at the notion of their indie-rock darling trading in the album's original producer Michael Penn for the Avril-spawning Matrix team, critics slammed the record. The New York Times went as far as accusing Phair of "career suicide."

Phair responded by firing off a mocking letter to the paper, but then she also began offering the anti-Matrix faithful a free, stripped-down five-song EP online.

Is Liz Phair trying to have it all ways? Of course.

Are you surprised by how much this record upset some people?

I think I feel bad for them because I wanted them to like it. I wanted them to have enough flexibility to say, "Well it's not what I expected, she's never going to make Guyville again but the tunes are kind of catchy and I can enjoy them." I didn't intend to hurt anyone, and I wasn't trying to make anyone upset or let them down. I just made a record that I really like, and I worked pretty hard on it. I'm the kind of person that likes all sorts of music -- I just want to hear really good music and I don't care what it is. I assumed, I guess too much, that other people feel that way. Music is art and can be enjoyed at many levels for different reasons, but I think for a lot of people it was like I was in office and had an affair. There was a sense that a scandal had happened.

I read your response to the Times review. You were heckling the writer for reporting on a tempest in a teacup.

That's exactly what I was trying to do. If she'd actually known me or researched better what's going on, I don't think she would have said some of the things she said. I think she got the record, was a big fan of Guyville, and I don't think she really knew Whipsmart or Whitechocolatespaceegg especially well.

With "H.W.C." (Hot White Cum), it seems like you know that people aren't going to be able to deal with this title, the song or the subject matter, and that that's what's good about it.

It kind of is that. I didn't write that for that reason. I wrote it completely sincerely like I do pretty much everything, and I really thought it had a catchy tune and I just liked it. Every time I played it for people, generally speaking, grown men had a lot of problems with it. And I kept looking at their reactions and for years I'd be like, "OK, OK, we won't do it." And then finally I started to think, "What the hell? My girlfriends love it." Younger guys were like, "Yeah, do it, if you can get away with it." And these older guys would be so uncomfortable, so I thought, "Oh yes, this is going on the record." I'm not talking about murdering anyone -- I'm talking about being in love and having great sex.

At what point did you realize you wanted to work with someone besides Michael Penn?


I just could tell that he tended to like my more serious stuff and he wouldn't let me make a fool of myself, and I really needed to make a little bit of a fool of myself. He's very intelligent and he really is one of those people who can discern and appreciate the subtle emotions in lyrics and sound quality and stuff like that. I'm sloppier -- I paint with a bigger brush. I have moments of great insight, but I also have moments of just giddy energy or just inappropriate anger, so I was looking for more spontaneous stuff.

What made you choose the Matrix?

What they did with Avril was enough to get my attention, and even my envy. Like, "God, I really like that 'Complicated' song. How come I don't ever get to make songs that are blasted out of cars?" That's one of the things I've always done my whole life is drive fast and play music loud. I'm kind of a rube that way. What I love about music in general is that feeling that makes you stamp through the sunroof -- I've done that before when my boyfriend's driving. That's exactly what it is to me, that feeling when something like Steve Miller comes on and your butt is going and you're like "Yeah, yeah, yeah." It's your song, and it's extremely exciting.

What did the Matrix bring out in you?

A lot of what they brought out of me was musical and vocal. Lauren, because she can sing wonderfully, she would push the melodies into these places that I would have been afraid to do. It's like fireworks or driving a really fast Porsche. It's top-of-the-line song structure, and it was really exciting to graft my DNA with theirs and to see what we came up with. And I understand if people out there are super, super hungry for my particular breed of songwriting. They may feel like, "How can you give four songs on this record to somebody else?" And I'm beginning to understand that they were waiting for this pure nugget. All I can say was my plan all along was to release different music all year long in different forms and different ways.

How would a song like "Extraordinary" sound if you had been left to your own devices?

I wouldn't have written that song. There would have been no "Extraordinary." It would have been some other stuff. I get sick of myself too. I hear my songs all the time. It's exciting to do different things and reinvigorate my enjoyment of what I do.

I was talking to Michael Penn about your choice to work with the Matrix and he said it was "very Liz" -- that you kind of look at it like performance art.

That's exactly it. I think I make records for different reasons than people think I make records, but he's absolutely right. I have a real life I take very seriously, but it has nothing to do with the music I make. I came up from a visual arts background, and music was just something I did for my own pleasure. It is like performance art. Everything I do, the press machine, the promotional stuff, going to radio doing all this stuff, to me, they're all moments where you go out and get your rock on. I'm not like other people I know who literally bleed music.

COLIN DEVENISH
 

UNCjigga

Lifer
Dec 12, 2000
25,383
9,953
136
At least you don't have Stacie Orrico in your head...damn I hear her EVERY day on the XM now...6 or 7 different stations too!

edit:
What they did with Avril was enough to get my attention, and even my envy. Like, "God, I really like that 'Complicated' song. How come I don't ever get to make songs that are blasted out of cars?"
OK who the fvck is blasting Avril OUTTA THERE CARS??? :confused:
 

StormRider

Diamond Member
Mar 12, 2000
8,324
2
0
I actually think this is one of Liz Phair's better CDs. I loved it!:eek:

I also loved Jewel's new CD! :eek:

They are CDs full of catchy pop songs performed by people with talent. Nothing wrong with that.
 

Mill

Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
28,558
3
81
Originally posted by: DaveSimmons
Originally posted by: brigden
I hear this song every day at work. It got into my head, and now I can't get it out. I like it, but I'm ashamed to admit it. And it could be an Avril Lavigne song.
Her new CD is just as prefabricated as Avril or Hilary Duff, quite a step down from her first 3.

And exactly WHAT is wrong with Hilary Duff?
rolleye.gif
 

Xenon

Senior member
Oct 16, 1999
774
16
81
I like Liz Phair and I think she can "sellout" all she wants. She deserves a chance to sell a million records. It's kind of easy to see what has hurt her in the past. Check out her videos on her official website. They are pretty freaking lousy videos. It's easy to see how she wasn't embraced on MTV when she was in her prime.
 

Spoooon

Lifer
Mar 3, 2000
11,563
203
106
I like Liz Phair, and while I prefer her old stuff, I don't mind that she's doing what it takes to make a little money. Maybe it'll put her in a position to do an album that won't sell millions or whatever.

edit: Basically what Xenon said. :D
 

brigden

Diamond Member
Dec 22, 2002
8,702
2
81
At least she's being straightforward about making a glossy pop album. I consider music entertainment, and an artist's motivations usually don't irritate me, unless they attempt to sugar-coat their intentions.
 

0roo0roo

No Lifer
Sep 21, 2002
64,795
84
91
Originally posted by: Millennium
Originally posted by: DaveSimmons
Originally posted by: brigden
I hear this song every day at work. It got into my head, and now I can't get it out. I like it, but I'm ashamed to admit it. And it could be an Avril Lavigne song.
Her new CD is just as prefabricated as Avril or Hilary Duff, quite a step down from her first 3.

And exactly WHAT is wrong with Hilary Duff?
rolleye.gif

duff doesn't compare to either liz or avril. her cd plain sucks, i'd rather listen to britney its so bad.
 

Mill

Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
28,558
3
81
Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
Originally posted by: Millennium
Originally posted by: DaveSimmons
Originally posted by: brigden
I hear this song every day at work. It got into my head, and now I can't get it out. I like it, but I'm ashamed to admit it. And it could be an Avril Lavigne song.
Her new CD is just as prefabricated as Avril or Hilary Duff, quite a step down from her first 3.

And exactly WHAT is wrong with Hilary Duff?
rolleye.gif

duff doesn't compare to either liz or avril. her cd plain sucks, i'd rather listen to britney its so bad.

Who cares about her music? Not me... :heart:
 

0roo0roo

No Lifer
Sep 21, 2002
64,795
84
91
Originally posted by: Millennium
Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
Originally posted by: Millennium
Originally posted by: DaveSimmons
Originally posted by: brigden
I hear this song every day at work. It got into my head, and now I can't get it out. I like it, but I'm ashamed to admit it. And it could be an Avril Lavigne song.
Her new CD is just as prefabricated as Avril or Hilary Duff, quite a step down from her first 3.

And exactly WHAT is wrong with Hilary Duff?
rolleye.gif

duff doesn't compare to either liz or avril. her cd plain sucks, i'd rather listen to britney its so bad.

Who cares about her music? Not me... :heart:



well thats the other thing, she's not as pretty either:p her voice kinda sucks too, i'd put it below britneys. atleast brit knows how to shake her stuff and has a few catchy songs.