'Exile in Guyville'

Before I listened to Liz Phair, I saw Liz Phair.

It was in a guitar magazine -- probably dedicated to female rockers! -- in the 1990s, around the time Exile in Guyville was released in 1994.

To a horny 14-year-old, who automatically fell in love with any half-decent looking girl holding a guitar and doing rock music.

Later, I would learn that there's about a billion girls better looking and that Phair couldn't sing. Which, even as a teenager, was a turn off.

I always knew that Exile in Guyville was a response to the Rolling Stones' Exile on Main Street (22 years too late). However, I always thought it was in album title alone and Phair's songs about one-night stands, oral sex and guys.

However, Phair contends that her album is a song-by-song response to the Stones. Critics say it's not obviously a response and I agree. Phair is extremely generic and although you could mold the songs to be considered a "response" (again, 22 years after the fact), but it could also be angry chick rock.