Synopses & Reviews
Although Exile in Guyville was grudgingly celebrated as one of the year's top records by Spin and the New York Times, it was also some people's idea of an abomination: a mockery of the Rolling Stones' most revered record and a rare glimpse into the psyche of a shrewd, independent, strong young woman. For these crimes, Phair was quite literally run out of her home town of Chicago, enduring a flame war by writers who accused her of being boring, inauthentic and a poor musician. With Exile in Guyville, Phair spoke for all the girls who loved indie rock but felt deeply unwelcome there. Like all great works of musical art, Exile was a harbinger of the shape of things to come: Phair may have undermined the male ago, but she also unleashed a new female one. For the sake of all the women artists who have benefited from her work - on behalf of Sleater Kinney, MIA and Miley Cyrus - it's high time we go back to Guyville.
Review
"Writing at length about two themes - ‘third-wave feminism and the changing nature of indie music over the past twenty years - requires laborious research, cogent arguments, and logical grounding from start to finish. Doing so in the context of one record makes the task even more difficult. I can say, having reviewed many scholarly articles in my time, that Arnold passes the test with flying colors. The book is well cited, filled (but not overwrought) with pertinent facts, and her points are structured in a way that just make sense. In a word, the book is smart." - 2bit Monkey"Gina Arnolds book on Liz Phairs 1993 double LP,
Exile in Guyville, is the kind of book that weighs in, pulls no punches, and shines a light on the entire enterprise of popular music." - Paul Gleason,
Caught in the Carousel"I found this book to be, like Ms. Phairs album, charming and brave and unexpectedly moving. The author is excellent on so many things, including how the power of Ms. Phairs songs grows from their grainy details, quotidian observations that other rockers so rarely give us, about things like housework and roommates and 'what is was like to feel voiceless and powerless in a nightclub, on a road trip, or during sexual intercourse.'" -Dwight Garner,
The New York TimesMentioned in Harpers Bazaar by Hannah Morrill
Synopsis
Although Exile in Guyville was celebrated as one of the year's top records by Spin and the New York Times, it was also, to some, an abomination: a mockery of the Rolling Stones' most revered record and a rare glimpse into the psyche of a shrewd, independent, strong young woman. For these crimes, Liz Phair was run out of her hometown of Chicago, enduring a flame war perpetrated by writers who accused her of being boring, inauthentic, and even a poor musician.
With Exile in Guyville, Phair spoke for all the girls who loved the world of indie rock but felt deeply unwelcome there. Like all great works of art, Exile was a harbinger of the shape of things to come: Phair may have undermined the male ego, but she also unleashed a new female one. For the sake of all the female artists who have benefited from her work—from Sleater-Kinney to Lana Del Rey and back again—it's high time we go back to Guyville.
Synopsis
A passionate re-assessment of one of the most original, groundbreaking, and controversial albums of the 1990s.
Synopsis
Although Exile in Guyville was grudgingly celebrated as one of the year's top records by Spin and the New York Times, it was also some people's idea of an abomination: a mockery of the Rolling Stones' most revered record and a rare glimpse into the psyche of a shrewd, independent, strong young woman. For these crimes, Phair was quite literally run out of her home town of Chicago, enduring a flame war by writers who accused her of being boring, inauthentic and a poor musician. With Exile in Guyville, Phair spoke for all the girls who loved indie rock but felt deeply unwelcome there. Like all great works of musical art, Exile was a harbinger of the shape of things to come: Phair may have undermined the male ago, but she also unleashed a new female one. For the sake of all the women artists who have benefited from her work - on behalf of Sleater Kinney, MIA and Miley Cyrus - it's high time we go back to Guyville.
About the Author
Gina Arnold is the author of Route 666: On the Road to Nirvana and Kiss This: Punk in the Present Tense. She has written for Spin, Rolling Stone, and the Village Voice. Currently, she is finishing up her PhD at Stanford University.
Table of Contents
Introduction: Written in my Seoul
Chapter 1: Guvyille as Ghostworld
Chapter 2: Sonic Pleasure and Narrative rock criticism
Chapter 3: My Mixed Feelings
Chapter 4: Exile State of Mind
Works Cited