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Who shaped them

Liz Phair

Liz Phair

Since 1991 · United States

Liz Phair recorded a series of lo-fi home cassettes in the Chicago indie scene of the early 1990s before releasing Exile in Guyville (1993), a debut explicitly conceived as a song-by-song response to the Rolling Stones' Exile on Main St., matching its eighteen-track structure while inverting its perspective toward a specifically female and often blunt account of sex and relationships within a male-dominated indie scene. Their story

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Who they shaped

Behind them, left to right: Sonic Youth, Pavement, The Human League, The Velvet Underground.

In front, left to right: Perfume Genius, Snail Mail.

Not in the photo: . Often assumed; they've said no.

The bigger the face, the stronger the proof: they said it themselvesreporteda critic, or widely accepted

Exile in Guyville cover

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Exile in Guyville (1993)

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Conceived as a song-by-song answer to the Rolling Stones' Exile on Main St., Exile in Guyville keeps the same eighteen-track scale while flipping the perspective toward a blunt, specifically female account of sex and disappointment. "Fuck and Run" states its subject as plainly as the title suggests, Phair's flat, unadorned voice refusing any sense of shame or performance around it. "Divorce Song" does something similar with the end of a relationship, treating small logistical details as the real site of heartbreak. Its directness was unusual enough on release that it's still cited as a turning point for how candidly women in indie rock could write about desire.

Sleeve notes

Liz Phair

Exile in Guyville · 1993

Liz Phair recorded a series of lo-fi home cassettes in the Chicago indie scene of the early 1990s before releasing Exile in Guyville (1993), a debut explicitly conceived as a song-by-song response to the Rolling Stones' Exile on Main St., matching its eighteen-track structure while inverting its perspective toward a specifically female and often blunt account of sex and relationships within a male-dominated indie scene.

The album's frankness — about desire, disappointment, and the specific social dynamics of the Chicago scene she was part of — was unusual for its era and drew both significant acclaim and controversy. Phair's subsequent records moved in more overtly pop directions, but Exile in Guyville remains the record most frequently cited by later songwriters, particularly women working in indie rock, as an influence on writing about sex and relationships with that same directness.

Since 1991 · United States