In 1992 and 1993, an unknown singer-songwriter named Liz Phair recorded her debut album in Chicago, not knowing that it would become one of the most influential records of the decade. Exile in Guyville hit the music scene with the stiff, stinging rush of the Lake Michigan wind as Phair sang frankly and clearly about sex and young life as a woman. Her album immediately became revered as evocative of a time of economic insecurity and as part of a new generation of women striving to express themselves in more sexually open and emotionally raw ways. Since then, the album’s legend has only grown—crisis and misogyny haven’t gone anywhere. When Guyville was released, besotted critics were reductively focused on seeing it as some kind of feminist response to the Rolling Stones classic Exile on Main Street. Now, with decades of increasing stature, it stands alone, the Stones album barely a footnote. In 2023, Liz Phair is going on tour for the 30th anniversary of Guyville and will perform every song off the album. I spoke to her about a tour that is a testament to the timelessness of a truly great album.
