On this day in 1993, Liz Phair forever made history with her sensational debut album, Exile in Guyville.
Often described as one of the greatest and most influential albums of the entire 1990s, Exile in Guyville marked indie superstar Phair’s first foray into the mainstream music industry after a few short years spent self-publishing her own work.
Recorded in 1992 and 1993 by Phair and Brad Wood, the album was soon released on June 23, 1993 by Matador Records. Upon its debut, Exile in Guyville earned standout acclaim from average listeners and veteran critics alike, with both Spin and Village Voice placing. it as the number one album of the year in their respective critics poll.
Envisioned by Phair as a track-to-track response to the Rolling Stones’ iconic 1972 album Exile on Main St., Exile in Guyville combined Phair’s penchant for indie rock with her candid observations about the world around her.
Despite its massive success and certified gold status by 1998, Phair continues to hold a complex view of the album, believing it to be a decent enough project, but perhaps not worthy of the standout celebration it often receives.
However, the album has since gone on to be frequentlyey referenced as one of the greatest albums of the decade, with Rolling Stone even featuring the project favorably on their list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
As the magazine wrote of the project, “‘Watch how fast they run to the flame,”’Liz Phair sang, and true to that promise her debut double LP set the underground on fire. Phair and co-producer Brad Wood built off the bedroom demo intimacy of Phair’s Girly-Sound cassette releases, creating a loose response record to the Rolling Stones’ Exile on Main Street (‘I had a lot to say on the subject matter they put forth,’ she told Rolling Stone).”
“Her strikingly frank sex talk caused a media stir unheard of for a ‘low-fi’ artist, but it was the caffeinated drive of songs like ‘6’1’ and ‘Never Said,’ the painterly sonic impressionism of the piano piece ‘Canary’ or the sunset majestic “Stratford-On-Guy,” and the real hurt and hunger of ‘F*ck and Run’ and ‘Divorce Song’ that made Exile hit home,” the outlet went on to add.