Back To Guyville

I was going to post last week about Scott Miller's 1993 installment on "Music—What Happened?", particularly his assessment that Liz Phair's Exile In Guyville "was certainly the album of the decade" in the 90s. Scott didn't do an entry this week, so 1993 is still his latest one, and still timely.

In my opinion EIG (not to be confused with AIG, which I bought last week along with every other US taxpayer) is almost certainly not the album of the decade. I bought it shortly after it came out (based on the overwhelming acclaim) and liked it well enough, but it didn't change my life (ala the Shins).

I've been revisiting the album this year, and it would probably be somewhere in my 1993 top five, if I limited my top five to albums by female artists. Not as good PJ Harvey's Rid Of Me or Aimee Mann's Whatever, and about equal to Bjork's Debut or Sheryl Crow's first album. Probably the best of the three good Liz Phair albums before the turn of the century, but not noticeably better than it's successor Whipsmart. But (back to Scott Miller) only half as good as Plants and Birds and Rocks and Things.. how can Scott call something the "album of the decade" when he made at least three better albums in the same decade?

Anyway, here's a nine track mix of some of Scott's faves from 1993. It was a really strong year for music, the year when "Alternative" became "Mainstream".

Music: What Happened? - 1993

1. "All Apologies" - Nirvana
2. "Cherub Rock" - Smashing Pumpkins
3. "Cannonball" - Breeders
4. "I Heard Ramona Sing" - Frank Black
5. "Metal Mickey" - Suede
6. "Radio" - Teenage Fanclub
7. "Sister Havana" - Urge Overkill
8. "Definite Door" - The Posies
9. "Stratford-On-Guy" - Liz Phair