Liz Phair “Whip-Smart” 1994. White vinyl. Matador Records. Today, April 17th, is Liz Phair’s 50th birthday (b. Elizabeth Clark Phair, 1967). Whip-Smart is Phair’s second album; it’s not my favorite of hers but the only one we have on vinyl (I prefer her critically acclaimed debut Exile in Guyville and her 1998 release Whitechocolatespaceegg, both of which we own on CD – sadly this applies to most of the 90′s when vinyl was out of favor for many artists). Whip-Smart was fairly successful, debuting at #27 on the album charts with a Top 10 modern rock hit (#74 on the Hot 100), the danceable, swirly, poppy “Supernova.” It was also nominated for a Grammy in the Best Female Rock Performance category. Phair released two more singles: “Whip-Smart” and “Jealousy” but both failed to gain much traction; “Whip-Smart” made it to #24 on the Modern Rock chart but not the Hot 100 and “Jealousy” did not chart at all.

Most of the album is lo-fi (with the exception of the highly produced “Supernova”) and, like most of Phair’s writing, Whip-Smart focuses on love and sex: “a rock fairy tale, from meeting the guy, falling for him, getting him and not getting him, going through the disillusionment period, saying ‘Fuck it,’ and leaving, coming back to it.“ I have a friend who is a year or two older than me who was at Oberlin College the same time as Liz Phair. I remember her telling me that Liz had an, um, active love life. My friend is an outspoken, opinionated feminist not prone to slut-shaming so for her to comment on this, well, Phair must have really been out there. That said, the experiences provided a wealth of musical material.