Vanity Phair

Little Big Man

Tragically, after twisting herself into position #204 from the Rock 'n' Roll Kama Sutra, Liz Phair threw her back out

Related Content

• 7 defiant back to school songs
  September 4, 2012
• Sky Ferreira and How to Dress Well at Triple Rock, 4/1/13
  April 2, 2013
• K. Flay on John Hughes, leaving Stanford, & Valentine's Day wishes
  February 10, 2012
• Liz Phair at the Fine Line, 1/20/11
  January 21, 2011
• Volume 1: Through the Lens of Music Photographer Rob Shanahan
  March 14, 2012

More About

• Liz Phair
• Tom Scholz
• Avril Lavigne
• Veruca Salt
• Mecca

Sooner or later, the foxiest of us will have to embrace the titillation of the ordinary. The alternatives are either too depressing (a post-orgasmic old age) or exhausting (continually recruiting new bedmates, devising strenuous new techniques, incorporating innovative technology). The jaded boast "I scored again last night" on "Bionic Eyes" is in the spirit of "the old Liz Phair" her former admirers wish would return, but the song rocks with weary persistence that underlines the futility of following that course. By contrast, the plasticity of pop insists that you don't have to look to others for excitement because you can constantly reinvent yourself and your surroundings. Phair has immersed herself in the sound of "Complicated" as a way of rejecting the moral of "Complicated": The most important thing in the world is to, like, always be yourself and stuff. Maybe Liz's detractors have more in common with Avril than they think.