TRAINWRECKORDS: "Funstyle" by Liz Phair

Exile in Guyville is the most overrated piece of trash ever recorded. Just have to point that out.

Merda d'artista

Same! I was shocked to learn that people hated that song.

Stormy K.

Exile in Guyville was before my time, so I grew up really only knowing Liz Phair for Why Can't I?. Had no idea that song and the album it was on had been so controversial.

I know record companies get a lot of shtick for their decisions (and rightly so) but this is so obvious why they didn't endorse it. How do you become that delusional that you think it sounds good or even remotely listenable?

ginny

I only know of the track from the Suddenly 30 movie. From memory, it suited the montage scene quite well

ginny

Supposedley a new album called Soberish is coming out in 2021, on Chrysalis records no less. https://www.brooklynvegan.com/liz-phairs-first-album-in-a-decade-soberish-coming-out-in-2021/

Just in time for Halloween, this statement is gonna haunt me.

Laura Tate

The issue to me about Liz Phair going pop wasn't that it was a betrayal or anything -- it was that she had years of credit to her name and all she had to show for it was a song any 2nd-tier American Idol winner could have sung. I seriously thought it was an ex-Disney Channel kid singing the first time I heard. Like Daft Punk finally going pop with "Get Lucky," not only was it awesome - it was a song that really could only be done by Daft Punk. If they got a pop song on the charts and it sounded like Matchbox 20 we'd still be laughing about it.

Justin V

A new Todd video! Yay! Another artist who's just a name to me... Well, whatever! A new Todd video <3

I listened to entire albums by the Residents more sane than this.

I only got as gar as the title screen but so far it sounds like Liz Phair's version of Lawryn Hill Unplugged.

Steve

Liz's "funstyle" songs sound like what Ween defined as "brown" music, crossed with female meme rapper Kreayshawn (One Hit Wonder idea?)

forestaysaIL

*Listens to "Flower"* Oh. Ohhhhhhhhhhhh.

James

Also a ton of this sounds like stuff that'll sound way better in 20 years when some genius producer samples and recuts it for some song

ParsnipPizza

I love this series so much.

ParsnipPizza

Had to listen to Daler Mehndi's Tunak Tunak Tun to get the taste of Bollywood out of my mouth

Raymond

I think that part of the backlash over the 2003 album was the way she went on about how much she hated the indie scene and was gleefully moving on to real stardom instead. It's like how Homer had to go back to the power plant after using Mr. Burns' head as a bongo.

Kristopher Bluth

Seems to be Fiona Apple.

Erik Robbins

wow

Who's that either 90s band that's making a comeback?

I've been relistening to We're Only In It For the Money by The Mothers of Invention and honestly i think that the Zappa comparison is pretty apt.

Creamer

Real talk, Todd... are you sure this isn't the soundtrack to Marci X?

Jeff Hibbert

As one of the five people who actually bought Funstyle on CD: Yeah, I bought it for t he Girlysound disc. (and I actually LIKED Somebody's Miracle, though, weirdly, my favorite song was only on the promo version, cut from the retail version?)

Matt Keeley

Her rapping is soooooo much better than Madonna’s

PuzzleTea

For me that's still the biggest loser. At the very least "Summer of Love" is the worst single of this series.

as somewhat of an industry insider, yeah, this feels like goof jams. but there's a reason that stuff usually stays inside 😂

surasshu

this makes madonna's american life rap sound good

I swear, if you ever want to be cured of your Anglophilia, go look up the songs that hit #1 in the UK sometime. They can make Ray Stevens or The Captain & Tennille look like Leonard Cohen in comparison.

Kristopher Bluth

On the topic of Bucks Fizz: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4-lKMGII_k

Kristopher Bluth

Why can't I, hold all these limes?

Charles Kieser

hey Todd, I'm gonna brb. I feel like I definitely need more beer to get through the rest of this

Annette Smith

Real hard to be on the lookout for errors when the sound is so... whatever that was. Great video as always. Trainwreckords continues to be excellent.

Martin

Oh please. Leave the beyond-tired Yoko bashing to all the boring old Boomers.

Grace

It's like what if an album was also a shitpost.

John Seiler

this reminds me a lot of Miley Cyrus And Her Dead Petz, with the exception that that album is actually interesting and creative in a lot of ways and didn't seem to put a dent in her career

Nowhere Girl

I like it

Nowhere Girl

WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS

Nowhere Girl

Really great video! I did notice a bit of weird editing at about 2:05 where your audio cuts off mid word.

...fuck it, I'm going to have to pause the video right now to listen to Bollywood, I need time to process it

Nowhere Girl

If you like Cena coladas And watching Liz lose her brain

Dan Barber

Why would she parody MIA? Did they have beef?

Athena Alexandra

Dumb small thing I appreciate about this video - the way you put a little "feature presentation" thing after your ad, making it easy to skip when I rewatch this video 8 times like I do with all of your videos.

Shiny Skunk

If I somehow was a person who never knew what music was, and this was my first album I ever listened to, I would never want to listen to another song again.

Jojo Maben

Liz Phair is one of those artists where I knew who she was, her genre, why she was important, but gun to my head had no idea what songs were hers, so this was fascinating. ... also, I really liked In Plain Sight and wish it was remembered better.

Bollywood sounds like Missy Elliott's "Get Ur Freak On" but like in a dark alternate timeline

Michael Furey

21:25. Frank Zappa...if done by Yoko Ono.

GeddyLeeRoth

Indian music done Yoko Ono style.

GeddyLeeRoth

It's like she wanted to make an album version of Supernova, but try to create it during an healthy part of her life. This album feels like a criris.

Juan Nunez

I hope her new album is good.

RedBedroomRecords

I'd also argue for Megadeth's "Risk", Def Leppard's "X", Limp Bizkit's "Results May Vary" and Scorpions "Eye II Eye"

RedBedroomRecords

I feel the same about Nirvana's "Nevermind" even Cobain himself admitted to not liking it very much.

RedBedroomRecords

video has been blocked

RedBedroomRecords

That's Eurovision winning 80's band Bucks Fizz! Never forget their Eurovision win!

Jonathan

Wow that last song is a lot more unfiltered id than I'm comfortable listening to

Lanth

At least people like Jewel, MC Hammer, Arrested Development, and even Robin Thicke had “listenable” albums on this show, if this is what she truly is stripped down without the labels, mangers, or executives, then she is a very disturbed woman.

Nick Kovacs

This is, without a doubt, the worst album you've ever featured. It's *unlistenable* in a way that is striking even for Trainwreckords.

Matt Cramp

I don’t know what it is about this video, but it just has that same feel to older videos, and with an equally campy album to back it up, I absolutely loved it. Only you would focus on an album that came out 7 years after after the album everyone else perceives to be the actual “Trainwreckord”.

Nick Kovacs

I read that she was always a fan of pop, contrary to the stereotype of indie rockers. She may have had struggles with her labels, but give her credit, she's not a snobby stick-in-the-mud.

Jacqueline Sailer

There was always quite an inner-child to Liz Phair, whether it be dressing as a schoolgirl and calling herself an "average everyday sane psycho supergoddess" or arguably even some of the undiluted thoughts on Exile. The Funstyle tracks though prove how that's not always a good thing.

Jacqueline Sailer

That Bollywood song sounds all right... for a Nicki Minaj song. Nah, it sounds like one of Nicki’s most unlistenable singles.

Gilbert Cortes

Lol. Speaking of long coming requests, is St. Anger coming up on your list? I KNOW people have nagging about that one since you started the series XP

Angela

Well, “Funstyle” certainly is no “Two The Hard Way”, but what is. Always glad to wake up to a new Trainwreckords.

Rex Crum

What if Liz Phair was never good in the first place? She may have been canny enough to use "controversy" and horny hipsters to put herself on the map, but Exile in Guyville may be the most overrated "classic" in rock history. It's staggering how much nothing is on the that album. I hated it in 1993, and I hate it today.

Kristopher Bluth

I've always enjoyed seeing what visual you'd use for songs that don't have music videos or live footage to pull from, this really those she cake as far as "giving you a visual impression of what listening to the song is like" goes

Jared Walske

Yeah, we knew this one was coming.

muddlewait

When I was fresh out of college in the early 2000s, a girl I was working with made me a mix CD that opened with Liz Phair's "Flower" followed by The Odds' "Break The Bed." As you can probably guess, I got the hint. That girl really hated the self-titled album.

James Eldred

I lost track of what Liz Phair was doing after the 2003 album. I had no idea this even existed, what a mess! I do hope she manages a late career redemption.

Vanessa Picard

Why Can't I is my favorite Liz Phair song. It's catchy, it's got a nice beat and build, the video is pretty good, and (most importantly), it reminds me of someone I was crushing on at the time. I like odd other tracks of hers from throughout her career as well. This is...well, it fits the theme. Oh, and since saying I like "Why Can't I?" by Liz Phair on the internet is possibly more edgy than QANON, I'll add to the edge by saying the original critical consensus on Weezer's Pinkerton was correct. It's garbage, and they should have done Buddy Holly and disappeared like nature intended.

Keith Badje

I knew all about Liz Phair ... except this. The only song I'd heard from this was "And He Slayed Her," and I frankly loved it. Sure, it's about her dick-ish record exec, but you can actually translate the lyrics into other situations. But yikes. I think the analogue here is less "Self-Portrait" and more "Metal Machine Music." But while she hasn't released a new *album*, the 2019 single "Good Side" (briefly played here) is pretty good. Now I'm wondering, though, if it's a final postcard. I hope not. I saw her live at Aimee Mann's Christmas show about five years ago, and she's just delightful.

Beau Dure

I vaguely remembered Liz Phair from that one hit single, "Why Can't I Breathe", but knew little about her otherwise. As usual, Todd delivers the goods on some fairly intriguing backstory.

GregD

The first single is basically this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxYl6sOPbuI

me

Don't know much from Liz Phair or Alanis but that sounds like it would have been an awesome show.

I was supposed to see her in May...but *gestures wearily at everything* Her, Garbage, and Alanis. *sigh*

Matthew Abbott

I think this has overtaken Summer In Paradise as the worst album done on Trainwreckords.

...what the fuck did I just listen to

Sam Frederich

Time for me to learn literally anything about Liz Phair. Maybe this album would have been better if the entire album was just stupid skits.

Penius colada, jesus christ. Also, why is the thumbnail the actual album cover and not an illustration?

Castleknackers

oh that was a biig oof

When I saw a notification from Todd for some reason I had the idea that we'd be getting a pop song review of Dreams by Fleetwood Mac, but this is good also