The state of pop music is generally good these days. Rap-Metal & their Sensitive Progressive-Rock Crooner buddies seem to have relaxed their grip on mainstream radio. MTV is playing Interpol and Zwan, along with Jarassic 5 and Eminem… that is, when they’re actually playing videos.
In addition to the new bands getting mainstream attention, it seems to me that several artists are making a come back of sorts. Look at Billy Corgan with Zwan… and look at Liz Phair– who is trying to shed not only her “blow-job Queen” indie cred from the early-90s, but also the boring Lilith Fair mommy reincarnation of her last album.
Tracks from the new album, posted on her website, reveal some interesting tidbits about her new album.
1) She wants to sell records Despite being an immensely talented song-writer and performer, she’s never sold more than a few hundred-thousand records. She hired the hit-makers behind Avril Levigne Lavigne to produce, and the result is candy for the under-17 Avril crowd.
2) She sounds like Avril Levigne Lavigne! I have no beef with Avril– she’s fun, cool, and all that. But, Liz was real. She had a fragility to her that reminded boys like me of the girl-next-door… She also possessed a unique perspective on love and relationships, which she brought to her song-writing. The new songs are rocking, to be sure, but too carefully processed, so that they sound like just another L.A. studio job.
(I can’t believe I just used the word ‘fragility’ in a music entry. apologies.)
Still, would I like to hear Liz on mainstream radio, and see her on MTV? Yea. I just wish she’d use someone like Sheryl Crow as a model, instead of a 17-year old French-Canadian wanna-be.
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