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Way back before she became Avrilized, Chicago musician Liz Phair wowed the indie music scene with her stunning full-length debut, Exile in Guyville, an alleged song-for-song response to the Rolling Stones' Exile on Main Street. Fifteen years after Exile on Guyville's release, Phair finds herself listed as one of the greatest female guitarists by Venus Zine. The Chicago-based "leading source for coverage of women in music, art, film, fashion, and DIY culture" recently released a list of their top female guitarists of all time, itself a response to Rolling Stone's 2003 list of the top 100 guitarists of all time, a list that only included two females (Joni Mitchell and Joan Jett).
These lists are always fun to review and then complain about. "How could they leave so-and-so off?" This list is no different. We agree with most of the 46 picks Venus made. There are the obvious (Kim Deal) and the pleasantly surprising (Tanya Donelly). Though we do have our own suggestions that didn't make the cut (Julianna Hatfield, anyone?). What say you, readers? Which female guitarists hath Venus scorned?
Liz Phair image via her MySpace page
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All of Hatfield's albums since 2000 have featured her playing positively heavy-assed massive riffs. I love big noise coming from such a little girl.
And did I tell you about the time Liz Phair shot me down outside Danny's (eons ago) and I didn't even realize it was Liz Phair until after she left and the bartenders started teasing me mercilessly.
Skills. I haz them.
All of Hatfield's albums since 2000 have featured her playing positively heavy-assed massive riffs. I love big noise coming from such a little girl.
And did I tell you about the time Liz Phair shot me down outside Danny's (eons ago) and I didn't even realize it was Liz Phair until after she left and the bartenders started teasing me mercilessly.
Skills. I haz them.
Not much to hate about that list. They did include Nancy Wilson, Bonnie Raitt, Kaki King, Ruyter Suys and Lita Ford. The omission of any of those five would have made the list suspect.
Tankboy, you stud. Was this Matador-era Liz?
I've been a huge Hatfield fan for years and years. I discovered her stuff in the late 90's after being into Belly, Throwing Muses, and the Blake Babies in high school in the early 90's. Of course, I was surprised to discover that Hatfield was actually IN the Blake Babies. I was slow on the uptake even then...
There is no way in hell Liz Phair and Top Guitar player should ever be mentioned in the same sentence.
She pushes around a few bar chords and is half way decent w open chords. Add in a few 2 or 3 note solos and that's all she's got.
Alright- you can now go back to gossiping about her.
I wonder if previous generations were as obsessed with lists as we seem to be.
I was pleasantly surprised to Sister Rosetta Tharpe since I admittedly expected to see a very whitebread list of people. I was stunned not to see Thalia Zedek (Come) not on the list though, she owns a good portion of the ladies on that list.
Actually, on her first 3 albums, I think it can be argued that Phair employed a relatively unique way of playing the guitar. Being a good guitar player doesn't alway have to mean you shred, it merely needs to mean you can make the instrument speak evocatively for you.
Maybelle Carter! Damn she's probably one of the only (few?) women who's credited with actually creating a style of playing.
'relatively unique way of playing the guitar' = appregiated bar chords w open B and high E strings.
Snoooozeeeeeeeee..............
Me'Shell Ndegéocello? I guess bassists don't rank on this list, or perhaps they get their own...
Also, no Allison Robertson of The Donnas?
Jasmine re: bassists, that's the rationale I'm using for accepting Kim Gordon's absence.
Jasmine re: bassists, that's the rationale I'm using for accepting Kim Gordon's absence.
Interesting... Carrie Brownstein makes the list but not Corin Tucker. Take that Corin!
Carrie is a far, far better guitarist than Corin and I don't think anyone would argue with that, including the ladies themselves. To that end, how in the world does Rolling Stone not feature Ms. Brownstein on their list when they've added Joan Jett? Oh that's right... they are irrelevant and misguided. Not that Jett should necessarily be off, but she's not in the same league creatively or energetically speaking as Carrie.
I'll 2nd Maybelle Carter while wondering why Liz Phair would be recognized as being more than an adequate guitarist.
What about the guitarist from Heart?
No Shonen Knife?
matty, Nancy Wilson is the guitarist from heart, and she is on the list.
Nancy Wilson. She's also a serious MILF.
Jasmine: If there was a list for bassists, Me'Shell would be right at the top. Unfortunately, I wished her recorded output was as consistent as her talent. I could listen to Bitter and Comfort Woman from beginning to end. Just wished the rest of her records were as strong.
Did Liz Phair really play guitar on her first album?
Hmmmm...
Lori S. from Acid King and Emily Burton from Fireball Ministry would top my list of female guitarists. They are seriously heavy ladies. Well, normal sized ladies who play seriously heavy music.