The Rolling Stones recorded Exile on Main Street, the loose template for Guyville's 18 tracks- and one of the blues-rock genomes that saved this from being just another singer-songwriter set.
Rock critics like Bill Wyman brought Phair to Chicago's attention when they ranted and raved about Guyville weeks before the thing came out. And guys can take plenty of credit for Phair's early career. The other tactic is to take credit for what she's done. So instead, the guys who dig a girl like Liz Phair have to play up the attraction, the lust, the submission to a rock'n'roll goddess- even when, for many of them, the lust ain't the main draw. But when a man tries to identify with a woman, he doesn't just hit the normal problems of 'white male gaze' and 'exploitation of the other' and 'being a jackass': There's also the third rail of male sexuality, where identifying too closely with a woman might make you seem, perish the thought, sensitive. The white suburban kids who idolize gangster rappers are old news, and the rich kids have always loved to rub elbows with the poor. You break all kinds of unwritten rules when you're a guy who admires a girl.