Liz Phair: Liz Phair (Capitol, 2003)
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Liz Phair fans hated this album before it was released. They heard she’d sold out. They heard that there was two tracks produced by THE MATRIX (the producers behind Avril Lavigne’s “Complicated”), for crissake. They felt let down. They felt taken in. “How could you betray us like this?” they said, clutching their copies of Whip Smart to their chests; “How could you go commercial on us?”

Cursed with disproportionately good looks, Phair released her first album, Exile in Guyville – a song-by-song response to the Stones’ Exile on Main Street – and became the new Betty Page for tens of thousands of indy dorks (yeah, me included). From that point on she was doomed. Whatever she did next was going to disappoint. Whipsmart, Phair's second album sizzles with smart, smart-arse lyrics and alt-pop hooks - it was a great set in it's own right, but it wasn't Guyville. Liz Phair was Phair’s fourth album. With each release she was losing the alternative press – this one severed the ties.

Never mind these guys are now ten years older and many don’t still live with their mothers and some might have got day jobs, even been on a real date. A girl has to eat. In 2003 Phair was a single mother who made a pragmatic decision to chase the dollar. And she did this without compromising her values as a lyricist. If you pull your head out of your ass long enough to listen to some of the Michael Penn produced tracks, you’ll hear the same Liz you had that crush on before she broke your heart.