Rock-and-Roll Kinderwhore: Gender, Genre, and “Girlville” in Liz Phair’s Girly Sound (1991)

Abstract

This article discusses the home-recording “low-fi” project of American singer-songwriter Liz Phair. In 1991 and 1992, she recorded a collection of thirty songs on four-track DAT equipment under the moniker “Girly-Sound.” In form, the unusual recordings feature double-tracked vocals over electric and acoustic guitar. In content, they interrogate and challenge the traditional love song. Phair’s approach to songwriting features elements of textual poaching. Girly-Sound interrogates masculine rock and roll by attempting to reinterpret and remake pre-existing male rock narratives. In genre, Phair’s collection occupies intersections between riot grrrl, punk, and indie rock. It draws upon expectations about both the “girl voice” and “bedroom culture” to subvert traditional senses of “femininity” and shape the aural aesthetic of a new genre: the “girly sound.” Both sonically and lyrically, Phair uses a “kinderwhore” aesthetic to create a commentary addressing a public fascination with female sexuality and pedophilia. By giving voice to hidden, often unspoken sexual desires and experiences, the singer bears witness to the complexities of a particular female sexual experience that explores the meanings of girl culture in the context of riot grrrl and third-wave feminism in 1990s’ America.