2008 marks the 15 year anniversary of the release of Liz Phair’s middle finger of an album Exile in Guyville. Its re-release has been getting a lot of publicity on blogs and public radio stations because for many, it was a landmark album, a defining album of their teens-to-early twenties. I didn’t get into Liz Phair until after I graduated high school, but the recent hullabaloo over Exile in Guyville got me thinking about the albums that really defined my formative years. Here is a list of my top five:

5. Relationship of Command: At the Drive-In

I mostly listened to grrl rock like Tori and Fiona, but something about the rawness of lead singer Cedric Bixler’s (now of the far inferior Mars Volta) voice and the frantic intensity of the music really appealed to me. Maybe it was an outlet for my teenage anger and angst, or maybe it just made me feel cool. Either way, the album still kicks ass.

4. Rated R: Queens of the Stone Age

I listened to this album over and over after I broke up with my first boyfriend. It’s not an especially sad album, so I don’t know why it brought me so much comfort, but it really became a security blanket. I can’t listen to it now without feeling a little sad and really, really nostalgic. Which is a shame, because it also kicks ass. Read More »

Every girl who is a fan of a band has her favorite guy. It’s a fact. Even if she likes the band 95% because of their music, I can guarantee you that she at least likes the band 5% for the boy on stage who she’s got a crush on.

I was spoon-fed Nirvana and multiple other Seattle bands from my older brother during my preteen years. I was just learning what it was to be attracted to a boy then and Kurt Cobain was the first object of my displaced infatuation. His mystique to me was an amalgam of talent, drug use, insanity, humility, and…oh yeah…the fact that he was dead. I focused so much of my hormonal energy on Kurt Cobain that I never looked behind the drum set to scope out that long haired drummer who kind of looked like a horse. Dave Grohl, as far as I was concerned, was just Kurt’s drummer. And I wasn’t the only person who saw it in this stupidly ridiculous way.

Over the years, I’ve grown older and beyond my stage of having crushes on deceased boys. As I’ve become more in tune with the world of music with each day, it’s been hard not to notice something about the former Nirvana member: He never quits. When I found out he was playing with one of my favorite bands, Queens of The Stone Age, a few years back, my interest was aroused. It seems as though between the Foo Fighters, his own metal throwback band Probot, and countless other projects…the man just never stops.

So while perusing the biography section at the library a couple weeks ago, I had to give the Dave Grohl biography a bit of a double take. Sealed together with a black and white cover that gracefully stretches his married and not-so-horse-like-anymore face across it, the book simply called out to me to take a peek. Not only was it an easy read, but I now officially have a new crush. Read More »

Making a sex playlist is a difficult and delicate process. One first has to consider what kind of love one wishes to make, and then choose the music accordingly. This particular mix starts out slow but ends on a…well…bang.

“Superheroes” By Esthero

“Black Milk” By Massive Attack

(Every single song from Massive Attack’s Mezzanine. I stand by the assertion that this is the single best love making cd ever made.)

“Strangers on a Train” By Lovage

“2Wicky” By Hooverphonic

“#1 Crush” By Garbage

“Glory Box” By Portishead

“Overcome” By Tricky

“Lusty” By Lamb

“Inertia Creeps” By Massive Attack

“Digital Bath” By Deftones

“Rev 22:20” By Puscifer

“Skin on Skin” By Queens of the Stone Age

[You KNOW you have some additions. What's on YOUR Sexy Playlist??]

I “spring clean” at least once every season. Nothing thrills me more these days than getting rid of crap I don’t use. It’s refreshing, it’s helpful, and it’s totally impossible without a good playlist to get you up and motivated enough to start, continue, and FINISH the job.

I’ve got a pretty sweet playlist on my Itunes for these special cleaning days and I would highly recommend that you investigate getting some of these songs for your busy bee days, too.

“Blanket” by: Autolux –it’s: Indie/Rock

“Grow up & blow away” by: Metric –it’s: Rock

“Non Photo-Blue” by: Pinback –it’s: Indie/Alternative

“A perfect day Elise” by: PJ Harvey –it’s: Indie/Alternative

“3’s & 7’s” by: QOTSA –it’s: Rock/Alternative

“Straight Lines” by: Silverchair –it’s: Rock/Alternative

“Jumpers” by: Sleater-Kinney –it’s: Pop Punk/Garage

“Bohemian Like You” by: The Dandy Warhols –it’s: Indie/Rock

“Love is Paranoid” by: The Distillers –it’s: Punk/Grunge

“Sideways in Reverse” by: Mark Lanegan –it’s: Rock

Throw on some of these songs and then try to tell me you weren’t motivated to clean!