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8 Albums Every GenX Woman Will Defend to the Death, No Notes
Come at us. We dare you.
Every generation has its untouchable canon — the albums that don’t get debated, they just get defended, loudly, by women who were in the room the first time they heard them. GenX doesn’t do this often. We’re not big on consensus.
But put the wrong opinion about any of these eight records in front of us and watch how fast the group chat turns into a courtroom.
“Exile in Guyville”— Liz Phair
This wasn’t an album that wanted to be liked. It wanted to be true, which is a different and much harder thing. Phair said the ugly parts out loud — the parts about wanting sex and resenting men and being furious and horny in the same sentence — and an entire generation of women who’d been taught to be palatable finally had a record that wasn’t asking permission.
You don’t outgrow this one. You just understand it better every decade.
“Jagged Little Pill” — Alanis Morissette
Everyone has a “You Oughta Know” story, and if you don’t, I’m not sure I believe you had a stereo — or a heart to break — in 1995. This is the album that gave us somewhere to put the rage — not the tidy, socially acceptable kind, the real kind. We…
