TRAINWRECKORDS: "Funstyle" by Liz Phair
Вставка
- Опубліковано 21 жов 2020
- Oof, this one is nuts. Indie rock royalty Liz Phair made a pop album and got called a sellout left and right, so instead she made a baffling, bizarre shitpost of an album to destroy her image once and for all. (Go to expressvpn.com/toddintheshadows and find out how you can get 3 months free!)
MY FUNSTYLE
DETERMINES MY DEATHSTYLE
Hahah! Love it.
Uh oh, I think you're a genius
underrated comment
*donk* *donk* *donk* *donk*
@@rabbitsrefuse Holy shit, I found Lars
This album is awful but she was, like, 12% of the way to inventing 100 gecs.
hindsight is 20/20
What is 100 GECS?
12 gecs
@@PorkchopGMX Lol.
@@roadwarrior114 I'm gonna take a guess and say it's a band like primus but more electronic and has lyrics about penius colada
Big white girl discovered weed in her 30s energy on this one
If she had composed on Weeds, it would have been perfect.
This is the most accurate comment.
@@KrisRN23935um, k Liz calm down
Sam Witwicky’s mom
🎶I reached my representative who pulled out the 🎶
C O N T R A C T
*incomprehensible chipmunk noises*
This part has heavy zappa vibes, to give it a bit of credit, I guess. Reminds me of Cosmic Debris
@@JK-gm6kk I think this is why I actually like it. I'm a huge Zappafan and this just tickles the same whimsybone.
Fr some of the vocal effects in the "Funstyle" songs sound like really bad UA-cam Poops
@@JK-gm6kk feels more like the adventures of greggery peccary to me lol
This album sounds like she submitted a doctoral thesis typed entirely in Comic Sans and Wingdings and then got offended when the professor failed her
source(s): dude trust me
"When all else fails" must have been the college motto when in reality it fails anyway.
If she did punk it would be less bad, but even though I love punk it can make everyone sound good
@@screamingbanshee1282 punk can't make MGK sound good
As someone with a doctorate: I concur
"Peñis colada?" Now that's what I call a cocktail.
This should have more likes. 😆
EDIT: It now has a large enough amount of likes to where this comment isn't necessary, but I'll keep it up anyway.
I can’t believe how hard I laughed at that
With special appeal to gay men and wine moms.
Penis Colada? More like PENIS ALOTTA!
@@rubywest5166 heyooooooo!
if she had released this 10 years later it would just be hailed as ironic post-ironic hyperpop xx
or she could re release it and remix like Rebecca black did with Friday
It’d probably still be pretty racist, though.
I object to this on the basis that hyperpop sounds good in comparison
fr Food House would be ALL OVER THIS lmfao
Racist?@@theoneandonlymichaelmccormick
That "Mitski album produced by Marshmello" joke still keeps me up at night.
It’s a terrifying thought
I’ve seen this video so many times and it always makes me laugh, such a cursed thought
Cursed beyond all measure, is what I’d say if I was dramatic.
😱
Well, once Bjork being produced by Timbaland sounded bad, maybe Mitski could bring the best in Marshmallow haha
Yeah two drastically different artist teaming up most likely doesn’t end up with best result.
This sounds like the fake pop songs they put on the radio in the gta games to make fun of american pop stars
Lol, yes
THESE ARE JUST THE SHITTY gta ads inbetween songs mostly
xD
I HAAATE SATURDAYS!
The "This looks/sounds like something you'd see on GTA" comments are soooo tired and annoying by this point.
@@keyboardking777 This album does sound like corny and kitschy GTA music, though. Her hilariously earnest interview at 12:10 even sounds like the absurd humor of the GTA radio
"MTV Unplugged" by Lauryn Hill was literally a woman mid-breakdown live onstage and *_THIS_* still sounds more unhinged.
Yeah. Lauryn Hill on MTV Unplugged was just unhinged enough to be sad, not SO unhinged that it swings back around to being hilarious. That's this. And late period Kanye.
It also kinda reminds me of Cut the Crap because all the "funstyle" songs are mixed badly and filled with annoying effects.
It's like some suburban mom you know from the grocery store mentions in passing that she used to do music decades ago, and she winds up catching up with an old friend and they "record an album" just as an excuse to hang out and have a beer and see what recording with a computer is like while remembering the old days. It's just super confusing that it got released.
Agreed. I have no idea how, but this is unhinged enough it flies into "wtf is this embarrassing shit" territory.
you were not kidding
Honestly "I'm sure it was fun for you Liz" is a perfect description of the album.
This album is the perfect example of how just because you enjoy making it and it's cathartic and fun for you, doesn't mean it needs to be released to the public.
That's just the thing - probably every artist ever has made these goofy tracks to relieve the stress of the studio grind. They are fun for them and their friends, but nobody else should hear them.
That's why artists usually have the common sense of **not releasing them**.
@@OrgaNik_Music I'm reminded of John and Paul doing funny voices for extended periods, annoying the shit out of George.
This was basically she recording her brain farts and expecting people to pay money for them
If she'd just released it as a free EP of just the weird shit, I don't think Todd would be talking about it at all because nobody would've given a shit (except for the people who absolutely would've loved it for its sheer batshittery). It might've even made for a better overall reaction, even if the critics still would've said, "I have no fucking idea what this was supposed to be".
me every time i rewatch this video: wow haha what a bad album!
my brain on loop for the next two weeks: i was tripping looking at my portfolioooo-
I actually kind of like the funny voices she does.
fck, same - i don't know why, but i go back to this video at least every two-three months and with every rewatch i start to have even stronger desire to listen to these "fun style tracks"
The best comment on the video of that song: "I hate that I don't hate this."
I keep getting that December songs chorus stuck in my head 😭
LET'S SMOKE ON THAT
LET'S SMOKE ON THAT 🚬
This whole album almost seems like a Its Always Sunny In Philadelphia gag where Dee Reynolds makes an album
Yess 😂
I can't unhear it now. I need this album. Not the Liz Phair album, the Dee Reynolds comedy Bollywood rap album.
I can totally see dee saying that pěnis colada line with her smug "i think im funny" smirk after 😂😂
Omg hahaha this is the best comment😂
The Gang Makes A Shit Record
The Funstyle-type tracks sound like when you have too many tabs open and they're all playing different audio.
that would be JPEGMafia
@Death Hand Studios At least Mr. Bungle's music is good. The 4 "funstyle" tracks sound like a bungled (sorry for the pun) attempt at mixing different genres or playing different things all at once.
I thought you wrote Funhouse
She mentioned in a podcast she actually does that. Plays different music in tabs and layers them
@@leetorry Stooges slander
This entire album is the embodiment of the feeling you get when you accidentally double up on your sleep medication, and then when you realize your mistake it's too late when the last thing you hear is "peñis colada" before you fall into a coma.
😂
this is very specific. are you speaking from experience?
@@emmettyoung7603 I plead the fifth
r jew ok??
hyperpop has farrah abraham's "my teenage dream ended," an unknown future genre has liz phair's "funstyle"
That genre is "Whatever it is Lemon Demon are doing"
@@EngineerLume No thank you, I'm not sure we can handle this being a full on genre.
Horror on a Lovecraftian level
i think i've found it:
ua-cam.com/video/9poMU5bcE14/v-deo.html
@bthsr7113 Y'all are weak then. I could handle an entire genre based on two trucks
Wow. A wine mom sh*tpost but its an album
I feel like Liz is one of those people who might actually see this video... Hi Liz.
didnt halsey talk to todd once
@@Ene-Chan yeah she did on twitter
@@faro8784 You got a link on that? I’m definitely curious now.
also that one guy from arrested development (the rap group)
@@SilverSpireZ He just says sorry in the comments
Todd: "Peñius Colada is not gonna win you a Grammy, Liz!"
The Grammys: "and the nominees are, Yummy by Justin Bieber..."
Did it win?
@@daelen.cclark Thank God no, but then again would it be nominated for ANYTHING wasn't it a piece by Justin Bieber?
@@walmorcarvalho2512 worst song of the year
(Sad trap beat noises)
abcdefu
-the grammies
Okay but "my husband doesn't let me buy those tabloid magazines because he says it makes me fight with him more" is actually fucking hilarious
I kind of don’t blame him.
@@alannahfisherman1321Missing the joke?
I mean, she never stopped being funny or clever, it’s just that even funny and clever people sound like raving lunatics recording piss-take tracks at 2 in the morning 😂
@@SuperJNG18 I mean she did say the album cost her "many nights of sleep" so I can imagine sleep deprivation as a result of recording/mixing sh!t in the dead of night played a part in creating the insanity that is this album.
I couldn’t stop laughing
"What experimental music sounds like to people who hate experimental music" - the album
When’s that Liz Phair X 100 Gecs collab song coming out to officially cap off the pure horrorshow that is 2020
Actually “Liz Phair & The 100 Gecs” sounds like a cool band name
You took the words right out of my mouth!
How experimental music _made by_ people who hate experimental music sounds like
You mean Lou Reed’s “Metal Machine Music”? :P
@@christmashake8968 I’ll still defend that album. This album is.... well... not good.
If you like Peñis Coladas and throwing your career down the drain.
Hopefully you won't get caught in the rain with it
I was tried of my manager, we'd been together too long,
Like a worn out recording
Of a favorite song
So while he hid in his office
I read the paper at the booth
And in the personal columns
There was this letter I read
If you like penis coladas, and throwing your career down the drain
If you're not into labels
If you don't have a brain
If you like making fart noises at midnight
At the dudes on the cape
Then I've got the album you've looked for
Write to me, and escape...
I had more fun writing this comment, then I did listening to this album.
So I wrote in the comments,
Although I'm nobody's poet, I think it isn't half as bad
as the lyrical choices behind "Penis Coladas"
(chorus again)
@@nomobobby God damn, that was better than any of the lyrics on that album.
@@nomobobby Not bad, actually!
@@nomobobby damn dude, that’s impressive
Todd tapping out after Peñis Colada is probably my favorite Trainwreckords moment so far.
As an Indian guy, I find "Bollywood" so bad it's good. Sign her to compose the score for Slumdog Millionaire 2. 😁
Slumdog millionaire 2: the ressurection of salim the liz Phair song bollywood plays as he wakes up in the bathtub as a zombie man and it ends with his journey through the city to join the dance number from the end of the first movie
@@joshuabrien2970 😂😂😂
Unfortunately the rest of the world doesn't care what India thinks
Do Indian people really hate on Slumdog Millionaire that much, I liked that movie
"My husband doesn't let me buy tabloid magazines because he says it makes me fight with him more" sounds like something I would see on a surreal meme in pink text next to an oversaturated picture of a crude 3D model of a chimpanzee on a tricycle spinning in place while "big time rush" plays in the background.
Just gives me one of those vibes, ya' know?
Wut?
@@ralphjosephacobo8014 You heard me.
Although it's text I can see it
Lmao
Not familiar with gif or videos in this format, but the zoomer meme images will totally go with that frase and I will chuckle
"I think I'm a genius
You're being a penius
Colada that is"
That's the most gloriously stupid collection of lyrics I've ever heard, like parody can't top this
She just flat-out went ahead with pronouncing it 'penius' and I love that for her and us and the world at large.
... large penuis colada, that is
What does that even mean?
My God. Skye Sweetnam at 14 years old wrote more sophisticated material than this. A lot more sophisticated.
I didn't believe the anti-hype until I got to this part of the video. Like, holy cow, I make terrible jokes, but never as gut-punchingly dumb as that.
Liz Phair trying to be Annie Hardy, but she's no Annie Hardy.
I gotta say though, considering the context, 'And He Slayed Her' is a good play on words.
I think that sound could've possibly had legs if it weren't attached to the rest of the album tbh
'And He Slayed Her':
Liz, Fair.
To borrow another comment, he ought to change his name to Andy Slater Career.
@@SaltpeterTaffy PFFFFF BAAAA HA HA HA
@@SaltpeterTaffy holy shit, "And He Slayed Her Career" would be such a good fucking title for this song, especially for this album's theme. It's so on-the-nose yet also subtle with the wordplay, but it gives enough clues for you to research the context.
I just realized this is the first Trainwreckords to not have a "Todd-ified" Version of the album art.
I feel as if his cover art designer got tired.
Cause it doesn't need too, that cover says everything the video says without the words. Fucking look at it. It like they bought it on the street for $15
I wonder what happened to the original thumbnail artist? They were really good
@@sunettas9738 yeah I wonder too
@@sunettas9738If I recall correctly, the artist who does both Todd's and Phelous' older thumbnails was Andrew Dickman, who now has a more mainstream career working for Warner Brothers.
After careful consideration, I have determined that "peñis colada" is the greatest song lyric of all time, and I will not hear a word to the contrary.
She should have just left out the "colada that is" bit and it would've been at least a bit funnier and more compact.
@@isetmfriendsofire NOT A WORD TO THE CONTRARY (though, you make a good point.)
Milf Hunter beat her to the punch 7 years prior.
...don't ask how I know that. Nor click on that folder labeled "Taxes."
@@isetmfriendsofire honestly I think that addition (well, mostly that weird country guitar lick right after) makes it even funnier, though I'm still not entirely sure how much of my laughter at that is ironic.
Well, A Tribe Called Quest had one called “Pubic Enemy”
This episode felt really different from other trainwreckords. Instead of the other ones where he catalogs why the album fails, he seems more like a tour guide showing you that yes, this is really what she made.
I mean, it makes sense. You just kinda have to listen to it, and then you understand why the album failed.
It's utterly baffling that she thought this was a good idea. She went from edgy teen to cringey wine mom, and I'm honestly not sure how to cope with that.
@@WobblesandBean To paraphrase Todd's episode on Saint Anger, "when you have no other ideas, you will cling to your bad ideas like a life raft, because at least they're *ideas."* Given that Liz seemed to run out of the kind of material that she built her early albums on, her attempt to go mainstream backfired horribly, and trying to split the difference between her old and new sounds pleased nobody, the only options she had left were to take a long break to recharge - which she did eventually do - or start dusting off the ideas she'd previously thrown out, or would have thrown out earlier in her career.
@@Talisguy thank God she eventually did take a break, because Soberish is such a breath of fresh air
@@atlassolid5946 oh cool I didn’t know she had new material
And now in 2021, Liz's album "Soberish" is one of Todd's favorites of the year. What a comeback.
Where did he say that? I don't see reviewed or at "The Top Ten Best Hit Songs of 2021."
He’s joking.
@@calmbbaer Mic the Snare made a Christmas video, Todd appears near the end
@@crescentmoonrising4852 video title?
@@joshuacoleman8000 I believe it’s in his Eiffel 65 Christmas special
ever since Todd introduced me to this album I've had Bollywood unironically in my playlist. Todd you bastard give my music taste back
Smoke kind of legitimately slaps tho. What is my life
Your music taste is in the FILE CABINET
I’ve had u hate it in my playlist. Genuinely in my top 20 favorite songs of all time.
Legit have rewatched Todd's review so many times that now it sounds catchy to me but I refuse to commit
Just added it ffs what is wrong with me.
That "satirical" song makes #selfie by the Chainsmokers sound like intelligent commentary on the vapidness of society.
@@frederickshaibani5655 it's because they had a string of 3 very good, very distinct hits in 2016 and so they built up a ton of good will. But they squandered it quickly
I thought of "Selfie" TOOOO!!!!! Glad someone commented.
@Pete Harrison ua-cam.com/video/dQw4w9WgXcQ/v-deo.html
wwwWWHAT?! that song is by the Chainsmokers?! I did not know that, I never would’ve guessed. I figured it was some random one hit wonder.
@Furbydude05 Well, attempted. Their recent music is considered mediocre instead of good or bad, which is arguably worse
Anybody else kinda disappointed the whole album isn't "funstyle" songs? I mean if you are gonna record weird music go whole hog on that shit.
as cliche as this is, some of it really sounds proto-gecs
@@familyguyfreemoviedownload8314 the peñis colada one literally sounds like it could replace i need help immediately
@@familyguyfreemoviedownload8314 I see what you are saying, but to me it's more pre-Corey Feldman maybe?
Yes! As long as the lyrics could be about something other than her label troubles, anyway. Honestly, I think that Andy Slater song is a bigger trainwreck than the "funstyle" tracks, just for being such a weak-ass Sheryl Crow knockoff.
Nah, I legit love “Oh Bangladesh.”
The only thing I have to say about this album is that, Liz Phair has a pretty convincing Harley Quinn impression.
Now that's a concept album!
What this sounds like to me is panic that happens when a songwriter's creative tap shuts off suddenly for no reason. They're left flailing in all directions thinking, "theres got to be enough of the old genius in my skull to fill another album. Maybe doing something different will get the juices flowing again."
I got that distinct impression with the Human League "Crash" episode. Two years to write six songs, with not a trace of inspiration in any of them.
Don't forget being in the industry too long. There's not enough time to have proper life experience to provide inspiration for meaningful songs. That's why all she's left singing about is contracts and executives.
@@littlekingtrashmouth9219 That's very much the reason why Exile In Guyville is her most highly regarded work even 28 years after it's release.
As an aspirating creative (cringe as that sounds) the internal monologue can go something like this:
This thing I just made is alright, not bad at all. Oh, but look at that thing over there, it’s so popular everyone likes it, maybe I should make my thing more like that? No, stick to your idea, that’s the best move. But wait, there is a 2nd thing and it’s similar to my thing and no1 likes it? But my thing is different, it’s better… but isn’t that what everyone thinks though? Oh and look at that 3rd thing, I really like that 3rd thing maybe I should make my original thing more like the 3rd thing and less like the 2nd and throw in a peppering of the 1st thing? Great. Right, my thing doesn’t make sense any more… and I can’t remember why I’m doing this.
I’m a genius, I’m a loser, I’m gonna rock the world, my dog could do a better job.
Man, I dunno why, but your comment brought to my mind images of dying cave divers, and that makes me feel more sad for her.
That “Bollywood” song gives out a really strong Middle Aged white mom vibe
It's like if Gwyneth Paltrow crapped out an album and put it up on Goop.
@@patchchrist Don't give her any ideas
I think that was the point.
The Soundtrack for Karens all over the world!
IDK why I keep coming back. I'm truly baffled by the cloud of eastern flavored mix, mean spirited mockery and lack of a point. Like if you're going to play with eastern rifts, USE it to say SOMETHING. A spiritual journey, or you faced your fears and found out something about yourself. 15:35 And if you're going to mock someone for being dumb, try to write the song so that it highlights why there wrong. Instead of just putting them in a dumb voice to be ridiculed.
But then again I just thought about this album more than Liz did pre-release so...
“No Liz, penis colada is not gonna win you a Grammy” is the best thing Todd has ever written. It is a triumph in writing. I love it
You know, it's pe-NIUS...
Also "exile from tasteville"
He's gotta be careful though. Chris Jericho got there first
What about 'Exile From Tasteville'? 🤪 Seriously though, I think 'take that Deirdre' was an infinitely better and much, much more inspired line.
Man, I remember Mike C Town losing his shit whe Lil Wayne said Penis Colada
Having finally actually broken down and listened to this thing, the part I can't believe is that "penius colada" is in the CHORUS of that song. IT. REPEATS TWICE. PENIUS COLADA. WAS GOOD ENOUGH TO REPEAT 😵💫
Liz's cadence and delivery when she said "it's kinda like rock-pop-folk-feminism.........rap" made it sound like a line from the Tim & Eric "Prices" bit. "14, 11, 2.49.....................3".
TIMS PRICES SHATTER TO THE GROUND
YOU COME TO ME YOU GET 19.99
FOR 20 DOLLARS.
@@basedsouljahme me, I'm a premium prices man!
hi, me momo Liz Phair
Looking forward to Liz Phair's next song, "Toad in this Haddows"
@Navarro Dodge That's far too legit a good concept to be used.
Toad in these Hallows?
Nathan's son
Probably Toad in the Shallows, that's generally a place where toads hang out
Yeah, there's gonna be some bad Bollywood loops, a high pitched Chipette voice, and a baby xylophone playing one of her Exile in Guyville songs while she makes fun of his opinions, accompanied by a music video where she drags him to the desert and mocks shooting him. It'll be like MC Hammer, except less dangerous and even more asinine.
the idea of a mitski album produced by marshmallow genuinely made me gag
Who exactly is Mitski? I don't really keep in touch with pop music.
@@EpicB google is just a click away.
@@EpicB she's an upcoming indie rock/dream pop artist that everyone is going crazy about
@Peacetime 420 Mitski has been around for years! She's one of the best alternative rock artists to come out in decades
“Peñus colada” is my new pet name for my boyfriend, thanks Liz
The boy disapproves, vehemently. It's perfect 😼
@@user-sf4fy8bq1h just for reference, did the relationship survive?
@mipmipmipmipmip, not your business
@@reginaldcampos5762Whatever you say Reggie. She's not going to sleep with you
@@charlottecorday8494 sounds like you're projecting, Charlie
"Oh Oh, I think I'm a genius."
*Think* is the key word there, Liz.
Any time you think, "I'm a genius!" and sincerely believe it, that's a pretty good indication that you are not.
Ngl "Bollywood" gave me second hand embarrassment.
Yeah, I definitely feel that
So I’m a barista, and today at work, someone ordered a soy latte, and that GODDAMN MADONNA RAP popped in my head!
Thankfully you don't work at a tropical-themed bar 🍆🌴🍹
@@Alex-fv2qs JESUS 😂
with double shot-ays??
@@crowwithaknife1312 it goes right through my Bo-tay!
If someone ask for a soy latte with double shot-ay that goes right through her bo-tay, that ain't a someone, THAT'S MADONNA.
I hate the "bad rapping = comedy gold" mindset. No, it's just an assault on the ears. "Ha ha, I'm lame and I rap like Dr. Seuss, isn't that funny?" Unless you fully commit to the bit and have a hell-of-a good hook like Biz Markie, you're Weird Al parodying a great rap-song, or you have funny-verses and you're an actually decent rapper.
Why'd you have to do our boy Dr. Seuss like that man
The funny thing is Weird Al actually has all three. As dorky as he sounds, he's incredibly technically skilled as a rapper, it's kind of wild
I think you're giving Liz too much credit for self-awareness by saying it was _intentionally_ bad rapping.
@@gunpuncher3817 I'll sue ya, I'll take all your money. I'll sue ya, if you even look at me funny!
@Sunday Girl Weird Al is a good rapper, but he uses edits in his raps which always bugs me. Even top-tier rappers use edits, however.
"Peñis colada is not going to win you a Grammy" is still one of my favorite Todd lines even years later
It sounds like Kate Bush having a nervous breakdown in a janitor’s closet with a little TV playing Alvin and the Chipmunks movies eight hundred times in a row
it does sound like she was going for a kate bush impression but really missed the mark
Hey! Don't insult Kate Bush like that! Kate would never make a rap song or make a song where she bitches about studio executives!
@@strawberryfieldswhenever Hey, I’m a huge Kate fan, but it’s very hard to do what Kate does and not be annoying as hell
@@julias.66581:07 in to the number one streamed song on spotify "Babooshka" and that is about enough Kate bush to last me until i die. Her voice is just horrible it sounds like some half baked cartoon character that got killed off after like three episodes into the first series.
@@michealpersicko9531 you don't deserve this suggestion but listen to running up that hill and get educated. also babooshka goes hard.
She and MTV Unplugged Lauryn Hill should get together and argue over who’s more “real”.
At least Lauryn didn’t say peñis colada
Legend has it that this argument was what started the apocalypse! Too much realness for one world
Add Jewel and American Life-era Madonna to this too
time to add witness era katy perry in there!
"Holy fuck. This is TrainWreckords"
Best intro line ever, and 100% appropriate. Todd, you rule.
And now Soberish is out and it's gotten much better reviews than anything she's released post-Whitechocolatespaceegg. At least Funstyle wasn't the LAST album she released, that's good.
She sounds like Dee from Always Sunny on the “funstyle” songs. Sounds like things Dee would write, too
TOTALLY. That’s actually a really apt description.
The Gang Produces Fun Style
@@falloutfr3ak I could totally see that being an episode
@@francesthepossum1812 I'd watch that episode. I love "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia". Great show.
@Mr Cool I’ve been wanting to call her an emu, but I think I should save it for later
This is a weird combination of 0304 by jewel and madonna's American life.
Total Karen music.
Needs more (attempted) political commentary to be "American Life"
That rainy music video at the beginning really reminded me of that Jewel music video where she gets doused with firehoses
@Thomas Headley wow, how intelligent of you smartass.
American Life, 0304 and Funstyle is the unholy trinity of absolute-ass white woman music. And I *love* it.
I remember interviewing Liz Phair, some years ago (when she was signed to EMI -- but I might have interviewed her again for Funstyle -- I can't remember). Anyway, given what I remember her telling me at the time, she'd been sent back to the drawing board several times by record labels. She got sent back to the drawing board after either Whip-Smart or Whitechocolatespaceegg because the songs she submitted for an album were all about the record labels and their internal politics and her observations of them, and the labels told her it was unlikely that anyone would be interested in songs about anything like that. So she'd unhappily scrap them and try to write something else. I think Funstyle was her finally trying to see if, in fact, she was right all along and fans WOULD buy an album about record labels and their internal politics and her observations of them. When you look at Funstyle -- with tracks like "And He Slayed Her" and "You Hate It," I'm pretty sure this album was an act of Liz Phair trying to see if she was right and everyone else was wrong, and she tacked on a disc of the old, pre-Guyville Girlie Sound demos in an attempt to make some money off of them because people have been downloading them for free for decades.
So now that it's out, if she ever records again, I can safely say that I think it might turn out better because she finally got to see if what she thought would work would work (and, obviously, it didn't). Now that she finally has it out of her system, she can do something else -- maybe. Oh wait, she did! Soberish came out a couple of months ago. ua-cam.com/video/LuviqctxV9k/v-deo.html
Tragically, I think the ultimate deathblow of the album is Bollywood. Especially STARTING OFF THE ALBUM like that. And giving THAT ONE away as the free sample song.
I can fully appreciate it from her perspective. It must be infuriating to have an artistic vision and just be told no over and over. But also, sometimes you work on an idea and it turns out that idea is actually bad. Being able to recognise that is a key part of the creative process. But from the sounds of it, she'd spent about a decade being shoved around by labels and losing fans because of it. I really do feel for her.
@@impermanence4300 ion even think the concept of saying “fuck you” to the record is like even a bad thing. Hell even her goofy bizarre bonkers uptempo music has potential. It’s the way she does it. There’s like, no rhyme, nor reason to it. At all.
I may be wrong, but i feel like she's always been interested in commenting on the internal politics of the music world. Like, wasn't that what the entire album exile in guyville was (but from a more gender point of view)? Funsize could make sense from that persepective.
@Perverted Alchemist It's hard to argue that EMI (and Capitol, by extension) had a penchant for trying to turn alternative rock bands into pop bands. It worked pretty well during the glory days of Oasis and in the early days of Coldplay.
Honestly there is something just ... depressing about this album. Chalk it up to her whole career trajectory (downward spiral?) post the self-titled album, going from a respected singer song-writer to chronically dumped from label after label while making ends meet through soul-sucking scoring work for disposable network shows. There's a very palpable sense of desperation and personal crisis that gives the absolute madness of this album a kind of brutally uncomfortable edge to it. I kind of feel pity for her here.
To be fair it’s the best ‘Pop Rock Folk Feminism... Rap’ album of all time
To be _honest,_ though, it's also the only "Pop Rock Folk Feminism... Rap" album of all time.
BAH DUM CH!
that's because no one else wanted it.
I don't know why, but that weird blinky thing she does when she says that just rubs me the wrong way. She's just so cringe.
*madonna - american life is typing*
"These songs lost me a lot of nights of sleep."
I believe that. Bollywood sounds like the kind of song you'd make if you were suffering a severe case of sleep deprivation.
:( hey man some of them are cool
@Niharika Mohapatra I think they mean the song Liz Phair wrote called “Bollywood”
@@avacatherine5646 oh that makes sense
I mean artists do use sleep deprivation to be creative
@@drifter402 Then this album should be all the proof we need to disprove:
1. Suffering always = good art
2. Just because you will fight for it, its gold.
Wanna throw out there Todd called her possibly coming back. Liz's new album "Soberish" is actually getting overall good reviews!
May not be the critical darling comeback like "Fetch the Bolt Cutters" but still! Congrats Liz!
Holy shit she actually released the album? Good for her. :)
He's actually named it his favourite album of the year. It's a shock to say the least.
0
@@MiniFR12 on his Twitter? I follow him there and didn't see it? Or on Song Vs Song?
@@onetakeman9796 It was on Mike The Snare’s 2021 video, he’s near the end with other youtubers talking about their favourite albums.
I don't know how, but Todd screaming "NO, LIZ, PENIS COLADA IS NOT GONNA WIN YOU A GRAMMY!!" has the exact same energy as that one scene in Father Ted where Ted screams "DOUGAL, WE ARE NOT WATCHING ALIENS!!!"
"No idea how people even still remember that disaster"
Ironic as I only know the Madonna rap because of this show
I know it because of the video he helped Lindsay Ellis with too
I used to use my TV as an alarm clock, always set to MTV or VH1....I woke up to that rap many times for middle school. Literally the stuff of nightmares.
@@jessehenderson2967 That sounds truly hellish. Not only were you going to middle school, which is torture enough on its own, you had to listen to that in the mornings. My deepest condolences.
Same lol
I think he meant that he wasn't sure how people at the time remembered it
"You're being a penis - colada that is!" is up there with the ending of Lil Dicky's Freaky Friday for deserving the longest, most-awkward stunned silence at how incredibly awful it is. Like, obviously awful.
" I'm Kendall Jenner! I'VE GOT A VAGINA! "
" We forgive you, Germany! "
Lil Dicky is just the king of awkward silence isn't he
And I'm Kanye West
I only know Lil Dicky from Todd and Fantano reviews, and while I find him painful to listen to in general, I so have a soft spot for one particular lyric of his.
"As a child, I was so dismissive of the baked potato till I tried that shit / Now the baked potato is my favorite kind potato"
It's so amazingly dumb that I can barely believe it's real and that someone wrote it and put it on an actual piece of released music. I love it, lol.
This album really felt like a “Me Too” type of backlash before “Me Too” was a thing. It makes me wonder what else she suffered at the hands of the record label aside from the nearly pornographic record covers. We might all be cheering the revenge fantasy if we knew the whole story.
I think that was the problem, we didn't know the story and thus it seemed really unearned without any edge.
I could make a song where I make someone who wronged me look like an idiot, but without any context it would look like I'm immature
Yeah, that's actually a good point.
There’s a lot of Orientalism here and I genuinely cannot tell if it’s ironic or not
If you know that concept and can apply it here, you probably know to ask: Does it even matter?
@@jordanthejq12 you’re right
If online dogwhistles have taught us anything, it’s that there’s no difference between saying something ironically or sincerely if the effect is the same.
@@theoneandonlymichaelmccormick so true
Glass Animals?
"I've listen to it twice, the second time it was worse"
That strawman producer actually get a point.
Yeah listening to her complain about producers telling her the album sucks reminds me of that one scene in Yesterday when the dude tried sneaking his own music with the Beatles stuff and record producer is still able to sniff them out and say "yeah no that sucks"
"Strawman Has a Point" is a trope that's both frustrating and amusing.
This whole album feels like fan fiction about her own life.
It concludes with a *literal* “and everybody clapped” moment
midlife crisis the album
I will never write a lyric as beautiful or transcendent as peñis colada.
This is the first I've ever heard of her (I'm not sure she ever did much in the UK) but now I'm FASCINATED by this career trajectory.
The Girly-Sound Tapes and Exile in Guyville are incredible.
Random fact: When she toured England in the early 90’s Oasis was the support band.
"Bollywood" sounds like Frank Zappa did a collaboration with the Chipmunks
I'm fairly sure (or at least hopeful) that Ross Bagdasarian didn't declare his work "a brand new art form."
He already did that, numerous times. He was obsessed with the chipmunk voice for awhile.
Let's Make The Water Turn Black.
Pena.
If she"s going to release a Zappa/Beefheart-Album I would buy it instantly!
It sounds like the chibi cast of My Life Me released a record by themselves....it's sad that I'm one of the handful of people besides Mr Enter that knows of that show...
LMAOO
I genuinely can't decide if "Bollywood" or "Dictator" is the most unhinged song I've ever heard on this show.
Dictator is actually a fantastic song if you listen to the live versions. so much more powerful too.
@@YouCantDeleteDenzelL Live version is pretty solid, but it still doesn’t hold a candle to the earlier Clash songs
He, I actually like the dictator. It feels like a early 2010s mashup song you know the one where you have 4 screens (usually Sonic, Jontron, My Little Pony and CDI Zelda Clips) autotuned to an anime song.
Why bother
Dictator’s actually a pretty solid song if you can either zone out the weirdness or you’re in a mental state where you need lots of things going on.
Bollywood is a bizarre Piece of crap
Twice now in the history of Trainwreckords, I have been zapped in the frontal lobe by a song from my past (both from 2003, oddly enough) that laid dormant in my subconscious for years without me ever knowing who performed it, because it was a song so radically different from what I would expect from them. Both times, my reaction was the same: "Holy shit, 'Intuition' was Jewel?!" and "Holy shit, 'Why Can't I' was Liz Phair?!"
Why Cant I was a totally thec1st song I ever heard from Liz Phair.
@@thepassingstatic6268”Why Can’t I” being Liz Phair’s biggest radio hit and everything else being Indie Rock makes some people view her as a One Hit Wonder.
I've gone through the "zapped in the lobe" feeling too. Not knowing "White Wedding" was by Billy Idol (I've loved that song since I was 8 years old - in 2004) and another moment was remembering Will Smith's song "Switch" and how I vaguely remember the promo he did for "Hitch" (Given I saw Hitch when it came out in '05.... as a 9 year old). But the one thing that is so timeless about the Will Smith album, is his beef with Wendy Williams - and I knew Wendy was in her "Look Ma, I made it" era when The Fresh Prince bullies The Queen of All Media. I've always been team Wendy when it comes to the Will Smith beef; America has evolved, from Heathcliff Huxtable, to Uncle Phil, and now, we're at Uncle Will being a post-Boomer.... in 2023.
I had that seeing Liz Phair composed the theme song for In Plain Sight, a show I forgot about but used to watch a lot with my mom when I was in middle school.
The word "Funstyle" has that "Let's Do A Silly One" energy
"And He Slayed Her" is weird because it could have been the type of thing to rebuild a career on if it were more serious and sincere.
Yeah, if it wasn't a blatant ripoff of Steve McQueen by Sheryl Crow.
It’s a great tune
Calpsotoma Was going to make the same comment. That's actually a damn good tune.
It feels like "I'm back, bitch" single material if anyone would have actually cared.
It reminds me of that Boy Meets World episode where Corey's brother rejected s musician and she got big writing hate songs about him. Tell me "And He Slayed Her" doesn't sound like it came from that fake album.
The Funstyle songs sound like if Neil Cicierega had negative talent
U hate is just Lifetime Achievement Award with none of the goodness
if i was close to liz phair and she let me listen to fun style songs and told me she wanted to release them i would've probably cried bc my friend lost her mind.
Okay, I know it's awful, but Peñis Colada is... also kind of amazing? It's that special kind of transcendental awful that just shoots the moon and wraps around to being hilarious again. I've thought of Peñis Colada like thirty times since I watched this video, and I get a laugh out of it _every single time._ It haunts me. Like the world's goofiest ghost. And even if it didn't bring me joy in the way Liz Phair intended, these days, anything that brings me any joy at all is worth celebrating, so thanks, Liz. Thank you for the single best worst pun I have ever heard.
I can't say I've had the same response, and I'm a person who- at various moments throughout the last few years- has been crumbled on the floor in paroxysms of laughter thinking about "Weiner's laptop".
To be fair, while I agree that it is, in a sense, transcendentally bad to hilarious, it's only hilarious at Liz Phair's expense. Peñas Colada is the kind of line you don't say if you want to be respected, unless you are the rare type of band that can get away with it, like Lonely Island. Calling someone a penis, even if you aren't slurring the word to make it sound like Piñas, is a bad insult, because it just doesn't sound or flow right, unlike calling someone a dick. So while Peñas Colada is funny, it is only because it is so shocking and so fucking stupid to say, even in a song that isn't supposed to be taken 100% seriously.
I agree, to me its the "I did not hit her! I did nahhhht. Oh Hai Mark!" Of the Funstyle album.
But now I wonder: is it worse that Gregg Alexander's "I am a JEW! a JEW! AND YOU'RE MY HITLER!"
it's hilarious, i'm going out on a limb here and saying she was just too ahead of her time. bollywood was especially funny in a zoomer way
Whenever Todd uploads one of these, I think "oh it can't be that bad" then I actually watch it and I'm like "dear god"
That Oasis one could've been much worse.
Even by Trainwreckords standards, I think this is the bottom of the barrel.
There's definitely "tiers" to Trainwreckords. Oasis, Hammer and Hootie are all upper tier, and stuff like this, St Anger and Madonna are absolutely towards the bottom
@@connorross123 The only reason St. Anger isn't in the very bottom tier is because it's comically bad. "Purify" sounds exactly what it is, a bunch of 40 year old dudes playing emo crap that's more fit for high school garage bands. It's unique because, like Todd mentioned in the episode, no other album this awful hit #1 in 30 different countries. It's a disasterpiece.
The tragic thing about Funstyle is that, if you remove the "funstyle" tracks, all the other songs vary from decent to mediocre, but they're all "music". And you know, of those "funstyle" songs, "Smoke" would be listenable if it didn't have the silly voices, wasn't *so* personal (you can write very personal songs that struggles you're going through without making it strictly about you...) and the drums seem like there's a skip in the programming. But even then, it's got a hook and a sound so, while I'm not proud to say this, I'd be lying if I said I hated the song.
But Bollywood is such a bewilderingly bad song that you can't help but have your perception of every single other song that comes after it ruined before you even hear them.
If Queen had released Bohemian Rhapsody on their album with Bollywood in front of it, no one would remember the song.
thanks, todd, i can add "new mitski album produced by Marshmello" to my list of fears
Glad to see she came out with a new album. A mini return to form. Her producer said to her that Bowie and Prince are dead and do you really want Funstyle to be your legacy if you die tomorrow? That scared her back into the studio
This sounds like something that’d get big in some weird internet circle nowadays. You know like weirdcore, corecore idk what exact core but there’s way to many for this not having the possibility to hit a group dead on
The “funstyle” songs sound like if you took an avant-garde song like Revolution 9 or Several Small Species of Furry Animals but took the avant-garde part out and replaced it with “””comedy.”””
Or like a Frank Zappa track, without punchlines that land, or the shredding instrumentals.
@@henryglennon3864 To even mention Zappa's name anywhere near this abomination is an insult lol
It sounds like McCartney II, but it doesn't sound indie enough
Funny enough, there was a band called " Avant-Garde "
Super Furry Animals?
So basically, she got upset higher-up didn't like "Bollywood" and as some sort of revenge move she began bombarding them with low-quality condescending troll songs until they dropped her?
Thats how I remember it
@@Talisguy
"Seriously, nothing can be worse than this, PLEASE go back to making record label polished bubble gum pop instead."
That sounds like something I would do lmao
Concise but accurate
Honestly, this album feels like a recording of personal burnout. I’m glad she left the scene, and I hope that next album reaps the potential harvest of a comeback.
Well. It did ...
Lil Wayne also used the same Piña Colada bar in 2013
Aaayyy, does this mean we’re gonna get a liz phair and lil wayne mash up?
The difference is that Phair pronounced it as peñis with an ñ, Wayne just said penis
“This motherfucker said ‘penis colada’.”
-Myke C Town, Dead End Hip Hop’s review of that album
oh hi king william!!
Ayy William waddup
If Liz Phair can't make it as an artist, she'd sure as hell make it in YTP.
Holy shit wasn't expecting to see you here
@@kenshin891 Well hello there.
I can already picture the copious amounts of “peñis” being sprinkled everywhere throughout an edit.
@Captpan6 Good sir, I just want to say that your Star Wars Ep1 YTP is a classic and should be preserved in a museum.
@@KultofChristiansen Thank you. You are a wonderful person.
Bollywood would have fit right into Pink Season. She even raps the same way Joji did but unironically!
Credit to Todd for calling the imaginary vapid white Midwest Mom “Deidre” and not “Karen”. Karen is getting old.
Although with Deidre, I get more of a Connecticut country club white mom vibe. The kind who removes her fancy club before open palm slapping her daughter in public because she lost her chastity ring.
Karen will never get old.
@@theoneandonlymichaelmccormick I disagree for multiple reasons:
1.
I don't see why the name Karen is especially bad. How is it any different from Lucy, Penny, Elizabeth? You could replace Karen with any of those names.
2.
Calling bad women "Karen" makes the women who aren't named Karen seem innocent.
Ellen DeGeneres isn't named Karen. Does that get her off the hook for allowing abuse and being unnecessarily mean to her guests?
Gwyneth Paltrow isn't named Karen. Does that get her off the hook for making an explosive candle.
Amy Schumer isn't named Karen. Does that get her off the hook for repeatedly trying to kill the art of comedy?
3. There's no male equivalent to Karen. There's a name for targeting women but no name for targeting men.
Sounds lopsided to me.
@@calnansylvia4953 Good for you.
@@theoneandonlymichaelmccormick it got old a long time ago
I don't think I've ever heard an album that sounded more like a midlife crisis
Theres tonight by David Bowie
The miracle by queen
Anything Mick Jagger released in the 80s
@@jeanmichellelaurentyou finally pinpointed my objection to The Miracle by Queen. I Want It All still rocks though.
bollywood sounds like something that inexplicably got popular on tiktok.
Someone please keep these tracks as far away from TikTok memes as possible before they actually chart.
@@rainer5212 literally, please speak this OUT of existence
I know this video is old as sin, and so this comment will probably not be noticed by anyone, but I want to thank Todd for making "penyis colada" a new in joke between me and my brother. What a truly baffling line.
This and Paula are the only Trainwreckords Todd's done of albums released after he started reviewing.
half of those “funstyle” songs would fit in perfectly with gta commercials
in that that shitty commercial for "Pride Not Prejudice" makes me cringe almost as bad as this shit does, maybe
@@SavageGreywolf haha, what?
Why did you cringe at that commercial and call it shitty?
Oh gah, I can picture that penyis collada joke being in the game
"Satisfied" sounds like it would play in the background of a CW drama. Smallville, specifically.
somebody saaaaaaaave me
this album sounds like it's the female version of Angelic to the core
I kind of wish Todd would discuss Angelic 2 the Core one day, just for comedy's sake, but I know it'll probably never happen because it doesn't really fit in any of his series. It's not a trainwreckord since you'd need a career to wreck beforehand and, well.
I was introduced to her via her self-titled album, and I still love it. 😭
I think these silly tracks could have found an audience if the lyrics weren’t just complaining about her career. The sarcastic tone makes them not fun.
Agreed. The lyrics and her annoyingly high pitched voice sort of ruin most of what she's going for with these songs. Seriously, she sounds like one of the chippettes with every high pitched voice, her voice is sounding more and more like a bad cover version of itself, with worse lyrics, that are set to an annoying beat, are we sure Liz wasn't self-aware of how bad or annoying she sounded, and wasn't just trying to troll everyone listening? And like another commentor said, about the "funstyle" songs, Liz sounds like Dee from It's Always Sunny on those tracks. And I agree, with them, and you, dude. Good point.
And it's ALL she talks about, in every. Single. One! Like, one was cringey enough, but then she just kept going, and it's like, Liz, sweetie, find a new topic. You're embarrassing yourself.
@@shawnfields2369 I won't lie, her high pitched voice just puts me off. It's very hard to make that kind of voice not sound annoying, and she doesn't even bother trying.
Either that or if she didn't think they were genius. This is the shit an artist makes when they want to get their creativity back, but usually the end result is not supposed to be shared with the public
Fiona Apple is kind of the opposite story of Liz Phair, though, the one that had pop success on her first album and has grown more mature and sophisticated with greater critical acclaim ever since.
Exactly. Fiona's been getting more acclaim and getting better with each record whereas Liz has not had a good album since the 90s.
I hope Todd doesn’t use Wikipedia as his source for One Hit Wonderland because Fiona Apple is listed as one. That being said I wouldn’t mind if Todd found an excuse to talk about her.
@@farenheit2456 Fiona Apple is an artist with only one top 40 hit, but she probably doesn't meet Todd's definition as an "artist known primarily for only one song." She's more like Greatful Dead or Randy Newman-- a consistently popular and acclaimed album-oriented artist with only one song that broke through on the pop charts.
@@GotNextVideo It makes sense in context, but I never thought I'd see a list of artists made up of Fiona Apple, the Greatful Dead, and Randy Newman
@@CylindricalWhistle
Warren Zevon should be on that list,
This album could've worked had it been more straight forward and honest. Making a bunch of songs about how the industry screwed you over and you're going back to your roots is a compelling concept that indie fans would love. But coating it in this thick layer of irony and attempts at "satire" makes it come off less like righteouss fury, and more like pathetic whining.
Thank you, that's the angle that I've been drifting into.
19:45 Todd has never come closer to looking like a Family Guy character
I swear, Funstyle is basically Liz Phair taking the worst elements of the previous albums from the previous Trainwreckords episodes. I mean Think About It:
From the incohesiveness of Cut The Crap, the emotional insanity of Unplugged 2.0, The delusions of American Life, The Sellout Pop Aesthetic of 03/04. Let all of that sink in!
Well...that's a good analysis right there!
and the coked out mess of be here now!
There’s also a little bit of the TMI of Paula
And the shoot for Jupiter for no reason attitude of Kilroy Was Here.
The Boomer contempt of Summer in Paradise