I adore the segue into Meatstick so much here, it’s just such a smooth drop into a psychedelic pool.. And then the outro jam of Meatstick is short but ohhhh so sweet.
But the Taste. My god, the Taste. If only we had a from the archives or live bait of it, because the aud is so boomy, it’s hard to fully grasp everything. Such a cool and unique version though, some amazing interplay happening.
No question in my mind Jennifer Dances got extra hate because of the lyrics — "Jennifer Dances and cooks me a meal." C'mon the pop tunes especially in the 90s were appreciated by Phish women...and Phish women were not getting down with lyrics like that at all. Oddly enough today I don't think those lyrics would land that band, but hit a brick wall of 90s feminism.
And I'm glad you called it out the moment before this song. Has to be one of Trey's lamest on stage moments...basically 90 seconds of "This is our favorite room" banter after Brian and Robert — they'd only played there once, so we know what smokeshow of a show he was speaking of — before launching into the one of their weaker debuts ever. It'd be like if after crying during Velvet Sea during Coventry, "We're gonna blow off some steam now," they had gone into Heavy Things instead of SOAM. Tsk tsk, Trey. Tsk tsk.
the misogyny labelling has always bugged me on jennifer dances cos it's one fairly innocuous line that only really reads as conservative if you think the concept of a housewife is conservative. hell, the fact that it got dubbed "kitchen bitch" really says more about phans at the time than the feminist leanings of ernest anastasio and thomas marshall
It’s more just plain fucking stupid than it is misogynistic. A bad combination of words and a jarring set of imagery and syllables. And what the hell do Trey and Tom know about working in the fields, anyway?
It would still be savaged today, just not via Lilith Fair-era feminism. The meal line would just be an “oh yea, and one MORE thing that sucks…”
I don't agree with it! Just saying I don't think the chorus landed super well amongst a big % of the fans in the late 90s who were most accepting of their pop sound.
I adore the segue into Meatstick so much here, it’s just such a smooth drop into a psychedelic pool.. And then the outro jam of Meatstick is short but ohhhh so sweet.
But the Taste. My god, the Taste. If only we had a from the archives or live bait of it, because the aud is so boomy, it’s hard to fully grasp everything. Such a cool and unique version though, some amazing interplay happening.
No question in my mind Jennifer Dances got extra hate because of the lyrics — "Jennifer Dances and cooks me a meal." C'mon the pop tunes especially in the 90s were appreciated by Phish women...and Phish women were not getting down with lyrics like that at all. Oddly enough today I don't think those lyrics would land that band, but hit a brick wall of 90s feminism.
And I'm glad you called it out the moment before this song. Has to be one of Trey's lamest on stage moments...basically 90 seconds of "This is our favorite room" banter after Brian and Robert — they'd only played there once, so we know what smokeshow of a show he was speaking of — before launching into the one of their weaker debuts ever. It'd be like if after crying during Velvet Sea during Coventry, "We're gonna blow off some steam now," they had gone into Heavy Things instead of SOAM. Tsk tsk, Trey. Tsk tsk.
I get that, but for a band with Suzy Greenberg and Funky Bitch in the repertoire, I think cooking a meal is pretty mild.
I don't agree with it at all. And today it would never be an issue. I'm just saying think about all the Ani DiFranco fans at Phish shows in 1999!
the misogyny labelling has always bugged me on jennifer dances cos it's one fairly innocuous line that only really reads as conservative if you think the concept of a housewife is conservative. hell, the fact that it got dubbed "kitchen bitch" really says more about phans at the time than the feminist leanings of ernest anastasio and thomas marshall
It’s more just plain fucking stupid than it is misogynistic. A bad combination of words and a jarring set of imagery and syllables. And what the hell do Trey and Tom know about working in the fields, anyway?
It would still be savaged today, just not via Lilith Fair-era feminism. The meal line would just be an “oh yea, and one MORE thing that sucks…”
I don't agree with it! Just saying I don't think the chorus landed super well amongst a big % of the fans in the late 90s who were most accepting of their pop sound.
It isn't even a bottom five Phish song.