Violent Femmes

by Violent Femmes

Overview

One of the most distinctive records from the first days of alternative rock and an enduring cult classic, Violent Femmes brought the tense, jittery, hyperactive feel of new wave to a then unlikely context: raw, amateurish acoustic instrumentation. The music also owes something to both the urgency and straightforwardness of punk, but with minimalistic drums, Brian Ritchie's busy acoustic bass riffing and simplistic, to-the-point songwriting, the Femmes forged a sound all their own. Still, one of the main reasons Violent Femmes became the musical embodiment of young adult angst is lead singer and songwriter Gordon Gano. Naive and childish one minute, bitterly frustrated and rebellious the next, Gano's vocals perfectly captured the contradictions of adolescence and the torment of making the transition to adulthood. Clever lyrical flourishes didn't hurt either; while "Blister in the Sun" has deservedly become a standard, "Kiss Off"'s chant-along "count-up" section, "Add It Up"'s escalating "Why can't I get just one..." couplets, and "Gimme the Car"'s profanity-obscuring guitar bends ensured that Gano's intensely vulnerable confessions of despair and maladjustment came off as catchy and humorous as well. The songwriting throughout is no-frills but effective, with straight pop structures like "Please Do Not Go" remaining uncluttered enough for every minute detail to be immediately apparent, and fragile closer "Good Feeling" tender and spacious in the same way the best Velvet Underground ballads were. Arriving right when punk rock was mutating into hardcore, Violent Femmes offered a contrarian counterpoint to the overt aggression of the band's more distorted peers. These incomplex songs played on unamplified wooden instruments carried as much bile as the most ear-shattering punk band, and conveyed it all in a toxic mutter that was all the more intense for its relative quiet. The album helped create what became the template for college rock and subsequent movements in alternative music, and the Violent Femmes would refine and revise the formula that arrived here in its perfect, acerbic form for decades to come. ~ Steve Huey & Fred Thomas

Product Details

Release Date:	01/01/1983
Label:	Concord / Craft Records
UPC:	0888072055124

Tracks

1. Blister in the Sun
2. Kiss Off
3. Please Do Not Go
4. Add It Up
5. Confessions
6. Prove My Love
7. Promise
8. To the Kill
9. Gone Daddy Gone
10. Good Feeling
11. Ugly
12. Gimme the Car

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Violent Femmes   Primary Artist
Victor de Lorenzo   Drums,Vocals,Brass Drum,Percussion,Drums (Bass),Tranceaphone,Drums (Snare)
Victor Delorenzo   Drums,Percussion,Drums (Snare),Vocals (Background)
Mark VanHecke   Piano
Brian Ritchie   Bass,Guitar,Vocals,Jaw Harp,Xylophone,Guitar (Bass),Slide Whistle,Bass (Acoustic),Bass (Electric),Guitar (Acoustic),Guitar (Electric),Vocals (Background)
Gordon Gano   Guitar,Violin,Vocals,Lead Vocals

Technical Credits

Glen Lorbiecki   Recording,Engineer
Violent Femmes   Interpretation
Willie Dixon   Composer,Lyricist
Gordon James   Composer
Geoff "Stinky" Worman   Back Cover
Jeff Price   Design,Cover Design
Laurie Lindblom   Back Cover
Ilana Pelzig Cellum   Recording
Ron Hugo   Cover Photo,Photography
Bill Inglot   Mastering Engineer
Edward Haber   Recording
Victor de Lorenzo   Composer
Victor Delorenzo   Composer,Producer,Recording,Recording Producer
David Schultz   Mastering Engineer
John Tanner   Engineer,Recording,Mixing Engineer
Mark VanHecke   Producer,Recording,Recording Producer
Brian Ritchie   Composer,Producer,Recording Producer
Gordon Gano   Composer,Producer,Recording Producer