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Violent Femmes

DORDOR Two Ron Toe 9,903 Posts
edited March 2008 in Strut Central
I've always thought should have a place in the top 100 American albums of all time. Though many know Blister & Add It Up. The whole album is pretty great. I can remember growing up where they showed up many time on the college charts, but almost never in the main stream.Anything vinyl out there rare at all?Did they get paid from when Gnarls Barkley covered Gone Daddy Gone? Anyone every see any documentary or anything on the early years?
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  Comments

  • DB_CooperDB_Cooper Manhatin' 7,823 Posts
    Great album front to back. And Becky likes it too! It was kind all down hill from there, though, besides the occasional gem.
  • HarveyCanalHarveyCanal "a distraction from my main thesis." 13,234 Posts
    Of course the self-titled album is a mega-classic...to the point of mega-cliche.

    Beyond that one, I always liked this single...

  • SoulOnIceSoulOnIce 13,027 Posts
    It was kind all down hill from there, though, besides the occasional gem.

    Hmmm ... the Hallowed Ground LP is pretty solid.

    And it contains one of their greatest tracks:

  • DORDOR Two Ron Toe 9,903 Posts
    Promo vid!

  • djdazedjdaze 3,099 Posts
    I dislike them to the point of anger. The people listening to that album non stop when I was in high school are to blame. Singalongs were the norm for half those songs and every time I wanted to punch each and every participant in the throat.
  • HarveyCanalHarveyCanal "a distraction from my main thesis." 13,234 Posts
    I dislike them to the point of anger. The people listening to that album non stop when I was in high school are to blame. Singalongs were the norm for half those songs and every time I wanted to punch each and every participant in the throat.

    Exactly what I meant by mega-cliche.
  • DORDOR Two Ron Toe 9,903 Posts
    I dislike them to the point of anger. The people listening to that album non stop when I was in high school are to blame. Singalongs were the norm for half those songs and every time I wanted to punch each and every participant in the throat.


    I hear what your sayin'

    Funny how a certain crowd, can fuck up something. I hated being at a dance in high school and fools getting all happy cause they could yell out "JUST ONE FUCK!!"


    But the whole S/T album has signs of brilliance.
  • DJ_NevilleCDJ_NevilleC 1,922 Posts
    I'm old enough to remember when they were actually somewhat "alternative" although that didn't last long. I saw them in Atlanta at the old 688 Club and they tore it up. Really great show. A few years later I saw Gordon Gano's Mercy Seat open for Jerry Harrison in Cleveland and they were awful. Last time I saw the Femmes was with the B-52's in the late 90's and they were a parody act (and yes everyone sang along).
  • djkingottodjkingotto 1,704 Posts
    i stayed a summer with my boy in virginia beach in 86 and his pal always played the femmes. i prefered the all rap radio station WRAP but what could i do. i hated the femmes back then but learned to appreciate as time went on. i also got hip to "catching up with" depeche mode on that trip.
  • GropeGrope 2,970 Posts
    growing up the soulstrut way

    1. hiphop
    2. indie hiphop - lurking on soulstrut
    3. breaks - being registered on soulstrut and thebreaks.com already
    4. funk
    5. jazz / soul
    6. rock with breaks - into production / myspace
    7. first credit card - paypal - going big on eBay
    8. library + foreign music with breaks + private pressings that suck
    9. really expensive indie rap
    10. prog/krautrock - maybe turkish music - thebreaks.com sucks by now
    11. so called psych
    12. rediscovering old music - the beatles aren't that bad
    13. still only so called psych (bad music/musicians - garage sound - maybe some breaks/hard drums and sitar - need for a woman in the band)
    14. private pressings (no matter what music - needs to be rare and with grooves)
    15. selling on eBay
    16. buying more crappy records
    17. feeling bad
    18. feeling worse - singer/songwriter records sound cool - feeling waxidermy - soulstrut is for losers?
    18. latin/bossa - too late?
    19. own internet store / pro DJ / producing again
    20. feeling old - working at the office again - your life sucks - need more DJ action
    21. getting into quality psych without the need for grooves / old pop - feeling wise and being lonely
    22. ???
    23. ???
    24. viloent femmes





    violent femmes???
  • HamHam 872 Posts
    growing up the soulstrut way

    1. hiphop
    2. indie hiphop - lurking on soulstrut
    3. breaks - being registered on soulstrut and thebreaks.com already
    4. funk
    5. jazz / soul
    6. rock with breaks - into production / myspace
    7. first credit card - paypal - going big on eBay
    8. library + foreign music with breaks + private pressings that suck
    9. really expensive indie rap
    10. prog/krautrock - maybe turkish music - thebreaks.com sucks by now
    11. so called psych
    12. rediscovering old music - the beatles aren't that bad
    13. still only so called psych (bad music/musicians - garage sound - maybe some breaks/hard drums and sitar - need for a woman in the band)
    14. private pressings (no matter what music - needs to be rare and with grooves)
    15. selling on eBay
    16. buying more crappy records
    17. feeling bad
    18. feeling worse - singer/songwriter records sound cool - feeling waxidermy - soulstrut is for losers?
    18. latin/bossa - too late?
    19. own internet store / pro DJ / producing again
    20. feeling old - working at the office again - your life sucks - need more DJ action
    21. getting into quality psych without the need for grooves / old pop - feeling wise and being lonely
    22. ???
    23. ???
    24. viloent femmes





    violent femmes???

  • soulbrono1soulbrono1 205 Posts
    growing up the soulstrut way

    1. hiphop
    2. indie hiphop - lurking on soulstrut
    3. breaks - being registered on soulstrut and thebreaks.com already
    4. funk
    5. jazz / soul
    6. rock with breaks - into production

  • SoulOnIceSoulOnIce 13,027 Posts
    growing up the soulstrut way

    1. hiphop
    2. indie hiphop - lurking on soulstrut
    3. breaks - being registered on soulstrut and thebreaks.com already
    4. funk
    5. jazz / soul
    6. rock with breaks - into production / myspace
    7. first credit card - paypal - going big on eBay
    8. library + foreign music with breaks + private pressings that suck
    9. really expensive indie rap
    10. prog/krautrock - maybe turkish music - thebreaks.com sucks by now
    11. so called psych
    12. rediscovering old music - the beatles aren't that bad
    13. still only so called psych (bad music/musicians - garage sound - maybe some breaks/hard drums and sitar - need for a woman in the band)
    14. private pressings (no matter what music - needs to be rare and with grooves)
    15. selling on eBay
    16. buying more crappy records
    17. feeling bad
    18. feeling worse - singer/songwriter records sound cool - feeling waxidermy - soulstrut is for losers?
    18. latin/bossa - too late?
    19. own internet store / pro DJ / producing again
    20. feeling old - working at the office again - your life sucks - need more DJ action
    21. getting into quality psych without the need for grooves / old pop - feeling wise and being lonely
    22. ???
    23. ???
    24. viloent femmes

  • damagedamage 118 Posts
    i saw them two years ago at a college show it seems as if my generation is pretty out of touch with them and only knows 'blister.' too bad they wernt bad at all
  • DORDOR Two Ron Toe 9,903 Posts
    growing up the soulstrut way

    1. hiphop
    2. indie hiphop - lurking on soulstrut
    3. breaks - being registered on soulstrut and thebreaks.com already
    4. funk
    5. jazz / soul
    6. rock with breaks - into production / myspace
    7. first credit card - paypal - going big on eBay
    8. library + foreign music with breaks + private pressings that suck
    9. really expensive indie rap
    10. prog/krautrock - maybe turkish music - thebreaks.com sucks by now
    11. so called psych
    12. rediscovering old music - the beatles aren't that bad
    13. still only so called psych (bad music/musicians - garage sound - maybe some breaks/hard drums and sitar - need for a woman in the band)
    14. private pressings (no matter what music - needs to be rare and with grooves)
    15. selling on eBay
    16. buying more crappy records
    17. feeling bad
    18. feeling worse - singer/songwriter records sound cool - feeling waxidermy - soulstrut is for losers?
    18. latin/bossa - too late?
    19. own internet store / pro DJ / producing again
    20. feeling old - working at the office again - your life sucks - need more DJ action
    21. getting into quality psych without the need for grooves / old pop - feeling wise and being lonely
    22. ???
    23. ???
    24. viloent femmes



  • GropeGrope 2,970 Posts
    don't know... i couldn't figure out why one would ever listen to the violent femmes. is it a step in the world of being a music geek?
  • dmacdmac 472 Posts
    don't know... i couldn't figure out why one would ever listen to the violent femmes. is it a step in the world of being a music geek?

    Raging hormone music.
    IMO, there were *very specific* pre-requisites for listening to the Violent Femmes:
    White, dorky, suburban, semi-punk social outsider with an undercurrent of seething frustration at not getting laid. That was the only way to really feel Gordon Gano's lyrics on that first album.
    If you didn't hear it at 15, it won't mean anything to you now. Beyond nostalgia, the Violent Femmes should be irrelevant for anyone over the age of 16.

    Any Becky or flock of Beckys that turn "Add It Up" into a prom queen singalong deserve that previously-mentioned punch in the throat.
  • alieNDNalieNDN 2,181 Posts
    cut chemist used to be the lead singer of violent femmes right?

    cut chemist:


    gordon gano:
  • akoako https://soundcloud.com/a-ko 3,413 Posts
    i got that album a few months ago and it was all i listened to for about a week.
  • DORDOR Two Ron Toe 9,903 Posts
    i got that album a few months ago and it was all i listened to for about a week.

    Shhh. You obviously are nothing but a hipster. Only comment on the album if you dislike it!
  • holmesholmes 3,532 Posts
    I will ride for the debut & almost anything up to the early 90s. Anything after that is just boring, but there are gems amongst the early stuff. Pre-requisite listening here if you grew up in the surfing/skateboarding culture.
  • asstroasstro 1,754 Posts
    I liked the Femmes OK, but if I want to hear 80's acoustic nerdiness I reach for this everytime...

  • HarveyCanalHarveyCanal "a distraction from my main thesis." 13,234 Posts
    I liked the Femmes OK, but if I want to hear 80's acoustic nerdiness I reach for this everytime...


    Oh hell yes...
  • Mad Drama TeacherMad Drama Teacher 1,985 Posts
    Bitchin' Camaro.
  • pickwick33pickwick33 8,946 Posts
    Great album front to back. And Becky likes it too!

    Were they ever big enough to catch on with the "Becky" crowd?

    I figured a few alternababes would be feelin' the Femmes, but I didn't know their influence went THAT far.
  • SoulOnIceSoulOnIce 13,027 Posts
    Great album front to back. And Becky likes it too!

    Were they ever big enough to catch on with the "Becky" crowd?

    I figured a few alternababes would be feelin' the Femmes, but I didn't know their influence went THAT far.

    Dude, this record was MANDATORY among upper-middle-class/wealthy
    white girls in the 80's/early 90's. At least in the Northeast ...
    owning the album was like a rite of passage for the chad and becky
    high school freshmen of the era.
  • pickwick33pickwick33 8,946 Posts
    Great album front to back. And Becky likes it too!

    Were they ever big enough to catch on with the "Becky" crowd?

    I figured a few alternababes would be feelin' the Femmes, but I didn't know their influence went THAT far.

    Dude, this record was MANDATORY among upper-middle-class/wealthy
    white girls in the 80's/early 90's. At least in the Northeast ...
    owning the album was like a rite of passage for the chad and becky
    high school freshmen of the era.

    Considering that Chad and Becky only know what they see on MTV and hear on the radio, seems like the Femmes would have been a progressive choice (even back in the '80s).
  • SoulOnIceSoulOnIce 13,027 Posts

    Considering that Chad and Becky only know what they see on MTV and hear on the radio, seems like the Femmes would have been a progressive choice (even back in the '80s).


    If anything I think it was one of those records that had long
    life because big brother bought it when it first came out and
    brought it home his first year in college and played it for 14
    year old brother chad, who played it for his friend brad, who
    listened to it until he went away to college and left the tape
    with his younger sister becky, and so on, and so on, and so on.

    Maybe it's more of a Northeast/college area phenomenon, but the
    album was - and may still be, I'm sure - ubiquitous among 15 year olds
    around here of every passing generation since it's initial release.
  • DB_CooperDB_Cooper Manhatin' 7,823 Posts
    Maybe it's more of a Northeast/college area phenomenon, but the
    album was - and may still be, I'm sure - ubiquitous among 15 year olds
    around here of every passing generation since it's initial release.

    As far as my understanding goes,

  • Agent45Agent45 451 Posts

    If you didn't hear it at 15, it won't mean anything to you now. Beyond nostalgia, the Violent Femmes should be irrelevant for anyone over the age of 16...or maybe John Zorn collectors for the "Hallowed Ground" LP.[/b]

    SoulOnIce mentioned it, but I'll take a step further and say that "Hallowed Ground" is better than the debut. Plus, there's the added bonus of less people knowing it by heart, significantly cutting the sing-along factor.



    Wait. This discussion is happening on Soulstrut?
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