Violent Femmes’ debut released

Violent Femmes Violent Femmes

Released: April 13, 1983 Peak: 171 US, -- UK, -- CN, 31 AU Sales (in millions): 1.0 US, -- UK, 1.0 world (includes US and UK) Genre: new wave/alternative rock

Tracks: Song Title [time] (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to singles charts. Blister in the Sun [2:24] Kiss Off [2:56] Please Do Not Go [4:15] Add It Up [4:43] Confessions [5:32] Prove My Love [2:38] Promise [2:49] To the Kill [4:00] Gone Daddy Gone [3:06] Good Feeling [3:52] All songs written by Gordon Gano. Total Running Time: 36:15 The Players: Gordon Gano (vocals, guitar) Brian Ritchie (guitar, xylophone, backing vocals) Victor DeLorenzo (drums, backing vocals)

Rating: 4.388 out of 5.00 (average of 12 ratings) Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album: “One of the most distinctive records of the early alternative movement and an enduring cult classic, Violent Femmes weds the geeky, child-man persona of Jonathan Richman and the tense, jittery, hyperactive feel of new wave in an unlikely context: raw, amateurish acoustic folk-rock. The music also owes something to the Modern Lovers’ minimalism, but powered by Brian Ritchie’s busy acoustic bass riffing and the urgency and wild abandon of punk rock, the Femmes forged a sound all their own.” AMG “Still, the main reason Violent Femmes became the preferred soundtrack for the lives of many an angst-ridden teenager 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 difficulties of making the transition to adulthood.” AMG “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.” AMG “Even if the songwriting slips a bit on occasion, Gano's personality keeps the music engaging and compelling without overindulging in his seemingly willful naiveté. For the remainder of their career, the group would only approach this level in isolated moments.” AMG Notes: The CD release added the songs “Ugly” and “Gimme the Car.” In 2002, a deluxe edition was released that contained a whopping 26 bonus tracks, among them demos and live material of songs both from the album and not.

Resources and Related Links: DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Violent Femmes AMG All Music Guide review by Steve Huey First posted 3/24/2008; last updated 9/5/2021.

Violent Femmes “Add It Up” released on debut album

Add It Up Violent Femmes

Writer(s): Gordon Gano (see lyrics here) Released: April 13, 1983 (on Violent Femmes album) Peak: 2 CO, 1 DF (Click for codes to singles charts.) Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 7.7 video, 25.88 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: The punk band Violent Femmes formed in Madison, Wisconsin in 1979. The trio was comprised of singer and guitarist Gordon Gano, bassist Brian Ritchie, and drummer Victor DeLorenzo. In 1983, they released their self-titled debut album, “an early landmark of American alternative rock.” AMG While the song “Blister in the Sun” became the best known from the album by cementing itself as a staple of alternative rock radio in the ‘80s, the album also produced the popular “Add It Up.” The song benefits from Gano’s “uncanny knack for clever, incessantly catchy lyrics.” AMG The song plays on his “yearning, hard-luck misfit role that dominated the album, but it’s even darker than usual, with its frank, edgy sexuality and intimations of gun violence.” AMG He sings “with such snarling abandon that, in spite of the obvious geekiness of his persona, there’s also an unsettling sense of menace.” AMG “Opening with a free-form a cappella passage, the song quickly becomes a driving rocker, and Gano steadily escalates his sexual longings (‘why can’t I get just one...’) from ‘kiss’ to ‘screw’ to ‘fuck.’ Even the first scenario is far from romantic – I look at your pants and I need a kiss,’ Gano sings, giving the lie to the assumption that innocence and inexperience go hand in hand.” AMG Gano discussed writing the song in his bedroom about feeling frustrated. As he said, “I had nowhere to go and nothing to do. It just happened to feel good lyrically…and it still does.” WK Despite the song’s irrestible drive to get up and move, the subject matter is dark. It isn’t just about sexual frustration, but a young man who buys a gun, offering “evidence that misfit rage had long been something of a powder keg in American high schools” more than 15 years before Columbine. AMG The lines “The day is in my sights / When I’ll take a bow / And say good night” suggests the narrator may have turned that rage inward to suicidal thoughts. AMG Resources: AMG All Music Guide review by Steve Huey WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 6/10/2022; last updated 10/1/2022.