This is an album that is truly a classic has sold millions since its release in 1983, and yet rarely features in polls.
To my ears at least, American music was really appalling in the early 80s. Maybe I was so accustomed to the punk/post-punk/new wave/indie stuff that I was wrapped up in my student flat that I missed some things. But America was, at time, all stadium anthems from the likes of Broooooce, Van Halen, Fleetwood Mac and the like.
One day, a flatmate came in and demanded we all listen to a new album he had picked up. It was from an American band called Violent Femmes. Not expecting much, the four of us gathered round the turntable and speakers …wow!!
This was something truly different. Songs of unrequited love, misery and suicide but not like we had heard before. These tunes were upbeat…the lyrics were funny….you could even dance to them!!
It was a truly innovative record – it was the first time that I realised a ‘punk’ record could be made with acoustic instruments.
Over the years, this is a record that has made it into the collections of many, and yet the band have never really gotten anything beyond cult status. Seemingly, it reached platinum status in the US ten years after its release – and remains the only record to have sold over 1,000,000 copies without ever breaking into the Billboard Top 200.
It’s not too long until this record is 25 years old, and yet it still sounds fantastic today. The band are still going strong, constantly gigging all over the world and playing songs from throughout their career. And while the newer stuff is appreciated, its the songs from the debut album that always go down best of all.
The full track listing of Violent Femmes:-
01 Blister In The Sun
02 Kiss Off
03 Please Do Not Go
04 Add It Up
05 Confessions
06 Prove My Love
07 Promise
08 To The Kill
09 Gone Daddy Gone
10 Good Feeling
It’s almost the perfect album. There’s not a single duff track on it, and the whole thing ticks over in just 36 minutes. I love it so much that I’ve got a vinyl copy, a CD copy and a remastered CD copy that came with extra tracks.
A groundbreaking effort in all sorts of ways. Who could have realised that angst-ridden and miserable lyrics could be so infectiously enjoyable??
The opening track, Blister In The Sun, is just a fantastic pop song – and is probably the best known song the band have recorded, thanks to its use in the John Cusack movie Gross Pointe Blank. But I don’t think that you can beat Add It Up – simply the best song ever written about loneliness and suicide. I always thought it would have been great fun if, at the height of their fame, The Smiths had recorded Add It Up as a cover version.
I’ve also provided two more tracks. A UK single that came out just after the album was released over here, and a live acoustic version of another of the songs on the debut album.
mp3 : Violent Femmes – Blister In The Sun
mp3 : Violent Femmes – Add It Up
mp3 : Violent Femmes – Ugly
mp3 : Violent Femmes – Prove My Love (live)
If you don’t own any Violent Femmes records – do something about it.