It took 10 years for their debut album to make platinum status. They became darlings of the Indie scene in the 90s. And they have fallen off the face of the Earth.
I’m gonna go back and give the Femmes a more than cursory listen.
Violent Femmes – Violent Femmes – 1983 (iTunes – Amazon)
I was at a poker game a couple years ago and the question of what was the most influential album of the 80s was posed.
I know that many people wanted to lobby for Thriller. But I think that the residual effect of Thriller is nothing more than mercenary saleable Vegas pop and I said so here.
For my money the definitively influential album of that sad decade has to be Violent Femmes’ debut.
Just firing up The Builders & The Butchers 2007 debut album reminded me of how fresh and contemporary the Femmes’ sound is.
The sparseness and simplistically punk sound can be found on Okkervil River’s album, The Stage Names.
Gordon Gano’s warbly, angst ridden voice laid the groundwork for Rivers Cuomo.
The DIY nature of the record pervades the entire CD and is the precursor to the age of “anyone can make a record”.
The story of the Femmes has been told often. In a nutshell they were discovered busking near the theater where the Pretenders were performing by James “Honeyman” Scott. They were invited to play in between opening act and the main Pretenders show.
They got signed to (one of the greatest labels ever) Slash Records.
Their debut never charted but managed to move over 1,000,000 units by, basically, college word of mouth over the course of more than a decade.
Oh yeah! They were the band that practically INVENTED alternative college radio in the 80s. If you were in college in 1984 and you hadn’t heard Violent Femmes you weren’t “in the know”.
About 7 years ago Beth and I were driving across country with Liz in tow. We had our CDs in the player and we were cranking, I mean CRANKING, “Blister in the Sun” and singing along. After it was over, my 10 year old daughter turned to us and said, “Dad, can we stop listening to oldies now?”.
I wanted to die.
So, how does the record hold up?
It’s perfect. Gano’s singing, warbling, desperation plead-singing serves every song. Brian Ritchie’s basslines are air-guitar worthy. He’s the unsung Entwistle of the 80s.
Blister in the Sun is an anthem of the baby emos.
The sing-a-long of medication on Kiss Off is still fresh.
Add It Up has been a staple on modern rock radio for 25 years and it’s still deserving. You could play this for an 18 year old and say it’s a new Indie Band from the Pacific Northwest and they wouldn’t know the difference. In fact, Gnarls Barkley’s cover of Gone Daddy Gone is almost note for note the same song. A quarter century later just why are the Femmes so contemporary?
They weren’t part of the machine that was squeezing overdub, anthem drums and big hair sound. They slipped in under the radar. They were punk AFTER punk. They were New Wave after new Wave was gone.
Sure, the record gets a little flabby around the middle with “Confessions”. But after a second listen you realize that Gano has his finger on the pulse of danger, foreboding, unease. And that is made even more evident with the tortured “To The Kill”.
Thankfully, if you buy the album now you get the singles, “Ugly” and “Gimme the Car”. The former could be perceived as the band’s genuflectingly absurd attempt at a single and that’s fine. It’s catchy. And Fun.
But the real crowning achievement is “Gimme the Car”. A song so desperate and full of what a teenage boy really wants, needs, craves that it should be required listening for every 15 year old girl.
Grade A+
A Side: Blister in the Sun, Kiss Off, Add It Up, Gone Daddy Gone
BlindSide: Gimme the Car, Promise.
Downside: Are you kidding?
It should be noted that almost ALL of these songs were written when Gano was in high school. No wonder he has teenage angst down so well.
