The year is 1982. Musically, there ain't a whole hell of a lot going on. Laura Branigan scores with "Gloria." Hall & Oates are munching the charts with "Maneater." Duran Duran solidifies Brit-Pop's hold on the charts with the release of Rio. Michael Jackson prepares for the release of Thriller, which will dominate airwaves for the next 2 years. Bruce Springsteen release Nebraska, but no one notices because John "Cougar" Mellencamp released American Fool. However, there is a rumbling. A group from Athens, GA named R.E.M. release an EP titled Chronic Town. Sonic Youth likewise releases their first EP, Sonic Youth. A punk band from NYC named Bad Brains release their eponymous debut - later to change their name & style to Beastie Boys. The Meat Puppets release their debut. And, little did anyone know at the time, but the day before Michael Jackson released the biggest album of all-time, a young band from Milwaukee, WI would release one of the most influential albums ever: Violent Femmes by The Violent Femmes.Discovered nearly a year before recording their debut album by Chrissie Hynde & James Honeyman-Scott of The Pretenders outside one of their own concerts; Gordon Gano, Brian Ritchie, & Victor DeLorenzo would soon put together one of the ultimate collections of songs that thousands of college students would soon call their own personal soundtrack. The Femmes music was indescribable at the time. In a day of synthesizers & electronic music, the use of acoustic instruments (guitar, bass & snare drum) could only mean coffee-house folk. Stripped of instrumentation though, Gordon Gano's dead-pan vocals & risque lyrics would seem to have a tinge of punk in them since that movement was nary a decade old at the time. "What to do with such a strange band?" the American public would ponder. Certainly not buy their album...at least not right away as evidenced by it not going platinum until 10 years after its release. However, there was just "something" about this quirky music a lot of kids kept coming back to, time & time again...
Basically, after a retrospective of the Violent Femmes on again/off again career, Violent Femmes is their greatest hits compilation. "Blister In The Sun" - OK, who has never had this song stuck in head for days at a time? Maybe you, Big Hands...you know you're the one. "Kiss Off" - who wants to be happy, anyhow? A lot of kids probably re-taught themselves to count while inebriated listening to this song. "I'll take one, one, one 'cause you left me and two, two, two for my family and three, three, three for my heartache and four, four, four for my headache and five, five, five for my loneliness and six, six, six for my sorrow and seven, seven, seven n-n-n tomorrow and eight, eight, eight: I FORGOT WHAT EIGHT WAS FOR!!" Kick ass..
Next was "Please Do Not Go." Will this magical sing-a-long ever end? Not so fast my friend, because the ultimate pick-up line-in-a-song is up next in "Add It Up." "Why can't I get just one kiss?" "Why can't I get just one screw?" "Why can't I get just one f**k? guess it's got something to do with luck" I guess. Never worked for me...maybe just a little creepy for a guy like me, but to see a cute girl at a keg party mouthing those lyrics over the stereo just sends chills up your spine. "Words to memorize, words hypnotize, words make my mouth exercise, words all fail the magic prize. Nothing left to say when I'm in your...." HELL-O!" Ahhh, memories. Anyhow, back to the track list! We've still got "Prove My Love," "Gone Daddy Gone" & "Ugly" to discuss, but you guys listen while I go back to "Add It Up" again and to that kegger, circa 1991 Ypsilanti, MI and try to figure out what ultimately went wrong there. Surely had nothing to do with the alcohol...
Anyhow...what we have here folks is a rarity. An album by a band that has gone from cult following, to moderate success, to iconic in the minds of a generation & passing to the next. Stop & think about it - Violent Femmes will be 26 years old this fall, and it sounds like it just came out yesterday!! Not too shabby, I'd say. It will go on for another 26 years as well, because of kids like my 9-year old son who has stolen my copy & has been playing it non-stop all summer (except for "Add It Up" of course - he's a good kid). Hell, this album will still be playing while the cockroaches are eating Twinkies when the world as we know it comes to an end. "Just last night I was reminded of, just how bad it had gotten, just how sick I had become..." I'm out.
"What do I have to do? (tell me now) What do I have to do? (Tell me now) To prove my love to you..." Somebody pump the keg!!!
Great, great band. Absolutely love 'em.
ReplyDeleteI was introduced to the VF by my late friend Barney Long. Back in 1989, we blistered in the sun out at the Buckeye Hills Country Club Pool (now a thing of the past). Great band - one of those rare examples where it is really hard to point to the talent in the band, and yet they somehow blow away other bands with better musicians, singers, etc.
ReplyDeleteFilo Beddoe tried to cover "Blister" one time - did you ever realize how hard it is to make a song that sounded kinda crappy (and by crappy, I mean "crappy-awesome) the first time around sound good as a cover? Well, it just sounds plainer and crappier - plappier. And that is not a desireable sound my friends.
Wow, I can't imagine you guys sounding crappy. As for the Femmes, my two faves are "Mother Reagan" and "Dance. Motherfucker, Dance." Man I've been cussing a lot lately.
ReplyDeletePS - Just joking about the crappiness thing.
I must agree that even though this record is older than I am, it still sounds really, really fresh.
ReplyDeleteGood stuff.