Crowning Music of Awesome
"
Let me go on
I got a blister in the sun
Let me go on
Big hands I know you're the one"
Violent Femmes, "Blister in the Sun"
Violent Femmes were an American alternative rock group from Wisconsin. The band consisted of singer/guitarist
Gordon Gano,bassist Brian Ritchie, and drummer, Victor Lorenzo, who was replaced with Guy Hoffman in 1993. Along with acts like
R.E.M. and Husker Du, the Femmes were one of the first commercially successful alt rock bands. Their debut album,
Violent Femmes, released in 1983, containing their most successful song, "Blister in the Sun", among other notable tracks, went platinum.
Studio Discography:
- Violent Femmes (1983)
- Hallowed Ground (1984)
- The Blind Leading The Naked (1986)
- 3 (1989)
- Why Do Birds Sing? (1991)
- New Times (1994)
- Rock!!!! (1995)
- Freak Magnet (2000)
This band may show examples of:
- A Date with Rosie Palms: The most common interpretation of the lyrics to "Blister in the Sun."
- Angst: Definitely, especially their debut album.
- Cover Version: The Femmes did a cover of the Culture Club song "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?". The neo soul/funk duo Gnarls Barkley released a cover version of the Femmes song "Gone Daddy Gone" as a single. In response, the Femmes covered Gnarls Barkley's biggest hit "Crazy".
- Date Rape: Implied in "Gimme the Car"
- Everything Is an Instrument: The second half of "Black Girls" is a cacophonous instrumental break that consists of a broken sounding saxophone, followed by a Jew/Jaw Harp, followed by a mixture of what sounds like animal screeches and squeaky dog toys.
- Genre Shift: They went from an angsty punk style on their debut album, to a generally calmer sound, with some tracks having influences of country and gospel on their sophomore album, Hallowed Ground.
- Intercourse with You: "Add it Up", "Gimme The Car"
- List Song: The counting part in "Kiss Off"
- Miniscule Rocking: "Old Mother Reagan" (31 seconds), "Two People" (58 seconds) and "Dahmer Is Dead" (38 seconds).
- Mood Whiplash: The track, "Good Feeling", from the debut album, is a slow and calming song, which is a contrast to the generally spastic sound of the rest of the album; This is especially true of the US CD version of the album that ends in two bonus tracks, since instead of being the last song on the album, it gets sandwiched between two much more manic songs ("Gone Daddy Gone" and "Ugly"). To a lesser extent, the reggae inspired "Please Do Not Go" which was from the same album.
- Offing the Offspring: "Country Death Song"
- Precision F-Strike: In "Add it Up". "Why can't I get just one fuck?"
- Race Fetish: "Black Girls"
- Sesame Street Cred: The band did a 30 second long cover of the Spongebob Squarepants theme song for a DVD extra.
- Sex Drugs And Rock And Roll: "Tonight." The cover art for Rock!!!!! also depicts this.
- Shout Out: "Gone Daddy Gone" borrows a whole verse of Willie Dixon's "I Just Want to Make Love to You".
- Studio Chatter: "American Music":
Gordon Gano: Can I... Can I put in somethin' like 'this is American music, take one'? One, two, three, four...
- The Trope Song: "Country Death Song"
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