Violent Femmes appreciation!
 

What would an indie board without a violent femmes thread be? The violent femmes were one of the best things to ever come out of Wisconsin. I totaly dig evrything this band has ever done. I guess I really have nothing to say except that there an awsome band. Any thoughts?

Seeing as your from Wisconsin, did you by any chance get to go to thier Benefit concert? If you did, how was it? I've always kind of wanted to see them live. They sound like they's make for a fun live show.

Yes the violent femmes rok, they r playin at byron like a few days after my 18th so i mite b goin down to sing along totally off my face to blister in the sun.

No I never saw the tsunami show. i wish i did but I live far away from milwaukee and have never been given the opportunity to see them live. Someday though I hope I can.

i havent seen them live except for on video, i love the femmes and most of their songs. I would go see them just for the music, as for the actual "show" theyre not very "entertaining" from what ive seen.

Ah, I love the Violent Femmes, I've been wanting to see them play for ever-so-long.

LOL - sorry but what ELSE has come out of Wisconsin?!

Anyways.. yeah. Long time fan here. Though only like their early stuff really. They've been around for ages! I remember listening to them when still at home with the Parents (13 years ago) and my neighbor came over and said he used to listen to them when he was in Uni...

Violent Femmes, along with Pixies, REM and maybe Pavement are what made college radio back in the day.

Seen them a few times actually too. Most recently last year at ATP. They stuck out like a sore thumb on the line up (same stage as Throbbing Gristle for instance, wtf?!). The crowd knew their 2-3 big numbers but mostly they didn't like em much. It didn't help that they went on about god/religion a bit too...

I've played some acoustic nights and have done a couple covers of them as well...

my friend went to a violent femmes concert and said they were insane. i havent been listining to them for very long but i still think they rock.

Violent Femmes are great. I really want their self-titled album.

Isn't Weezer from Wisconsin? It says in the Buddy Holly video...

Anywho, I got one of their CDs (Best Of.. I think) and I like a few songs, one of those bands that grows on you with time.

I ****in' love these guys. Their self-titled album is just amazing. I saw them live for about 3 songs once, it was at some free Triple J broadcast thing, they were pretty darn good from what I can remember.

bump.

The Violent Femmes are poppy catchy fun goodness. S/T was the first really good cd I owned. I love everything that they've released.

When the soundtrack to Gross Point Blank came out and their song "Blister in the Sun" was featured on it..I thought for sure they would get my recognizition..I only have Hallowed Ground and The Blind Leading the Naked..which are both good but so different from one another...

I dig 'em.

What's the Religon Story?
 

Anyone know under what circumstance they got the religion??

After their self-titled and Hallowed Ground, Blind Leading the Naked seemed to take off on that religious angle. Hallowed Ground seemed implicit, but songs like 'Black Girls' seemed pretty free of overtones.

They would have to go in with the greats for me. I haven't listened to any of their stuff for years and still have their songs come to mind.

Most recalled Femmes songs:

Add It Up, from the self-titled.
Two People, from Blind Leading the Naked

I think Wickipedia..has some info on that.







































They do everything else.

saw them again a couple months ago actually at shepards bush. I got a call from a friend saying he had a spare ticket and it's pretty close to my house so came along... they had a full brass section with some very notable people there - well worth going for that actually. Some of the musicians were very famous too, like Richard Parry from Pink Floyd..

the bassist was amazing as well... played no less than 5 different bass instruments including one that was literally a sting on a stick that he had to bow the stick manually to get the notes....

Thats must have been awesome. I would love to see them live.

violent femmes are not, have not been, nor will they ever be 'awesome' live. Certainly good fun though with more talent than you realize (mostly the bassist).

:)

-revives-

The Violent Femmes are an excellent band.
/end revival.

Blister in the sun - best song ever!!!!

I do appreciate them. I own all their albums, and they're pretty great.

The four albums they made in the 80s are superb... yet, for some reason, as soon as they entered the 90s, their output kind of went to shit.

Ya. Good. This was what I was looking for. I like this.

i've got their first five albums

the debut's the best

the others are patchy with moments of brilliance

the last one "Why Do Birds Sing?" is kinda all over the place

Keep in mind the band gets chucked into whatever genre the person who created the thread thought they ought to go into. And Indie can be mainstream.

I find it astonishing how 90s their debut album sounds even though its from 1983... it actually sounds an entire decade ahead of its time. Its unbelievable.

One of the greatest alternative bands of all time, their first two albums & ealry singles are the stuff of legends, one of my all time favourite bands of any genre.

Gimme the car



Add it up



Never Tell

Good band.. i luv the singer's voice, idk much about them i just know a couple of tracks like 'Kiss off' and 'Add it up'

oh, and that cover from the jetsons lol

this maybe a little ignorant, but to me they are the only band i heard that sounds like the Pixies.. or almost as good as the Pixies lol

even though they are totally different bands, there's a similarity in the way they sound Me thinks..

Interesting I never really got into the Pixies so i wouldn't know, but it is possible that they could have been influenced by the Femmes, I'll have to give Frank Black another whirl.

In turns of albums, download the first two: Violent Femmes/Violent Femmes which now has the single Gimme the car on it and Hallowed Ground. The first album has been enshrined by critics as one of the best indie alternative albums ever made, while Hallowed Ground is also viewed as a classic. The third album is still good but lacks the magic of the first two, for what ever reason they sort of fall apart after that, so don't bother with any of their later releases.

The Gimme the Car and Ugly singles were added to the self-titled CD at least as early as 1987. I love that album dearly.

I also love Hallowed Ground. But I don't recall anything else they did that was much good. I remember I had The Blind Leading The Blind but didn't like it much (lost the magic like you said) and then I tried to like '3' but it's just crap.

Also, yeah, Frank Black has stated that he was a big fan of Gordon Gano. He wrote most of the Pixies songs in the 80s when the Violent Femmes were still fresh.

The Violent Femmes is one of the few if not only bands I've enjoyed via cassette, compact disc and in digital form. Do not **** with the Violent Femmes.

So anyone heard their new album? It's... a bit odd. I think it straddles the line between good and bad quite awkwardly.

Well considering they haven't put out a good album in over 30 years, I'm not surprised. First two albums are solid gold though.

Funny how Violent Femmes are mostly known for being the band that gave its name to local rock act Louise Attaque.

I listened to it once yesterday....and like all of their other albums....save the first two....there is one maybe 2 tracks that i would go out of my way to listen to again

in no way did i regret listening to it or even skip any songs....its just not that good