Violent Femmes (album)

Untitled

Violent Femmes is the debut album by Violent Femmes, released on November 30, 1982, and again one year later (with two extra tracks "Ugly" and "Gimme the Car"). The album went platinum nine years after it was released.

In 2002, Rhino Records remastered the album, filled out the disc's length with demos, and added another disc of live tracks and a radio interview for a 20th anniversary special edition, with liner notes by Michael Azerrad.

Album

Most of the songs on the album were written when the songwriter, Gordon Gano, was still in high school in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Violent Femmes peaked at #171 on Billboard's Top 200 album chart.

The cover photograph is by Ron Hugo and the little girl on the cover is called Billie Jo.

Reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic
Rolling Stone
Robert Christgau	(B+)

Track listing

All songs written by Gordon Gano, except as noted.

Side one

1. "Blister in the Sun" – 2:25
2. "Kiss Off" – 2:56
3. "Please Do Not Go" – 4:15
4. "Add It Up" – 4:44
5. "Confessions" – 5:32

Side two

6. "Prove My Love" – 2:39
7. "Promise" – 2:49
8. "To the Kill" – 4:01
9. "Gone Daddy Gone" – 3:06 (Gano, Willie Dixon)
10. "Good Feeling" – 3:52

US CD bonus tracks

11. "Ugly" – 2:21
12. "Gimme the Car" – 5:04

20th Anniversary Edition bonus tracks

11. "Girl Trouble" (demo) - 3:07
12. "Breakin' Up" (demo) - 5:17
13. "Waiting for the Bus" (demo) - 2:08
14. "Blister in the Sun" (demo) - 2:35
15. "Kiss Off" (demo) - 2:49
16. "Please Do Not Go" (demo) - 4:18
17. "Add It Up" (demo) - 4:35
18. "Confessions" (demo) - 5:20
19. "Prove My Love" (demo) - 2:50
20. "Ugly" (UK single) - 2:22
21. "Gimme the Car" (UK single) - 5:07

20th Anniversary Edition bonus live disc

1. "Special" (live) - 4:27
2. "Country Death Song" (live) - 5:25
3. "To the Kill" (live) - 4:19
4. "Never Tell" (live) - 7:17
5. "Break Song" (live) - 0:41
6. "Her Television" (live) - 2:28
7. "How Do You Say Goodbye" (live) - 2:43
8. "Theme and Variations" (live) - 0:54
9. "Prove My Love" (live) - 3:19
10. "Gone Daddy Gone" (live) - 3:32 (Gano, Willie Dixon)
11. "Promise" (live) - 3:09
12. "In Style" (live) - 3:43
13. "Add It Up" (live) - 6:15
14. Michael Feldman Interview from WHA-FM - 4:09
15. "Kiss Off" (live on WHA-FM) - 3:31

Personnel

• Gordon Gano - guitar, violin, lead vocals
• Brian Ritchie - acoustic bass guitar, electric bass guitar, xylophone, vocals
• Victor DeLorenzo - drum set, Scotch marching bass drum, snare drum and tranceaphone, vocals
• Mark Van Hecke - piano on 'Good Feeling'
• Luke W. Midkiff - percussion on 'Kiss Off'

Influence

• Ethan Hawke's character in the 1994 film Reality Bites, plays a cover of "Add It Up" with his band Hey That's My Bike.
• In the How I Met Your Mother episode "Best Prom Ever", an engaged couple, Marshall and Lily, try to sneak into a high school prom to see if the band, The 88, who Marshall had tentatively booked for the wedding, could play the couple's song, which was "Good Feeling."
• Gnarls Barkley's 2006 debut album St. Elsewhere featured a cover version of "Gone Daddy Gone." In 2008, the Femmes covered Gnarls Barkley's hit single "Crazy".
• "Add It Up" was used as a track in the video game Tony Hawk's Underground 2.
• The film, Lost and Delirious features "Add It Up" in a scene.
• Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine covered the song "Add It Up" into a Lounge style on their 2005 album "Aperitif for Destruction".
• "Gone Daddy Gone" borrows a complete verse from Willie Dixon's 1954 song "I Just Want to Make Love to You". The Femmes give proper credit for this in the liner notes of their debut album.
• The song "Blister in the Sun" plays at the beginning of the My So-Called Life episode entitled "Betrayal," originally aired January 12, 1995.
• "Blister in the Sun" appears in the movie Grosse Pointe Blank as part of a radio retrospective on the '80s.
• "Gone Daddy Gone" also features in the seminal '90's Italian film Jack Frusciante è uscito dal gruppo.
• Songs from this album were covered by Guster (with some assistance from its creators) on an episode of MTV2's short-lived Album Covers series in 2004.
• The song "Blister in the Sun" is played as the background music in a 2007 Wendy's commercial. This was seen as a point of contention by bassist Brian Ritchie, who filed suit against Gordon Gano in August 2007.
• "Kiss Off" and "Blister in the Sun" appear in the 2007 movie Rocket Science.
• In the pivotal scene of the movie Surveillance the victims sing along to "Add It Up" playing on the car stereo.
• "Blister in the Sun" appears in the 2009 movie Adventureland.
• In Audrey Niffenegger's novel The Time Traveler's Wife Clare and Henry go to a Violent Femmes concert at the Aragon Ballroom, and many lyrics are quoted.
• The song "Please Do Not Go" is featured in the final scene of the Community episode "Football, Feminism and You."

Charts

Album

Year	Chart	Position
1991	The Billboard 200	171

Certifications

Organization	Level	Date
RIAA – USA	Gold	December 8, 1987
	Platinum	February 1, 1991