Violent Femmes (album)

Violent Femmes is the debut album by Violent Femmes. Mostly recorded in July 1982, the album was released by Slash Records on vinyl and on cassette in April 1983,[4][5] and on CD in 1987,[6] with two extra tracks: "Ugly" and "Gimme the Car".

Violent Femmes
Studio album by
Violent Femmes
ReleasedApril 13, 1983
RecordedJuly 1982; August 31–September 1, 1983 (Tracks 11–12)
StudioCastle Studios in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin; Music Works Studios in London (Tracks 11–12)
Genre
Length36:15
LabelSlash
ProducerMark Van Hecke
Violent Femmes chronology
Violent Femmes
(1983)		 Hallowed Ground
(1984)

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.

Violent Femmes is the band's most successful album to date. Uniquely, it went gold four years after its release and platinum four years after that, never having made an appearance on the Billboard 200 album chart. After achieving platinum certification on February 1, 1991, the album finally Billboard charted for the first time on August 3, 1991. Since Nielsen Music began electronically tracking sales in 1991, the album has sold 1.8 million copies. Blending RIAA certifications and Nielsen Music sales data, the record's US sales were estimated at about three million as of 2016.[7]

Slant Magazine listed the album at No. 21 on its list of "Best Albums of the 1980s".[8] and was ranked number 974 in All-Time Top 1000 Albums (3rd edition, 2000).[9] In 2014, the staff of PopMatters included the album on their list of "12 Essential Alternative Rock Albums from the 1980s".[10]

Content

Most of the songs on both this album and its follow-up were written when the songwriter, Gordon Gano, was 18 years old and still in high school in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.[11] Violent Femmes peaked at No. 171 on Billboard's Top 200 album chart in 1991.[12] The cover model was Billie Jo Campbell, a three-year-old who was walking down a street in California when she and her mother were approached and offered $100 for the photograph which became the album cover.

Reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[13]
Blender[14]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music[15]
Pitchfork9.1/10[16]
Q[17]
Rolling Stone[18]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[19]
Spin Alternative Record Guide10/10[20]
Uncut[21]
The Village VoiceB+[22]

In a contemporary review for Rolling Stone, J. D. Considine wrote that Violent Femmes was precocious yet dynamic, with a good balance between Gano's direct lyrics and the full sound of the music.[18] Robert Christgau of the Village Voice compared Gano and the album as a whole to Jonathan Richman of the Modern Lovers.[22] Gano himself grew tired of comparisons to Richman, as by his own account he was actually trying to sound like Steve Wynn of the Dream Syndicate.[23]

In a retrospective write-up for AllMusic, Steve Huey called Violent Femmes "one of the most distinctive records of the early alternative movement and an enduring cult classic", noting that "the music also owes something to the Modern Lovers' minimalism, but powered by Brian Ritchie's busy acoustic bass riffing and the urgency and wild abandon of punk rock, the Femmes forged a sound all their own", while crediting Gano for keeping "the music engaging and compelling without overindulging in his seemingly willful naiveté".[13]

The album was also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[24]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Gordon Gano, except where noted.

Side one
No.TitleLength
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
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
6."Prove My Love" 2:39
7."Promise" 2:49
8."To the Kill" 4:01
9."Gone Daddy Gone"Gano, Willie Dixon3:06
10."Good Feeling" 3:52
US CD bonus tracks
No.TitleLength
11."Ugly"2:21
12."Gimme the Car"5:04
20th Anniversary Edition bonus tracks
No.TitleLength
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
No.TitleLength
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) (Gano, Willie Dixon)3:32
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
Violent Femmes
Additional personnel

Charts
Chart (1983/86) Peak
position
Australia (Kent Music Report)[25] 34
United States (Billboard 200)[26] 171
Chart (1991) Peak
position
Australia (ARIA Charts)[27] 31

Certifications
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[28] 2× Platinum 140,000^
United States (RIAA)[29] Platinum 1,000,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References
  1. Molanphy, Chris (October 2002). "Gordon Gano - Hitting The Ground". CMJ. No. 106. CMJ Network, Inc. p. 56. Retrieved August 29, 2020.
  2. Jackson, Josh (July 13, 2016). "The 50 Best Post-Punk Albums". Paste. Retrieved August 29, 2020.
  3. Huey, Steve. "Add It Up - Violent Femmes | Song Info". AllMusic. Retrieved August 29, 2020.
  4. "Violent Femmes - Violent Femmes at Discogs". Discogs.com. Retrieved August 25, 2020.
  5. White, Adam (1990). The Billboard book of gold & platinum records. Internet Archive. Billboard Books.
  6. "The Compact Disc Connection Database : WAR23845 * $11.79 VIOLENT FEMMES VIOLENT FEMMES WARNER BROTHERS 07/87 :44". Textfiles.com. Retrieved October 20, 2013.
  7. Caulfield, Keith (March 18, 2016). "Billboard 200 Chart Moves: Loretta Lynn Earns Her Highest Charting Album Ever With 'Full Circle'". Billboard. Retrieved August 25, 2020.
  8. "The 100 Best Albums of the 1980s". Slant Magazine. March 5, 2012. Retrieved October 20, 2013.
  9. "Rocklist". Retrieved July 22, 2018.
  10. Makowsky, Jennifer (August 27, 2014). "12 Essential Alternative Rock Albums from the 1980s". PopMatters. Retrieved October 27, 2015.
  11. James Christopher Monger. "Hallowed Ground - Violent Femmes | Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved October 20, 2013.
  12. "Violent Femmes". Billboard. June 4, 1994. Retrieved October 20, 2013.
  13. Huey, Steve. "Violent Femmes – Violent Femmes". AllMusic. Retrieved February 19, 2013.
  14. Kemp, Rob. "Violent Femmes: Violent Femmes (Deluxe Edition)". Blender. Archived from the original on November 3, 2004. Retrieved July 20, 2019.
  15. Larkin, Colin (2011). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th concise ed.). Omnibus Press. ISBN 0-85712-595-8.
  16. Hyden, Steven (May 21, 2017). "Violent Femmes: Violent Femmes". Pitchfork. Retrieved May 21, 2017.
  17. "Violent Femmes: Violent Femmes". Q (194): 130. September 2002.
  18. Considine, J. D. (June 23, 1983). "Violent Femmes: Violent Femmes". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on February 11, 2007. Retrieved September 9, 2012.
  19. Coleman, Mark; Sisario, Ben (2004). "Violent Femmes". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. p. 852. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
  20. Weisbard, Eric; Marks, Craig, eds. (1995). Spin Alternative Record Guide. Vintage Books. ISBN 0-679-75574-8.
  21. "Violent Femmes: Violent Femmes". Uncut (64): 122–23. September 2002.
  22. Christgau, Robert (May 31, 1983). "Christgau's Consumer Guide". The Village Voice. Retrieved November 3, 2015.
  23. Lloyd, Robert (May 20, 1983). "Violent Femmes". LA Weekly. Retrieved 9 September 2012.
  24. Robert Dimery; Michael Lydon (February 7, 2006). 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die: Revised and Updated Edition. Universe. ISBN 0-7893-1371-5.
  25. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 330. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  26. Whitburn, Joel; Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Albums, 1955–1996; p. 819. ISBN 0-89820-117-9
  27. Ryan, Gavin (2011). Australia's Music Charts 1988–2010 (pdf ed.). Mt. Martha, VIC, Australia: Moonlight Publishing.
  28. Ryan, Gavin (2011). Australia's Music Charts 1988–2010 (pdf ed.). Mt. Martha, VIC, Australia: Moonlight Publishing.
  29. "American album certifications – Violent Femmes – Violent Femmes". Recording Industry Association of America. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH. 
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