Violent Femmes (album)
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{{Infobox Album <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Albums -->
|Name = Violent Femmes
|Type = Studio album
|Artist = [[Violent Femmes]]
|Cover = Violent_Femmes.jpg
|Released = [[November 30]] [[1982]]
|Recorded = '''All songs''': July 1982 at Castle Studios in [[Lake Geneva, Wisconsin]]<br>'''Track 11 & 12''': Music Works Studios in [[London]] on [[August 31]]-[[September 1]], [[1983]]
|Genre = [[Alternative rock]]
|Length = 43:21
|Label = [[Slash Records]]
|Producer = [[Mark Van Hecke]]
|Reviews =
*[[Allmusic]] {{rating-5|5}} [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:o9vyxdkbjolg link]
*[[Robert Christgau]] (B+) [http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?name=violent+femmes link]
*''[[Rolling Stone]] {{rating-5|4}} [http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/violentfemmes/albums/album/99584/review/6068109/violent_femmes link]
| Last album =
| This album = '''''Violent Femmes'''''<br/>(1982)
| Next album = ''[[Hallowed Ground (Violent Femmes album)|Hallowed Ground]]''<br/>(1984)
}}
'''''Violent Femmes''''' is the debut album by [[Violent Femmes]], released in 1982. The album has gone on to become one of the most acclaimed cult albums, in spite of having never achieved massive fame, and went platinum about ten years after it was released.
In 2002, [[Rhino Records]] remastered the album, filled out the disc's length with [[demo (music)|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 Music Charts|Billboard]]'s Top 200 album chart.
The cover photograph is by [[Ron Hugo]].
==Track listing==
All songs written by [[Gordon Gano]], except as noted.
'''Original LP'''
# "[[Blister in the Sun]]" – 2:25
# "Kiss Off" – 2:56
# "Please Do Not Go" – 4:15
# "[[Add It Up]]" – 4:44
# "Confessions" – 5:32
# "Prove My Love" – 2:39
# "Promise" – 2:49
# "To the Kill" – 4:01
# "[[Gone Daddy Gone]]" – 3:06 (Gano, [[Willie Dixon]])
# "Good Feeling" – 3:52
'''1984 CD bonus tracks'''
#<li value=11> "Ugly" – 2:21
#<li value=12> "Gimme the Car" – 5:04
'''20th Anniversary Edition bonus tracks'''
#<li value=11> "Girl Trouble" (demo) - 3:07
#<li value=12> "Breakin' Up" (demo) - 5:17
#<li value=13> "Waiting for the Bus" (demo) - 2:08
#<li value=14> "Blister in the Sun" (demo) - 2:35
#<li value=15> "Kiss Off" (demo) - 2:49
#<li value=16> "Please Do Not Go" (demo) - 4:18
#<li value=17> "Add It Up" (demo) - 4:35
#<li value=18> "Confessions" (demo) - 5:20
#<li value=19> "Prove My Love" (demo) - 2:50
#<li value=20> "Ugly" (UK single) - 2:22
#<li value=21> "Gimme the Car" (UK single) - 5:07
'''20th Anniversary Edition bonus live disc'''
#<li value=1> "Special" (live) - 4:27
#<li value=2> "Country Death Song" (live) - 5:25
#<li value=3> "To the Kill" (live) - 4:19
#<li value=4> "Never Tell" (live) - 7:17
#<li value=5> "Break Song" (live) - 0:41
#<li value=6> "Her Television" (live) - 2:28
#<li value=7> "How Do You Say Goodbye" (live) - 2:43
#<li value=8> "Theme and Variations" (live) - 0:54
#<li value=9> "Prove My Love" (live) - 3:19
#<li value=10> "Gone Daddy Gone" (live) - 3:32 (Gano, Willie Dixon)
#<li value=11> "Promise" (live) - 3:09
#<li value=12> "In Style" (live) - 3:43
#<li value=13> "Add It Up" (live) - 6:15
#<li value=14> Michael Feldman Interview from WHA-FM - 4:09
#<li value=15> "Kiss Off" (live on WHA-FM) - 3:31
==Personnel==
*[[Gordon Gano]] - guitar, [[violin]], [[singer|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'
==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.
* A May 2005 episode of the television series ''[[How I Met Your Mother]]'' featured engaged couple, Marshall and Lily, trying 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 (album)|St. Elsewhere]]'' featured a [[cover version]] of "Gone Daddy Gone."
* "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" is the song on the previews for the show ''[[Psych (TV series)|Psych]]'' on the [[USA Network]].
* 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 in music|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" appears in the 2007 movie "Rocket Science".
==Charts==
'''Album'''
{| class="wikitable" border="1" cellspacing="2" cellpadding="2"
!align="left"|Year
!align="left"|Chart
!align="left"|Position
|-
|align="left"|1983
|align="left"|The [[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]] 200
|align="left"|171
|-
|}
'''Single'''
{| class="wikitable" border="1" cellspacing="2" cellpadding="2"
!align="left"|Year
!align="left"|Single
!align="left"|Chart
!align="left"|Position
|-
|align="left"|1983
|align="left"|"Blister in the Sun"
|align="left"|Mainstream Rock
|align="left"|26
|-
|}
==Certifications==
{| class="wikitable" border="1" cellspacing="2" cellpadding="2"
!align="left"|Organization
!align="left"|Level
!align="left"|Date
|-
|align="left"|RIAA – USA
|align="left"|Gold
|align="left"|[[December 8]] [[1987]]
|-
|align="left"|RIAA – USA
|align="left"|Platinum
|align="left"|[[February 1]] [[1991]]
|-|
|}<br />
<br />
{{VFemmes}}
[[Category:Violent Femmes albums|Violent Femmes (album)]]
[[Category:1982 albums|Violent Femmes (album)]]
[[Category:Debut albums|Violent Femmes (album)]]
[[sv:The Violent Femmes (musikalbum)]]