Violent Femmes

IN COURT!

http://blogs.indiewire.com/gabe/archive/014361.html

"trashing the band's reputation" is a bit much. I'd say New Times did a pretty bang up job of that already.

s/t and Hallowed Ground are two of my most favoritest albums EVER though.

Good for Gano - get that money, baby!

"Blister in the Sun" (not my favorite from that record, by a long way, though still great obv) is on a TV ad for Foster's beer. Several brightly-lit men drink beer on a brightly-lit beach, trying to keep in the shade. Presumably to keep the cans of ice-cold Foster's beer from warming up to the point where the men would actually taste it. The words of the song have been changed so that "strung out" is replaced with "hung out".

http://www.myspace.com/violentandcrazy

On the fence about this one.

god i love american music

yes, that song

woah

I saw this thread had been updated and my thought was "Oooh I'll go post on there about how American Music came on one of my Mix CDs when I was driving the other day and it made me all happy and I was seat dancing in the car." Spooky. Anyway yes, American Music. <3

omg my coworker just laughed at me cuz i was seat dancing to it at my desk

Listen Surm, ignore that fool - we know what's up. *knowing glance/head nod*

;) word

god i love american music

― boo (surm)

^^^

I've only heard their debut album, which an American pen-friend sent over to me on cassette sometime in the mid-90s (with a letter attached saying something along the lines of "this is my favorite (sic) album, it's incredible". Before then, I hadn't heard of them at all, not even 'Blister In The Sun' which is meant to be their (for better or worse) "signature song". They seemed to make pretty much zero impact in the UK, outside of a (I assume) very very very very small audience.

I said everything I needed to say six years ago! How about that.

Every single girl in my all-girls Catholic school 7th grade class knew all the words to the entire s/t album -- this was 1987. We used to sing it on fieldtrips. We used to get in trouble. Big trouble. It was beyond awesome. I can't hear this album without wanting to spazz out like the 7th grade me.

Frat boys can suck it because little girls own this album.

― The Milkmaid (of Human Kindness) (The Milkmaid), Monday, November 28, 2005 8:20 PM (6 years ago) Bookmark

Come on dad, gimme the car tonight
Come on dad, gimme the car tonight
I got this girl
I wanna *boioioioioioioing*
Come on dad, gimme the car!

This is probably the least-discussed band on ilm in proportion to how much my friends and I listened to them in high school and college. Perfectly respectable new tune.

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/premieres/hear-violent-femmes-first-new-song-in-15-years-20150304

How weird! I was cleaning the kitchen and singing the chorus of 'Lies' to myself about an hour ago.

I like the new song. Could be an outtake from the classic debut, which is a very good thing.

I saw this band maybe 15 years ago and could not believe how good they still were, I went in with zero expectations and their avant garde horn section (with Darren Brown of Die Kreuzen/Boy Dirt Car and other crazy dudes) went really out there in the best possible way

It's been that long for me too (1999 at Bumbershoot) and yeah, they were really great.

hey I was at the '99 Bumbershoot as well! Not where I saw the Femmes though. Great weird Sonic Youth show that year.

Ha, small world! I have the vaguest recollection of SY, I've never been much a fan, so I likely wandered off somewhere else. Didn't they play after Master Musicians of Jajouka?

nah that was Lee sitting in with them iirc

I also saw Cat Power do a great "wavering on the high wire" solo set

Yeah, I love them. I saw them play at SUNY Albany with TMBG in 1997ish? They always make me happy when I listen to them. Was singing "American Music" the other day.

haven't seen the violent femmes since the US tour for the blind leading the naked, sometime in (the fall of?) 1986. went with a bunch of high school friends; we'd all graduated the year before. the femmes had "the horns of dilemma" along, a saxophone destruction unit consisting (i think?) of peter balestrieri and steve "funhouse" mackay. noisy, atonal, free as fuck. most of my friends hated them, said they'd ruined the show, but i loved everything about it.

haha yes that was the horn section I was referring to, had forgotten their name but you are OTM and it was great

I very distinctly remember a young woman, probably in her early 20s at the time, holding her hands over her ears yet still staring, fascinated

new song is cool, sound & arrangement reminiscent yeah of the 1st lp, energy level is much reduced tho

first saw them at Folk City, January 1983

it's 2015 and i'm here to apologize for using the verb "spazz out"

First saw them in Providence in 1984. The marched through the crowd with snare drums, then broke into "Prove My Love." Awesome. New song is pretty forgettable, though.

Saw 'em around 83 or so . Loved them then, lost interest later, and haven't checked back (yet) for no real reason. But maybe I should.

JK Rowling reviews the first album, apparently for real:

http://ramalbumclub.com/post/150765863879/week-75-violent-femmes-by-violent-femmes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDpcVKtxB4g

i was listening to the radio the other day and i heard this song that sounded like some kind of fake Donovan ethno hippie weirdness, but definitely not '60s. i had this feeling that maybe i was listening to animal collective, because it sounded like what i always imagined animal collective might sound like. or i thought it was king lizard, and i felt a pang because i didn't want to admit i liked that band, lol. well, reader, it was the violent femmes! pretty good. i didn't know they made music like this and probably would've been more eager to check out the discog if i'd heard this before.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XidZ1sY8ujw
Candlelight Song

The original lineup talks about making the first record and how they got together in Milwaukee

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIu-QeO5Y3I

This was really good. Thanks.