Violent Femmes

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Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States

The Violent Femmes were an alternative rock/folk punk band, formed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States in 1980. The band originally consisted of Gordon Gano (vocals, guitar), Brian Ritchie (bass), and Victor DeLorenzo (drums), with second drummer Guy Hoffman being added into the band in 1993. The band split in early 2009 and their last recording was a cover of the Gnarls Barkley song “

Crazy” released the previous year.

Their music is an innovative combination of American folk music and punk rock. The lyrics mix common adolescent themes like yearning for love, sex and affection with explorations of sin, death, and the hope of salvation. Their songs often express both a lyrical and musical sense of humor.

In its early days, the band frequently played coffee houses and street corners. They were discovered by James Honeyman-Scott (of The Pretenders) on August 23, 1981, when the band was busking on a street corner in front of the Oriental Theatre, the Milwaukee venue that The Pretenders would be playing later that night. Chrissie Hynde invited them to play a brief acoustic set after the opening act.[1] The band signed to Slash Records and recorded their eponymous debut in July 1982.

The group quickly gained a small cult following after the release of their self-titled album that never burgeoned into widespread popularity, although a few songs from this album did get some recognition (“

Add It Up”, “

Blister in the Sun” and “

Gone Daddy Gone”).

Tagged as:

alternative, rock, indie, alternative rock, 80s
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Add It Up (1981-1993)
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Top Tracks

1	Blister in the Sun	5,590
2	Kiss Off full track	2,197
3	Add It Up full track	2,128
4	Gone Daddy Gone full track	1,916
5	Please Do Not Go full track	1,168
6	Prove My Love full track	1,013
7	Good Feeling full track	889
8	Promise full track	784
9	Confessions full track	743
10	American Music	687
11	To the Kill full track	616
12	Gimme The Car	593
13	Country Death Song	469
14	Black Girls	383
14	Jesus Walking on the Water	383

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Sykotika wrote:
Monday evening

Gorgeously awkward is damn right.

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p4nts wrote:
Friday morning

yes.

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xn0153x wrote:
Thursday morning

I am not a big fan of Violent Femmes and probably what I am about to say is gonna sound even offensive, I don't know... but their best song ever, IMHO, is Color Me Once... goddamnit, this song is full of win! :)

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kj_rjpLoVeO23 wrote:
11 days ago

you can't fuck with the violent femmes! gordon is the sex, and this band is perfectly weird :)

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cicca8 wrote:
13 days ago

I agree 'TorSnor'

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TorSnor wrote:
14 days ago

Great music!

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TheSodaMachine wrote:
15 days ago

Anyone know where I can hear the Crazy cover?

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EL_T0R0 wrote:
16 days ago

Bad tags. Not an indie band. (2)

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mikenobody wrote:
21 days ago

Why can't I get just one fuck? I guess it has something to do with luck...

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filpaz wrote:
24 days ago

Nuovo post sul blog Orangeskies/New post on the blog Orangeskies Waiting for the Bus http://www.orangeskies.info/?p=1156

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sirtusspot wrote:
last month

Grew up to the Femmes cassette tapes<3

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TheResurection wrote:
last month

Almost half a million listeners with only 296 shouts. Strange.

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Caracolad wrote:
last month

Sad, but... it's been almost 30 years without releasing any good stuff, so...

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movinwes wrote:
last month

Yes, they did http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violent_Femmes#Recent_history_and_break-up_.281999-2009.29

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schavira wrote:
last month

Wait they officially broke up?

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besodeplata wrote:
last month

o my god, primera vez que los escucho y me han fascinado!

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Caracolad wrote:
last month

That would be cool if it was physically possible to make love to these sweet untuned acoustic bass guitar strings.

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hesmonian wrote:
last month

the tags are messed here. they are new wave. definitely five years before the label aleternative was ever thrown around and those were the most formative years. they were almost folk new wave ... alternative is a mistake. as for indie, i would check with european fans, but i doubt it ...

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brianm2 wrote:
last month

Gorgeously awkward and sexy, music and words...perfect

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groovesmith wrote:
last month

I still know every word to the Violent Femmes album after 20 years...?

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