Violent Femmes

If someone had a gun to my head before I looked this album up and asked me when it was released, I would have said sometime in the 90s and would be dead right now.

Before I heard this album, I would have never thought that acoustic punk was possible, but here we are, and really catchy hooky punk at that. Another plus: I can't think of another recording that better captures the sweaty, desperately uncool, paranoid, lust-ridden, powerless feeling of being a teenager, all the while making you laugh like hell. To top it off, frontman Gordon Gano and company manage to close off the album with a genuinely moving ballad, Good Feeling. There isn't a weak track on here. If I was forced to pick a favorite, I'd probably go with the big hit, Blister In The Sun, but Prove My Love and Promise are killer tracks as well. It may not be terribly ambitious, but on its own terms, this album is close to perfection.

Absolutely fantastic. Gordon Gano, in his creepy Lou Reed meets Ted Bundy way, Delivers a delightfuly uncomfortable experience. I nearly had an out of body experience during the xylophone solo in Gone Daddy Gone.

I know this album inside  out and and just about every lyric. I’m still at Lake Simcoe with the young ones so planed ahead to sneak in a quick listen.  I decided to sing along and change some of the words. It worked. Example:  “Why can’t I get just one DUCK - must have something to do with luck. . . “ When one of the boys did a double take and gave me a look,  I explained it was a hunting song and the singer is the only guy who had yet to shoot any dinner.  Did he buy it? Hah -  He folded like a cheap suit. When people want to be negative about an album or band they often say "they play only three chords." This is often said figuratively rather than literally. If you wanted to throw this dagger at the femmes, you could make it literal if you said you could play the first three songs with only four chords: G, C, D and Em. If you throw in Bm, A and E you can also play Add it up and Prove my Love and probably some others. But I don't want to insult them. This deranged mess of Gordon Gano in his yoot is one of my favourite albums ever and is made better by all of its blemishes (including one on his forehead  on the back cover if I recall correctly). I often wonder if you have to be deranged to write such deranged music or can you simply act the part?  I'm guessing you have to be fucked up to write this shit. If you are of this view, then a scary thought is  that this was not their most deranged album. The Derangeometer on their second album easily surpasses this one.  And if may digress, neither holds a candle to Nick Cave's Murder Ballads which is possibly  the most deranged album ever. Anyway, I understand why many will rate this a 1. I really do. 

Know the work rules. Radiohead singing about being lonely: Aww, you’re sweet. Violent Femmes singing about being lonely: Hello, Human Resources?!

5 stars. Automatic 5 stars. Steve Belcher loaned me this tape at 7th grade camp. I was mostly listening to GNR, Metallica, Poison, etc. at the time. This was a real mindblower for me - acoustic but sounded dirtier and dangerouser than anything else I was listening to. Love it.

The sad thing is someone let this production occur. The vocals sound off key and lack volume and depth. The instruments seem to be done by 2nd graders who decided to pick up their parents instruments and started jamming. I keep imaging a real singer:Pink or Weekend singing these songs and amazing musicians playing the music. It would have a chance to give quality to this album. I do love the Album cover. In fact it looks like they did attempt to photograph one of the 2nd graders suggested to play an instrument. Unfortunately she is too embarrassed to look straight at the camera. Who can blame her.

I tried. I skipped almost every song. Sounded like Tim Heidecker impersonating both Bob Dylan and Mick Jaggar at the same time. Was not impressed.

I’m always in awe of how ahead of its time this album is. It was released in 1983 and it sounds like everything that was happening in 1993! It’s so beautifully rebellious, hitting the airwaves at the height of the 80s neon soaked synth pop excesses. This album is boldly, defiantly alternative and raw. It’s a stunning achievement in going against the grain and I love every note if it.

Here's an absolutely and absolutely unique masterpiece. Raw and immediate, with unsophisticated recording style and (almost) no embellishment, this is probably the best expression of teenage frustration and anxiety ever recorded. it feels so real. The bare arrangements mean that the songs seem completely unfiltered. This album is so honest that it feels like a secret every time you listen to it; I can't believe they are saying what they are saying! And yet, this obviously hit a nerve with many, many people; sales estimates to date are around 3 million copies sold (and, one has to think, a handful of furtively taped copies for each disc sold). Nearly everyone of my generation (at least in the more alternative circles I moved in) can sing Add it Up, Blister on the Sun, or Gone Daddy Gone from memory at the drop of a hat. The basic recording means this never sounds old, and, interestingly, my 16 year old son has this album on his want list, so it clearly still speaks to young people. When I was an uni in 1990, my friend Kate and I skipped lectures one afternoon to go see the Femmes busking at Circular Key (filmed for the Noise on SBS). That sunny afternoon, singing along to the band, is one of my favourite live show memories. You see snippets of that here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2J6d0EVEJE

Listened to this album quite a bit in college, hadn't really listened since, and honestly prepared my middle-aged self to be annoyed by it after all this time, as can happen. Didn't happen. Still a fun (and sometimes funny) album. I think what saves it for me is they are really good musicians and still come across as original-sounding to me. Oftentimes, I lose interest fast in bands that go for irony or some other form of humor, even when I like it first time I hear it. Maybe it's like improv humor for me in that when it works in the moment, it's great for a laugh, but I don't want to go back to that moment. Anyway, whatever the thought-and-feeling-process might be, this is an album this fiftysomething square dude can still enjoy.

Growing up in the 80s, discovering the Violent Femmes was like discovering drugs. It was a gateway to alternative music, a door that could never be closed again. A life of swapping cassette tape recordings of low bandwidth college radio stations, collecting bands like the Crucifux and the Dead Kennedys, all-age punk rock shows in the closest city smoking clove cigarettes and feeling alive and different. Good stuff.

Awesome raw energy. The sparse arrangements, exude energy and funk, and have a great deranged vocal flair. It is pretty impressive that also the unusual arrangement due survive their era and still sound entirely relevant today.

I hope you know this will go down on your permanent record... Predating the slacker movement, this album laid ground for the fuck-you complacency that kicked into high gear 10 years later. I don't think there's an album like this that's ever followed. Monumental, important and oh-sooo good... --- A personal cringy note here. When I was 12, I'd often belt out the lyrics while listening to this on my knockoff Walkman screaming "... there's nothing I can say when I'm in your thighs..." I'm pretty sure my parents loved this album too.

Holy shit I forgot how much I enjoyed this album.

TRUE 4.5 - Was much more into this album than I expected to be with only knowing "Blister in the Sun." Very cool to learn this was released in 1983. I also figured this was a early/mid 90s alternative record that was drawing on those contemporary influences but it clearly seemed more influenced by the first wave of punk and I very much fuck with that. The songwriting had a bite and wittiness that stayed sharp throughout the record, and actually made me laugh a few times. Overall really enjoyed this one and definitely will come back for another listen.

singular artifact of alternative music. fav track: good feeling

One of all time best albums. A perfect mix of punk, rock and lofi. This album had a recording cost close to 0. Its their debut, and its basically just three guys looking for a cheap studio they could afford to use. They found a tiny one, went in there and recorded some songs. And here's the result. The definition of true LoFi.

YOU CANNOT FUCK WITH THIS BAND! This album has no bad songs. A masterpiece with no wasted space. Even if you include the two bonus tracks every song is amazing. Although Good Feeling is one of the best closers of all time, so the bonus tracks throw off the flow of the original. Gordon Gano’s songwriting and vocals are so full of teen angst mixed with his unique sense of humor. There are some laugh out loud funny moments on this album in the best way, “hey dad, speaking of driving…” on the bonus track being my personal favorite, what a hilarious payoff! Then there’s Brian Ritchie’s incredible acoustic bass playing, this guy is incredible. And let’s not forget Victor DeLorenzo stirring the soup on his weird trash can drum. Somehow these three came together and made one of the best punk albums of all time, and invented folk punk to boot! An all time great album that definitely deserves to be on this list.

A bit weird and shouty

The best album by my favourite band. I wish I could give it more than 5 stars. I remember exactly where I was when I heard this album for the first time, at a party at my friend's house. It absolutely blew me away. It changed me. I borrowed the record that night. That was 41 years ago. I should probably give it back.

An all-time favorite. As I was pondering this album, though, I had a thought. I found myself wondering if adults hearing this for the first time would really find love for it. Sure, the songs may be pleasant, even fun, but does it speak to you? Part of me thinks you may have to be a teenager discovering this album to truly love it. I don't know. Maybe not. Shrug.

How did this come out in 1983? It's got 1990s written all over it. Acoustic punk rock is probably the most punk punk could be, and this is a timeless classic. Everyone knows "Blister In The Sun" but there's not a bad song on here, everything has its own groove and hook like "Add It Up", "To The Kill" and "Gone Daddy Gone", and everything sounds like it was recorded in one straight shot as stripped back as everything feels. Real garage music energy.

Maybe my favorite album Of. All. Time? Like for real. It’s down to this, the White Album and REM Reckoning. Top 3.

Nothing takes you back in time like music. I recall sitting in a down stairs hall at my high school listening to this on my Walkman, thinking, "Wow, this is really good!" It's interesting how this album has grown in popularity over the years. It didn't chart until eight years after its release, but it was already certified platinum. This was classic alt back when alternative really was alternative and very much underground (especially in a rural area like where I lived -- I bet no more than 20 kids in my graduating class knew of the band.) Classic album. 5 stars.

This was a favorite of mine in my teen years of the late 90s. Brings back the feeling of freedom that came with having a car to take myself out of the suburb and into the city. Crossing the river into Cincinnati with the windows down to let in the sticky night air, on the way to go smoke clove cigarettes and drink maple coffee at the nocturnal coffeehouse. Big Hands, I know you're the one. 5

The Violent Femmes really capture a lot of the awkwardness, anger and uncertainty of being young. Musically, the songs are earthy, bare bones, and full of attitude. The lyrics are pissy and unrepentantly hormonal, with a generous dose of humor. But there are surprising moments of raw vulnerability and off-kilter charm as well. It feels like just about the most unsettlingly honest group of songs you'll ever hear. It's a pretty perfect album. Fave Songs (All songs, from most to least favorite): Blister in the Sun, Good Feeling, Gone Daddy Gone, Kiss Off, Please Do Not Go, Add It Up, Prove My Love, To the Kill, Promise, Confessions

This might be the first "alternative" album I ever heard. I thought it was the weirdest thing I had ever heard. Was this guy serious? Is he actually angry or not? I hadn't heard punk before so the attitudes and forthright emotion confused my 12 year old brain. I thought a lot about the lyrics in a way that I had never analyzed the records I liked from C+C Music Factory and Culture Club. When I was exposed to this record I also heard Pearl Jam, Nirvana, and Red Hot Chili Peppers. The vocals on those records were hard to make out at times but the vocals on Violent Femmes are so clear.

How do they manage to make an acoustic guitar sound so godly orgasmic? The album cover and eery acoustic sound give off old western vibes. It's energetic, witty, and exciting. You can feel the raw emotion and turmoil of the vocalist. It's fun to sing along to most of these songs. The instrumentation is interesting (particularly their unique usage of acoustics and the xylophone), and the solos are especially creative. Every song is fantastic, even the least popular songs feel perfected to every second. This is what punk is all about, and I'm glad there were more bands besides The Replacements in the 80s fusing punk with more melodic rock styles (from a different approach of New Wave). Wish the two bonus tracks were incorporated into the album somehow, maybe with a little more polish ("Ugly" straight up sounds like 60s garage), cause "Good Feeling" is a great note to send off with.

Somehow ahead of its time and one-of-a-kind and timeless all at the same time. 1983!? A year before the previously mentioned abomination of 1984? I first heard "Blister in the Sun" in the early 90s, having no idea that it was nearly a decade old. It's one of the songs that got me into music. I mean, I'd always listened to music, but it was just whatever radio station or cassettes my parents put on. A bunch of pop radio and Madonna and Paula Abdul. So Violent Femmes was a revelation. It's a sound that somehow combines punk, surf rock, folk and country rock, alternative, 90s and 00s indie, and more all into something that is all of those and none of those and more. It is cohesive and consistent for the duration. Violent Femmes does not boast the best vocals or the cleanest playing, but it is more than the sum of its parts. Much more.

Edgy, raw energy. Acoustic musicality.

Wow. I have ways loved this record. For sure one of the best sad boi albums. It's very simple yet i think it really inspired a lot of bands after it. Will never not wanna listen to this album. The bass playing is phenomenal and while the lyrics are rather crude and sometimes borderline creepy just has so much emotion behind them. No doubt there's so problematic emotions here. Its just so raw.

It’s interesting getting this right after REM. Michael Stipe’s voice is mumbly and bland whereas Gano squeezes so much out of his, lots of highs and lows, fortissimos and pianissimos, and full of angst. It’s amazing that these three buskers could serve up such a variety of great songs and sounds with only minimal instrumentation. Not too many debut albums are better than this one.

a classic. no other energy like it. must be the guy hammering the acoustic bass.

It’s funny how “Blister in the Sun” is the biggest hit off this album, yet to me, it’s one of the most annoying songs ever. For many years, I was turned off by Violent Femmes because of that song. But then I heard “Add It Up” and fell in love with it, so I decided to get the album. Once I did, it became one of my favorites for a while. Violent Femmes is one of those bands that straddles the line between folk and punk, but they also have a fun and playful undertone. Although I’ve played this album so many times that I probably won’t go back to it in the future, it will always have a special place in my heart.

I'd heard the name, back in the 80s, but never got to know this band. I was hoping for edgy 80s indie/punk. I thought at first I was going to be really disappointed: I don't like a drawling vocal style, and didn't like the first track at all. But things really improved. Add It Up convinced me that the band had great energy, punk sensibilities, a hint of folk, and a sense of swagger and humour (which, yes, I mention frequently). And then it kept getting better, harking back to Iggy and a stripped-back Doors, as well as the Velvet Underground, but also sounding fresh. The folk influence, happily, persisted, and then unexpectedly you got the bonkers rock n roll of Gone Daddy Gone, which is a bit B52s. It made me happy that the album ended with some quite earnest la-la-la-ing. And had some great bass playing and a xylophone! Decent.

Promise My first album rating is a debut one, that's odd. The sound signature is very organic and humble, looks like it's part of a rehearsal equipment, honestly I rather listen to instruments and records like this, the production may not be the better, but it gives a unique atmosphere for the whole project. From "Violence" I guess it's a puzzle to the listener, how about put a kind of name with "Femmes", it reminds of 10CC for example. I really appreciate the folk here with essence off the period, most likely was Murmur by R.E.M. in the same release day though. Viewing the art cover plus the content, I premiss that's a great way to start head all the entire thing, as you can see after almost 4 decades still their big deal carrying the rest of their career in the back, literally. B+

This album is way ahead of its time. It’s Indy before Indy. It’s pixies and the shins abd decemberists. It’s a mash up of the energy and grime of punk but the acoustic sensibilities and tempo of django rheinhardt. The combo of acoustic punk and the clever wordplay, lyrics and delivery make this band delightful. There are 5 of my favorite songs on this album, the rest feel like repetition or filler, sadly. If this album were 5 songs it would be a 5, but it’s not so it’s a 4.

My brother got suspended from our school for covering "Blister in the Sun" at a high school talent show. His band name was 4:19. "We're 4:19, anyone got a minute? Hueh hueh hueh". Had no idea this came out in 1983, thought for sure it was late 90s. I guess they must have been important or something, huh. The vocals sound like I'm being serenaded by a serial killer, and I'm quite smitten. Loving the acoustic bass solo in track 3. Ah there's Gordon again, ready to come flay my flesh and feed me my genitals, prepared over a nice cassoulet (but with a midwest tater tot twist). Man, so much is derivative of this sound, I really need to revisit the Violent Femmes. Does it slap? It slaps.

Feeling a little bamboozled that a band called Violent Femmes is a bunch of dudes. However, I really liked this album. Very simple, organic punk rock. There's a welcome clarity to both the vocals and the instruments that often isn't the case with punk, but the energy is still there. Really love the xylophone on "Gone Daddy Gone." I can totally hear how this became a cult classic. And when I heard "Add It Up," I recognized it immediately as a Tony Hawk song....sure enough, Underground 2. Favorite tracks: Add It Up, Blister in the Sun, Gone Daddy Gone, Prove My Love. Album art: I like this picture. Seems like a companion to that Siamese Dream cover in a way. Apparently they paid this girl's mom $100 to take a quick pic. For some presumably broke punksters, that's a great way to get an album cover. 4/5

Violent Femmes are punk/alt-rock royalty. And for good reason. Coming into this one, I had very very positive feelings for this band and this album in particular. But this project has got me listening to things that I know far more critically than when I'm listening for fun. That's why Violent Femmes only gets a 4 instead of a 5 star rating this time. While I still absolutely adore this album, and it's full of absolute killers (Blister in the Sun, Kiss Off, Add It Up, Gone Daddy Gone, Good Feeling), there are some real stinkers as well (Please Do Not Go) and the musicality is... not awesome. Many times intentionally so... but not always so intentionally so, you know? Violent Femmes, I still love you... I just can't give you full marks.

Une expérience assez unique par rapport à tout ce que j'ai pu écouter jusqu'à présent dans ce projet. Les premières chansons m'ont fait lever un sourcil, mais au fur et à mesure que l'album avançait, j'ai fini par me faire à leur style, ce qui a fait que j'ai pu beaucoup plus apprécier leurs différentes trouvailles (le solo de xylophone sur Gone Daddy Gone a vraiment un effet particulier). Bref, 3,5 arrondi en dessous. De belles trouvailles, mais pas forcément mon style et un quand même un peu trop space pour moi

Sounds extremely out of place for it’s time. This feels like it could have come out of 90s and 2000s indie scene. Never been a big indie fan but it’s fine.

This is perfect Halloween music. Michael Jackson singing Thriller in a graveyard isn't scary. The Monster Mash isn't as gross as the title suggests. But Violent Femmes are legitimately spooky. The almost-unplugged production sounds like an old house about to collapse. The marimba is cool and haunting. But it's the singer's rat scrotum delivery and unsolicited horned up lyrics that really make this creepy. Catchy as hell and the hits are great and the little hits are too but shit like "I'm gonna get her drunk, maker her cry, get her high, touch her all over her body" and I have to assume this is just a portrait of a character that he's inhabiting very very well. Maybe under the hood, Violent Femmes are like the Catcher in the Rye of 80s music. Maybe they're just good at conveying the spirits of perverts and small devils on your shoulder. Due credit for taking punk in a folk direction. B-

Simpler songs than I remember. I like the unique spotlight on the upright bass. The whiny vocals got tiresome after 2-3 songs. "Blister in the Sun" is entrenched in the auditory catalog of my adolescence.

After Blister In The Sun I was just annoyed by the vocals. I couldn't take a full album of that. Really thought I'd enjoy this more but it just didn't do it for me.

Unerträglich, wieder einmal. Ein „Blindes-Huhn-findet-auch-mal-ein-Korn“-Wunder (wegen 'Blister in the Sun').

Great music from the early 80”s and this album is great! Track one guitar intro is so iconic you hit play and just grin.

A near perfect album. So much fun Best Song: Blister in the Sun Rating: 9.0/10 Stars: 5/5

I need someone, a person to talk to. When Violent Femmes came out I was in my early years of high school. My freshman brain was delightfully shocked hearing the word 'fuck" in a song, and I probably listened to it more because of that than the actual music. You know I cannot tell a lie But then I listened, the simple straight forward, bass driven songs, coupled with angst ridden lyrics got me. To this day the Femmes are still in heavy rotation and proudly approved my daughter coming home with this album from RSD a couple of years back. Side one is perfect, and I sing along every time. I forget what 8 is for

“LET ME GO OOOOOOOONNNNNNNN”, I heard the first notes of Blister in the Sun and had never been more excited for an album. Violent Femmes just have fun music and a unique style that I love 5/5

I can’t believe this was made in 1983. I swore this was in the mid 90s post grunge alt indie mix. Great album and it’s so much fun.

A very good record with plenty of bangers. Liked "Confessions", which I'd never heard before. Good for gym, car, home.

one of my classics

A classic classic

Listened to this album a lot in university, not a lot since but it’s as good as I remember. Totally unique sound (is there another punk-folk band?), even some elements of 50s doo wop in there. Gano’s voice is one of a kind and the lyrics are memorable and pretty funny at times (listen to country death song on the extended version if you haven’t heard it). A bit of a stretch but I’m going to go 5 stars

4.6 This album was a total surprise for me. I always liked the couple of singles that came from this album in passing but never really paid that much attention to it. Bass playing is out of this world, that guy must be 10 feet tall to rip up an acoustic bass like that. I saw this described as folk punk, I would prefer the label acoustic punk, but that doesnt really matter. Add it up was my favourite tune. I will have to check out the rest of the catalog. Only knock might be that it might get tiresome after multiple listens, but we dont have time for that as there are 529 more albums to go. Last thought, within the punk umbrella there are very few bass driven bands like this. NOMEANSNO comes to mind and is a great band to check out. great talent

somehow overrated and underrated at same time. Classic

on one side i absolutely loathes traditional folk and have a bit of negative attitude toward comtemporary folk. on the other side i have a mid to high regard on punk. so who would thought of the fact that folk punk is actually very appealing to me? 5/5

I've loved the Violent Femmes since high school. I got to see them around 1998, and it's still one of the best shows I've experienced. Im still kind of amazed that 3 dudes could fill up three hours and manage to be entertaining the whole time. Anyway, the self-titled Violent Femmes record is probably their best effort. I love this record. They managed to maintain their charm over the years, to some extent or another, but this record is the most concentrated distillation of their talent. The nerdy guy angst of the lyrics (and the non-stop bass lines; Brian Ritchie is a legend in my eyes) always resonated with me in a way that most bands can't pull off, or at least not nearly as convincingly. 4.5/5 There are a couple of songs on here that drag just a little, but the record as a whole still scores really high for me; it's a classic for me that I revisit fairly regularly.

5/5. This still definitely holds up and sounds unique and fun the whole way through. I have only heard the first track before and after finishing the album, it is definitely the weakest track on the album. There is not much to go off of it but all the other songs really show Gano's songwriting come through. It is chaotic like David Byrne and still lowkey like Lou Reed, and I think he finds the perfect combination. The lyrics can be a little creepy sometimes, but in retrospect it's more funny than anything just of how unserious it is. A great listening experience. Best Song: Kiss Off, Gone Daddy Gone, Add It Up

Ha! Nic, you want to just copy and paste?

Well. hahahahaha I won't even try to really go there on this one. (For those who don't know, I just wrote a book about this album for Bloomsbury's 33 1/3 series, which will come out next year.) I WILL share one of my favorite quotes from the book, though, which is from the bass player, Brian Ritchie. Basically, we were talking about the weird professional burden of making a successful album as a young man and then having to play those same songs every night for the rest of your life. I asked him if it was annoying. He got quiet for a few seconds. Then he said, “When I go to a Rolling Stones concert, and they play Satisfaction..." - and he leaned forward, as if to emphasize what he was getting ready to say next - “I like it.”

Looking forward to Nic’s comments (his 33 1/3 book on this album comes out in 2026!!) but I love this one as much as I did when I first started hearing it around the dorms in the late 80s. Are there are any mediocre songs? Not to my ears. It’s raw, jagged, desperate, angry, melancholy, sometimes ugly, but also buoyant, silly, and sexy. It sounded and sounds completely distinctive, instantly recognizable.

I love everything about the Violent Femmes sound.

Perhaps better than I remember, and I wore out 2 cassettes of this one. Pink rock on acoustic. Deserving of this list, everyone should hear this album

I really enjoyed this album.

Has there ever been a better album to describe teen years yearnings?

I will never not hear Feel Good, Inc. in the xylophone solo on Gone Daddy Gone

This album has a xylophone solo that's so good it makes me wonder why don't more albums have more xylophone solos. Blister In The Sun is great, but Add It Up and Good Feeling are also bangers.

Absolute banger album. Acoustic punk is rare, but when done right it sounds immaculate

4.5

One of the greatest debut albums of all time. One of the greatest punk albums of all time. And one of my top ten albums of all time. Cant recommend this album enough. It’s completely unique and completely timeless. This is definitely the best album I’ve been given from this list so far. Please go listen to it!

Wow! What an album! Midwest alternative bands reign supreme. While the replacements album we listened to was melancholic, this is madcap joy and anger fused— kinda like Pulp tbh. I had a lot of comparison bands actually for this album. It really blends a lot of different styles of rock music. My first thought was Jonathan Richman but it also can sound like early aughts rock. Fave songs are Blister (obv) and Add It Up. If you want to break up with a girl make a mixtape for her with Ugly on it

I knew Blister in the Sun, but not this album. It's a much different sound - and a great one.

Such a great album.

Another one I've needed to give more listens to, and this confirms it because I really dug it. The acoustic bass is super interesting. The lyrics are also really sharp and witty.

A true classic.

No question what my rating will be. Kiss Off has been a favorite since high school

Kicking off with Blister in the Sun! Wow!

Brilliant album that I've listened to 100s of times over the years. Quite refreshing after that dud I had to listen to yesterday. 4.5/5 #93

Near perfect

Great, some less uhh enlightened songs in there

NA

One of my all time favorites.

When I heard the first few notes of the first song - Blister in the Sun - it felt like that warmth in your belly when you read an old letter or diary by another entry and realize that we all feel the same things, and at the end of the day, all experiences tend to be universal. By the second song I was in awe - a little Southern band that feels like the Beach Boys' goth cousin, playing a song so raw and intense it made me gasp, sounding both like bluegrass and a garage pop-punk band. I had NO IDEA who the Violent Femmes were - when I heard Blisters in the Sun, I knew that lyrics were a forte, but Kiss Off threw me back into my chair. "Nine for a lost god, Ten for everything, everything, everything" literally killed me. Wow.

This sounds like a demo - raw, unpolished - and the result is something quite amazing. The complex construction of several songs is brilliant.

Me and this album have a lot in common. Angsty, neurotic, and whining about a girl that’s no good for you. This is my first 5 star of the 1001 album generator redux. I can say I enjoyed each song on this album from the jumpy and quick start with “Blister in the sun” to its melancholic yet up beat conclusion in “Good Feeling”. It’s definitely set the bar for what I consider a 5 star album. I’m disappointed that I never dove into the Violent Femmes outside of “Blister in the Sun” but they will now be included in my daily rotation. Every song on this album is a highlight for me but my clear favorite was “To The Kill” with “Add It Up” a close 2nd. 5 stars ,10 outta 10, and 5 big booms. Will be listening to this when women make me sad (every day)

Yet another band I've never heard of before, and I don't think I was familiar with any of these songs before hearing the album for the first time. I gotta say, this absolutely rocks from top to bottom. Hell of a debut album. Killer guitar riffs, great voice, and a good mix of Rock styles that make a lot of the songs feel unique, and at times even extremely ear wormy. I mean, try not to dance listening to "Gone Daddy Gone", you can't. Personal favorites here are "Gone Daddy Gone", "Add It Up", and "To The Kill". I mentioned this before, but after enduring so much UK Punk, UK Rock and UK Funk, whenever an American band comes around, it's just automatically one of the best things I've heard in a while. Call it national bias, pride, or whatever else you want to label it as. At the end of the day, this album still absolutely slaps hard. Great start to the week, looking forward to whatever I end up rolling next.

I loved this album. It was very much my sort of vibe. I already knew Blister in the Sun but was delighted to discover how much I liked the rest of the album. This is one I will definitely listen to again. My main complaint is that Good Feeling is such a good album closer that it seems a shame to have put the bonus tracks on the end. Fav song: Blister in the Sun - I also liked Gone Daddy Gone and Good Feeling Least fav: Ugly

BLISTER IN THE SUN!!!

Timeless. Sounds like it could have been made in any number of decades,

Incredible, propulsive bass lines. Catchy and humorous lyrics. Innovative without taking itself too seriously. Perfect.

Zak u put it perfectly, way ahead of its time. I really liked this one!!

An immediate and unfiltered look at teenage loneliness and lust. Punk’s promise is shaped into a different form on a record that still seems amazingly modern.

Terrific.

A classic that was ahead of its time. Raw, emotional, fun stuff. Standouts: Blister in the Sun, Add It Up, Gone Daddy Gone

My Rating: 5/5 Angst-Powered Folk Punk Yelps It’s punk, but it’s acoustic. It’s folk, but it’s feral. This album is one long scream from someone who just got friend-zoned and had their Walkman stolen. It’s like: • The Smiths if Morrissey was less whiny and more deranged • The Ramones if they couldn’t afford amps • A high school journal with splinters

A perfect album. So fun. Adore the raw production. Sounds as you imagine it would sound live.

Haven't given this a full listen since I was a teen. Still slaps hard.