Saturday’s Song – The Violent Femmes

I think I first heard the band Violent Femmes a few years ago. My exposure to them was through my children – children of the ’80s and ’90s. It might have been American Music (video above) that first caught my attention. When I heard Blister in the Sun (below) it sounded a little familiar so maybe I’d heard it round about the time it had air time.

I have come to love the sound of this band and the creativity in their music. How they’ve achieved blending some nice melody along with some really raw sounds and coarse lyrics is beyond me. But it works. They are classified as punk rock, alternative rock and modern rock.

This is one of my favorites, Used To Be.

Gordon Gano, the singer and lead guitarist is so talented and also so scary in the way he performs a song and delivers lyrics. Blister in the Sun is one of the best examples of this. So is American Music.

In the old clips of this band, Gano comes off as the bad boy you’re scared to love – with uncertainty and from a distance. I’ve read that he wrote songs for characters he invented and that his performance of a song goes beyond being a musician – he performs the song as the character. I think that’s talent.

I don’t know enough about this band to say anything about them with any credibility. So, I’ll let their music inform you. In this post are a few of my favorite Violent Femmes songs. Enjoy ~