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Violent Femmes
Studio album by Violent Femmes
Released	April 13, 1983
Recorded	July 1982
Studio	Castle Recording Studios, Lake Geneva, Wisconsin
Genre	Folk punk post-punk alternative rock
Length	36:15
Label	Slash
Producer	Mark Van Hecke
Violent Femmes chronology
Violent Femmes (1983) Hallowed Ground (1984)
Singles from Violent Femmes
"Gone Daddy Gone" Released: 1983

Violent Femmes is the debut album by Violent Femmes. Mostly recorded in July 1982, the album was released by Slash Records on vinyl and on cassette in April 1983, and on CD in 1987, with two extra tracks, "Ugly" and "Gimme the Car".

In 2002, Rhino Records remastered the album, filled out the disc's length with demos and added another disc of live tracks and a radio interview for a 20th anniversary special edition, with liner notes by Michael Azerrad.

Violent Femmes is the band's most successful album to date. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) certified the album gold four years after its release and platinum four years after that, despite it never having appeared on the Billboard 200 albums chart. After achieving platinum certification on February 1, 1991, the album finally charted on the Billboard 200 for the first time on August 3, 1991, and peaked at number 171. Since Nielsen Music began electronically tracking sales in 1991, the album has sold 1.8 million copies. Blending RIAA certifications and Nielsen Music sales data, the record's American sales were estimated at three million as of 2016.

Background

Most of the songs on Violent Femmes and its follow-up were written when songwriter Gordon Gano was an 18-year-old high-school student in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

The album was recorded at Castle Recording Studios in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin in July 1982. It was self-funded before they had signed with their record label, Slash. Gano said, "It was a strange situation because we hadn't met anyone from Slash or been to Los Angeles when we signed with them. The good thing was because we recorded the album first, it was exactly the way we wanted. There was no executive influence."

Cover

The cover model is Billie Jo Campbell, a three-year-old girl who was walking down a Los Angeles street when she and her mother were approached and offered $100 for the photograph that became the album cover. The photograph depicts Campbell peering into the window of a house in Laurel Canyon. Campbell recollects: "I remember looking into that building, and they kept telling me there were animals in there, and I was pissed off ... I didn't know why they were making me look in this building. I had no idea there were photographers there. I was ... pissed off that I couldn't see the animals and I was all cranky by the end of it."

Reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
Blender
Pitchfork	9.1/10
Q
Rolling Stone
The Rolling Stone Album Guide
The Sacramento Bee
Spin Alternative Record Guide	10/10
Uncut
The Village Voice	B+

In a contemporary review for Rolling Stone, J. D. Considine wrote that Violent Femmes was precocious yet dynamic, with a good balance between Gano's direct lyrics and the full sound of the music. Robert Christgau of the Village Voice compared Gano to Jonathan Richman of the Modern Lovers. Gano himself grew tired of comparisons to Richman, as by his own account he was actually trying to sound like Steve Wynn of the Dream Syndicate.

In a retrospective write-up for AllMusic, Steve Huey called Violent Femmes "one of the most distinctive records of the early alternative movement and an enduring cult classic," noting that "the music also owes something to the Modern Lovers' minimalism, but powered by Brian Ritchie's busy acoustic bass riffing and the urgency and wild abandon of punk rock, the Femmes forged a sound all their own," while crediting Gano for keeping "the music engaging and compelling without overindulging in his seemingly willful naiveté."

Violent Femmes has been included in lists of the best albums of the 1980s by publications such as Pitchfork, who in a 2002 list ranked it 36th, and Slant Magazine, who in a 2012 list ranked it 21st. In 2014, PopMatters listed Violent Femmes as an essential alternative rock album of the 1980s. It also placed at number 974 in the 2000 edition of the book All Time Top 1000 Albums, and was included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

Track listing

All tracks are written by Gordon Gano, except where noted

(Recorded at Music Works Studios, London, August 31–September 1, 1983)

Personnel

Violent Femmes

• Victor DeLorenzo – snare drum, tranceaphone, drum set, scotch marching bass drum, backing vocals
• Gordon Gano – acoustic and electric guitars, violin, lead vocals
• Brian Ritchie – acoustic and electric bass guitars, xylophone, backing vocals

Additional personnel

• Mark Van Hecke – production, piano on "Good Feeling"

Charts

Certifications

References

1. Molanphy, Chris (October 2002). "Gordon Gano: Hitting the Ground". CMJ New Music Monthly. No. 106. p. 56. Archived from the original on February 16, 2024. Retrieved August 29, 2020.
2. Jackson, Josh (July 13, 2016). "The 50 Best Post-Punk Albums". Paste. Archived from the original on October 31, 2021. Retrieved August 29, 2020.
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4. Editorial Staff, Cash Box (April 2, 1983). "Abundance Of Major Titles Set For Second Quarter" (PDF). Cash Box. New York: The Cash Box Publishing Co. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-07-22. Retrieved 2021-07-22.
5. Editorial Staff, Cash Box (April 23, 1983). "Violent Femmes - Slash 23845-1" (PDF). Cash Box. New York: The Cash Box Publishing Co. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-07-22. Retrieved 2021-07-22.
6. White, Adam (1990). The Billboard Book of Gold & Platinum Records. Internet Archive. Billboard Books. ISBN 9780823075478.
7. "The Compact Disc Connection Database : WAR23845 * $11.79 VIOLENT FEMMES VIOLENT FEMMES WARNER BROTHERS 07/87 :44". Textfiles.com. Archived from the original on April 3, 2013. Retrieved October 20, 2013.
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13. Kemp, Rob. "Violent Femmes: Violent Femmes (Deluxe Edition)". Blender. Archived from the original on November 3, 2004. Retrieved July 20, 2019.
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15. "Violent Femmes: Violent Femmes". Q. No. 194. September 2002. p. 130.
16. ^ Considine, J. D. (June 23, 1983). "Violent Femmes: Violent Femmes". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on February 11, 2007. Retrieved September 9, 2012.
17. Coleman, Mark; Sisario, Ben (2004). "Violent Femmes". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. p. 852. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
18. Macias, Chris (June 30, 2002). "Meet the 'Press,' shadow fans". The Sacramento Bee.
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External links

• Violent Femmes (Adobe Flash) at Radio3Net (streamed copy where licensed)

• Violent Femmes albums
• Slash Records albums
• 1983 debut albums