Coming up next an interview with 80s underground band Violent Femmes.. They somehow sold 1 million copies of their self titled Violent Femmes debut album with absolutely no promotion. No radio play, no label support... nothing. The album had several familiar songs that the children of the 80s know by heart, like Add it Up, Blister in the Sun, Kiss Off and Gone Daddy Gone but the album was like contraband, if you had it you were lucky because it was hard to find. How did this little band that could sell a million albums fin out next with an exclusive interview with the band members including original members Gordon Gano and Brian Ritchie.
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#1980s #indie #vinylstory
Hey music junkies, Professor of Rock, always here to celebrate the greatest artists and the greatest songs of all time. If you ever rode in the back of a pickup with your friends, back in the dangerous 80s You’ll dig this channel. Nostalgia all the time. Make sure to subscribe below right now. by clicking the red button.
Violent Femmes. First of all one of the greatest band names ever. the Femmes were the foremost purveyors of Folk Punk. Originating from Milwaukee Wisconsin, Gordon Gano on guitar and lead vocals and Brian Ritchie on bass on backing vocals were the mainstays with other members going in and out of the band.
Though the band has realized many albums over the decades it’s their self title debut album that started the fire with 80s classic like today’s focus Blister in the Sun, Kiss Off, the always censored Add it Up and Gone Daddy gone made this record infamous. It was hard to come by. Even though it would sell a millions copies and it did this without any label support or real radio play.
it was all through this thing called word of mouth before the word viral was used in our everyday vernacular. True word of mouth… lending and borrowing the cassette or vinyl out to friend. I remember first hearing it because I was lucky to get an elder classment to record a copy for me on cassette. I cherished it so. I played it low so my parents wouldn’t hear and take it away.
This was a classic 80s contraband album. You had to earn it. Violent Femmes were actually founded by bassist Brian Ritche and early percussionist Victor Delorenzo after the end of the First wave of American punk and then turned into a full-fledged band When Gordon Gano came into the fold. It was Ritchie who came up with the band’s name . It was of course a joke and not meant to stick but it did and he and Delorenzo used it as the rhythm duo they had before Gano joined up.
In the beginning they busked not the street and played Coffee shops. It was a member of the Pretenders that discovered them in the late summer of 1981. Jame Honeyman Scott the guitarist found the band busking on the corner of the street of a Venue the Pretenders were playing so Chrissie Hynde and the band asked them to play a short acoustic set before they came on stage. How cool is that? They recorded the debut album Violent Femmes in 1982.
It was released by Slash records in the spring of 83 and even though it sold 1 million copies it actually wouldn’t enter the billboard charts until almost a decade later on august 3 1991 Now it’s at 3 million copies sold. Up next the band including original members Singer guitarist Gordon Gano and Bassist Backup vocalist Brian Ritchie tell the story of this 80s classic.