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Band

Violent Femmes

4.2 / 5 from 17 ratings across 2 albums
Albums
51
Members
7
Active
1980–present
Origin
United States
Biography

Violent Femmes were an American alternative rock band from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, initially active between 1980 and 1987 and again from 1988 to 2009. The band performed as a trio, including: singer, guitarist and songwriter Gordon Gano, bassist Brian Ritchie, and two drummers, Victor DeLorenzo (1980-1993 and 2002-2009) and Guy Hoffman (1993-2002). The Violent Femmes released eight studio albums and fifteen singles during the course of their career. The band found immediate success with the release of their self-titled debut album in early 1983.

Featuring many of their well-known songs, including "Blister in the Sun", "Kiss Off", "Add It Up" and "Gone Daddy Gone", Violent Femmes became the band's biggest-selling album and was eventually certified platinum by the RIAA. Violent Femmes went on to become one of the most commercially successful rock bands of the 1980s and 1990s, selling over 9 million albums by 2005. After the release of their third album The Blind Leading the Naked (1986), the band's future was uncertain and they split up in 1987, when Gano and Ritchie went solo. However, they regrouped a year later, releasing the album 3 (1989).

Since then, Violent Femmes' popularity continued to grow, especially in the United States where the songs "Nightmares" and "American Music" cracked the top five on the Modern Rock Tracks chart.

The Groove
Groove by decade

The Groove is music.nw’s own measure of renown — not an opinion, a fact computed from the record. It weighs reach (how many people engaged) against acclaim (how highly they rated it), balanced so a handful of votes can’t outshout a lasting favourite.

Computed the NeuraWeb way, across the whole record. The same yardstick for everyone — which is why the little-known can out-Groove the famous in their own corner.

The trajectory

How Violent Femmes moved

Genre belongs to the record, not to the artist. Every album’s Groove is shared out across the genres it actually is — by how the raters tagged it — so nobody is 100% one thing. Stack that by decade and a career draws itself.

Discography

Gone Daddy Gone
Violent Femmes · 1983
Album cover
Violent Femmes
Violent Femmes · 1983
Dance Motherf....
Violent Femmes · 1984
Hallowed Ground
Violent Femmes · 1984
Les Enfants Du Rock 'N' Roll
Violent Femmes · 1985
I Held Her In My Arms
Violent Femmes · 1986
Album cover
The Blind Leading the Naked
Violent Femmes · 1986
3
Violent Femmes · 1988
3 On 3
Violent Femmes · 1989
Nightmares / World We're Living In
Violent Femmes · 1989
Album cover
Debacle: The First Decade
Violent Femmes · 1990
Do You Really Want To Hurt Me?
Violent Femmes · 1991
Used To Be
Violent Femmes · 1991
Album cover
Why Do Birds Sing?
Violent Femmes · 1991
Kiss Off
Violent Femmes · 1992
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Add It Up (1981–1993)
Violent Femmes · 1993
Breakin' Up
Violent Femmes · 1994
Machine
Violent Femmes · 1994
Album cover
New Times
Violent Femmes · 1994
Rock!!!!!
Violent Femmes · 1995
Tonight
Violent Femmes · 1995
Blister In The Sun
Violent Femmes · 1997
Freak Magnet
Violent Femmes · 1998
Viva Wisconsin
Violent Femmes · 1999
All I Want
Violent Femmes · 2000
Sleepwalkin'
Violent Femmes · 2000
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Something’s Wrong
Violent Femmes · 2001
BBC Live
Violent Femmes · 2005
Permanent Record: Live & Otherwise
Violent Femmes · 2005
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Permanent Record: The Very Best of Violent Femmes
Violent Femmes · 2005
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Archive Series No. 1: Live in Iceland: “According to Tradition”
Violent Femmes · 2006
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Archive Series No. 2: Live in Chicago: Q101
Violent Femmes · 2006
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BBC Live
Violent Femmes · 2006
No, Let’s Start Over
Violent Femmes · 2006
Archive Series Nos. 1 & 2
Violent Femmes · 2007
Crazy
Violent Femmes · 2008
Good Ideas
Violent Femmes · 2011
Album cover
Original Album Series
Violent Femmes · 2011
Happy New Year
Violent Femmes · 2015
Live – Riviera Theater, Chicago, IL 16 Mar 89
Violent Femmes · 2016
Memory b/w You Move Me
Violent Femmes · 2016
We Can Do Anything
Violent Femmes · 2016
2 Mics & the Truth: Unplugged & Unhinged in America
Violent Femmes · 2017
Body and Beats (live 1985)
Violent Femmes · 2019
Hotel Last Resort
Violent Femmes · 2019
Born Too Soon (Live)
Violent Femmes · 2022
1984‐02‐13: Ingenieurs‐Schule, Kassel, Germany
Violent Femmes · —
1984‐05‐15: Stache and Little Brother’s, Columbus, OH, USA
Violent Femmes · —
Film Noir
Violent Femmes · —
No, Let's Start Over
Violent Femmes · —
Violence In The Streets
Violent Femmes · —

Credits

Ranked #3,353 of 14,615 producers — 408.46 career Groove across 4 records.