Hello. Welcome to my blog. Let’s start this thing off hot with a classic.
Violent Femmes’ Violent Femmes was first introduced to me by my cousin Kristin (whose music taste I admired) when I was in junior high. One summer while we were visiting, I rode with her to the mall so she could buy it on cassette. She had a dual cassette player that I used to dub a copy, and that summer the story began. By my junior year in high school, it had become the anthem of my awkward adolescence. The lyrics painted with self-loathing and dark humor. The intimate and awkward musings of a horny misfit teen.
This album is one continued raw confessional that most Gen Xers are familiar with. It even made its way on to the big screen in Reality Bites when Ethan Hawke used Add It Up as a revenge song. On the album, Gordon drops an F-Bomb early on in Add It Up. Hearing that in junior high, I felt like I was getting away with something. That, in turn, made it even cooler. I bet most people my age can’t hear the intro riff of Blister In The Sun without the overwhelming urge to clap-clap clap-clap. It can make an entire crowd of people clap in unison at any event. Thanks to Kiss Off, I’m pretty sure that if I asked you what any random number from 1 to 9 is for you could tell me but you’d have to sing the song in your head until you got to the number. It’s like an old friend that you know so well. You can go years without seeing each other or staying in touch at all. Then, you see each other and it’s like no time has passed. Same familiar vibe, same familiar feelings. Memories attached to every note.
Highlights
Blister In The Sun: This is THE anthem of the album. Catchy ode to self-stimulation and loneliness. Erratic and manic acoustic-driven fun. Undeniably immortal intro and hand clap rhythm.
Add It Up: Notorious, raw, exposed, and furious. Themes of sexual frustration and desperation. Completely acapella intro. The intensity slowly building throughout the song like a pressure cooker about to blow. The final barrage of “Add it up” hitting like a sucker punch.
Kiss Off: Teen melodrama dripping with ennui. Bratty defiance and parental rejection. The counting to ten breakdown is timeless. Brian Ritchie’s bass prior to the counting with that signature aggressive acoustic attack.
Good Feeling: Sorrowful haunting closer. Sadder than an ocean full of yesterdays. Just Gordon’s voice, a violin, and a piano. It’s distilled heartbreak.
“BIG HANDS, I KNOW YOU’RE THE ONE”
-“Blister In The Sun”, Violent Femmes (1983)
Here is a cocktail by yours truly. It is a perfect pairing with the vibe of this record. It is also strong as hell, so be careful. Cheers!
Blister In The Sun
2 oz bourbon or rye
1 oz Domaine de Canton ginger liquer
3/4 oz lemon juice
Ginger beer
Angostura bitters
Orange bitters
Grapefruit bitters
In a shaker filled with ice, add three to four dashes of orange bitters and grapefruit bitters and swirl.
In a rocks glass, fill half with ice or one single ball of ice and add two or three dashes of orange bitters and grapefruit bitters and swirl.
Add bourbon, ginger liqueur, and lemon juice and shake.
Strain into rocks glass.
Top with ginger beer. Add four dashes of Angostura bitters to top of ice.
Push ice lightly into drink to sink and mix bitters. Drink and repeat with caution.
Groove Rituals 