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SUPPORT ME ON PATREON\n\nWATCH MUSIC is not a GENRE VIDEOS and MORE\n\nWhen a new band finds the right name for itself, it\u2019s magic. They don\u2019t always get it right the first time. Imagine if \u201cJeremy\u201d was released by Mookie Blaylock. Or if The Hype did \u201cWith or Without You\u201d. Or the Young Aborigines scored a hit with \u201cSabotage\u201d. Those band names do not support the attitude & spirit of the songs. Thankfully inspiration gave us the far more dead-on Pearl Jam, U2 and the Beastie Boys. And those are three of dozens of famous bands that took some trial and error to nail the name.\n\nViolent Femmes, however, killed it right off. Sure, it was intended as an off the cuff joke name. But as soon as the two founding members, Brian Ritchie and Victor DeLorenzo, discovered Gordon Gano, it made perfect sense. Brian and Victor had the post-punk rhythm and attitude with an extra shot of weirdness. Gordon had the singing chops - nasal weird kid-like talk-singing that fit so well, and songs that spoke openly about sensitive, painful, awkward feelings without the defensiveness that often pushes singer/songwriters to macho it up.\n\nIt was raw and new and instantly worked. Their music embodied both the violent \u201cmasculine\u201d emotional confusion all adolescents feel, and the vulnerability of undressed honesty often associated with a person\u2019s \u201cfeminine\u201d side. And by doing so without apology it showed all that masculine-feminine stuff is bullcrap. There\u2019s no reason to label what a person feels, how they act, or how they express themselves. Open up and say whatever comes out. Get angry and aggressive. Get confessional and insecure. It\u2019s all just being a complete and truly vulnerable human.\n\nDid they intend for their name to represent all this? Or their music for that matter? No. The synergy was accidental. The unadorned arrangements (acoustic bass AND drums with no kick!), vocals and words just happened to come together to embody the exact gender duality the name hints at. And they did it with an in-your-face, we don\u2019t care what you think folk punk attitude that influenced a whole generation of bands. They were pre-emo - one of the seminal 1980s bands that gave permission for tons of other bands to get confessional without defense.\n\nAnd I\u2019m included in that group. Whenever I\u2019d write lyrics that felt too raw and revealing, I looked to the Femmes (and the Cure and few others) to reassure me that I didn\u2019t need to hide the words behind aggressive music. Below are an early-ish song and a much more recent one that both show this.\n\nNICK \u2013 \u201cYou Can\u2019t Touch Me\u201d (from the album Listen You People)\n\nREC \u2013 \u201cLost Found\u201d (from the album Sympathy for the Weird)\n\nDo you remember the Femmes? Did you know they just put out a new album last year? Are there other bands you like who hold this same kind of duality? Discuss dammit!\n\nNICK'S LIVE VERSIONS OF TWO CLASSIC FEMMES SONGS:\n\n"Never Tell"\n\n"American Music"\n\n\n--- \n\nThis episode is sponsored by \n\xb7 Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app\n\nSupport this podcast: https://anchor.fm/musicisnotagenre/support\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices