Violent Femmes - Le Enfantes du Rock n Roll

In the Fall of 1987 I found myself in my new home, the Sunset dorms at Humboldt State University.  I've talked about it here and there around the Relics, what it amounted to me that first year was a hell of a lot women, liquor, drugs and very little studying.  So much for my first foray into responsible adulthood.  If I could do it all over again, I would study a hell of a lot more and take my education more seriously.  Obviously that can't be done, but rather than be full of regrets, I can be satisfied with the fact that some of the best people I've ever met in my life was during that time and I got a different kind of education, for the purposes of this post, an education in music.  I was so confident in what I knew about music when I first got to Humboldt, but it was quickly evident I didn't know shit.  I met this girl named Linda, who I was very hot for, but long story short, we messed around for a little bit, but she eventually chose another guy over me, my close pal Jeremy.  In that little bit of time we did spend together she managed to blow me away with a band called the Violent Femmes.  I was this hardcore guy, so at first listen they seemed a little "faggy" to me, but it didn't take long for them to grow on me and realize that they had more balls than most of the bands I considered hard.  I could really relate to these guys.  Eventually I was listening to them all the time and to this day they remain one of my favorite bands.  God they have so much charisma and the song writing is just out of this world (and talk about unsung bass player, Brian Ritchie is a fucking beast.  Picked up this bootleg a while back, and if you think they're good in the studio, live they turn the knob up to 11.  So much fucking energy.  This is yet another instance where, instead of devoting so much of life to liquor and dope, I wish had taken a few minutes of my time, to hunt down these bands and see them live.  This here decent audience recording was of their first show in Rome, Italy long about 1983... Links gone, don't want to be pissin' anyone off (better to be pissed off than pissed on, unless you're into the shit). Here's a live vid from the same year...just a taste

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJUtlnn4KDg&w=560&h=315]