Tunesday: 1988 Throwing Muses–Juno, Bright Yellow Gun & More

Kristen Hersh and her band, Throwing Muses, have been among my very favorites since I initially heard the song “Juno” from their first full length album, House Tornado, grind it’s way out of my stereo speakers back in 1988.  I’ve begun to realize what a magnificent year that was for my musical tastes–maybe there was something special in the air, maybe something in me, but I discovered a phenomenal number of artists that year that still hear regular play at my house, and for the next several Tunesdays I’ll be sharing some of them with you.

That album, House Tornado, was utterly vital and fantastic, and Hersh’s deeply personal writing struck a note with my poetry-addicted mind.  And doesn’t she look cool in her modest skirt, cardigan, and bad-ass rock and roll guitar pose?  Of note: I bought House Tornado on vinyl a few weeks after its release, then bought it again as one of the first three CDs I ever bought (the same day I bought my first CD player–I was a late and reluctant adopter) because, at the time, it was my favorite album.

Juno (1988) Not the best quality video, but….

Bright Yellow Gun (1995) Doesn’t this one want you to break traffic laws?

Not Too Soon (1991)

Tunesday: Violent Femmes–Gone Daddy Gone

I was in tenth grade. Xylophone solo?  Hell, yes.  This song is even better now than it was 30 years ago.  I used to listen to these guys for hours.

Friday Morning Rock & Roll Idol: Violent Femmes

Like a lot of these videos, this is more brillance from the eighties, which weren’t at all like cheese-eating high schools kids who watch cable replays of  “Pretty In Pink” think they were like.  The Violent Femmes were a taut little Indie band from Wisconsin who wrote short, sweet, sometimes angry, sometimes sad, sly little songs with a throbbing bass and a unique–for the time and the genre–electrified acoustic sound.  “Blister in the sun,” “Add it up,” “Kiss off,” and this one, “Gone daddy, gone,” were their big singles.  I recently heard this one as part of the “roadie music” between sets at an Old Crow Medicine Show/Avett Brothers concert and was delighted how good–and not dated–it seemed.  Enjoy.