Sunny Songs: Blister in the Sun

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Happy independence eve! I hope everyone has a good Fourth of July…even the countries that just have a “fourth of July” without any celebration behind it. Here’s today’s song that presents a weird thing: usually everyone except NJ Chic knows it. She’ll know this one and nobody else will! Blister in the Sun - Violent Femmes One of celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse’s catch phrases is “kick it up a notch.” That’s what the Violent Femmes did on their 1983 debut: they took teenage desperation and angst and kicked it up a notch. Or 20. This album never charted while selling a million copies. (It eventually did pop onto the Billboard album chart, and it’s sold over three million copies.) That’s “word of mouth.” Oh, and how they got discovered? They were playing on a street corner in Milwaukee (their hometown), and members of The Pretenders came by and heard them. They ended up opening for the Pretenders’ concert in Milwaukee that night! Now, the funny thing about all of this is that you’ve probably never heard this song, but you have. If you’ve been to or watched any sporting event in the last, oh, 15 years, you’ve heard that bass line opening played between pitches or at timeouts. Why they use this song between pitches, I don’t know (or maybe there’s some subtle connection between “balls and strikes” and sexual frustration ). At any rate, for a song you’ve never heard it’s immensely popular in the college rock and alternative world. And it still sounds good after 42 years! Blister in the Sun Written by Gordon Gano Recorded by Violent Femmes From Violent Femmes, 1983 I don’t even know why: