Happy 40th to Another Amazing Album

There's a case to be made that the first Violent Femmes record was not only the most influential record of 1983, but of all the 1980s. Certainly, no record that sold so little has ever become so well-known to such a high percentage of Earthlings, n'est-pas? And I don't mean in the VU/Ramones vein, wherein nobody bought their debut records but those that did started their on bands - EVERYBODY on Earth knows these songs. - XMASTIME

Yesterday I was all about the 40th birfday love for Murmur, so I was stunned - STUNNED, Jerry! - to realize that today is the 40th anniversary of the release of ANOTHER landmark album, the Violent Femmes debut record. It's really unbelievable that these two classic albums came out one day apart from each other.

To my earlier point above, I know people who have never heard of Husker Du or the Minutemen or hundreds of bands who were contemporaries of the Violent Femmes or were greatly influenced by them, yet they all know the big songs from that VF album (to an even more impressive degree than other examples like I Melt with You or Ball and Chain).

So happy 40th to a record that has never stopped building momentum even after 40 years, and will always live on to be a part of whatever eventually becomes the one true story of rock & roll.