1983 Songs: Blister in the Sun

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Hmm…let’s see. The teaser was an anti-war synth-rock song, and the first day was a neotraditional country classic. It’s times like this that I have to tell newer readers that I’m not schizophrenic. Here’s today’s song. Blister in the Sun - Violent Femmes Gordon Gano will be 60 next week. He was 17 when he wrote this classic teenage angst tune. Now, most of you who aren’t into 80s college rock or alternative or post-punk or wherever the Violent Femmes’ music fits are going, “Huh?” You’ve probably never heard of them or this, and by the time he gets “I strut my stuff” (the second line in the song) out you’ve turned it off because of his voice. But you’re also probably thinking, “Hey, don’t I hear that opening riff played by the organist at baseball games?” Yeah. They use the opening riff of this song between pitches. Go figure. I guess because a three-year-old can play it (it’s impossibly easy to play on guitar…trust me, I’m not a guitar player, and I can play it). Never mind the lyrics. You know, just like Royal Caribbean using Iggy Pop’s “Lust for Life” with no thought of the booze or heroin in the lyrics. Anyway, the album is filled with songs about the struggles of teenage hormone rage. And, although I was too old (and too female: this is definitely (for obvious reasons) the male point of view), I fell in love with this album. It’s the first album (and, to date, the ONLY one) to be certified platinum for sales of over a million copies while NOT ever being on the Billboard album charts. (It did break its streak and appear briefly after it made all the news for making a million without making the chart.) Honestly, I wanted to use “Add It Up,” but (a) it’s over seven minutes long, (b) it has a profanity warning, and (c) unless you like the Femmes you’d probably kill me for thinking you could listen to Gano sing for that long. I know you won’t like this one, but I do. A lot. Blister in the Sun Written by Gordon Gano Recorded by the Violent Femmes From Violent Femmes, 1983 I’m high as a kite: