Violent Femmes discography

This is the discography of Violent Femmes, a Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based alternative rock group, which consists of 10 studio albums, 19 singles, five live albums and four compilation albums, in addition to a number of miscellaneous appearances on soundtracks and compilations featuring various artists. This list does not include solo material by any of the bands' members.

Violent Femmes discography
Studio albums	10
EPs	1
Live albums	5
Compilation albums	4
Singles	19
Video albums	3
Music videos	15
Miscellaneous	16

Violent Femmes was formed in 1980 by vocalist/guitarist Gordon Gano, bassist Brian Ritchie and drummer Victor DeLorenzo, finding immediate success with the release of their self-titled debut album in early 1983. Featuring "Blister in the Sun", "Kiss Off", "Add It Up" and "Gone Daddy Gone", Violent Femmes became the band's biggest-selling album and was eventually certified platinum by the RIAA.^[1] Although the sales success of their debut was never matched, The Blind Leading the Naked (1986), 3 (1988), Why Do Birds Sing? (1991) and New Times (1994) all peaked at higher chart positions on the Billboard 200. Throughout their career, Violent Femmes' popularity remained consistent, especially in Australia where four of their albums made the Top 40 and the debut stayed on the charts for seven months. The songs "Nightmares" and "American Music" cracked the top five on the US Modern Rock Tracks chart.^[2] In the aftermath of an on-going courtcase the group disbanded.^[3][4][5] They reformed in 2013, and has since released We Can Do Anything in 2016,^[6] and the album Hotel Last Resort (2019).^[7]

Albums

Studio albums

Year	Album details	Chart peaks										Certifications (sales thresholds)
		US [8]	US Indie [9]	AUS [10]	BEL (Vl.) [11]	BEL (Wa.) [12]	CAN [13]	GER [14]	NZ [15]	SWE [16]	UK [17]
1983	Violent Femmes Released: April 1983[18][19] Label: Slash (23845) Formats: CD, cassette (CS), LP	171	—	31	—	—	—	—	36	—	—	RIAA: Platinum[20] ARIA: 2× Platinum[21]
1984	Hallowed Ground Released: June 1984 Label: Slash (25094) Formats: CD, CS, LP	—	—	56	—	—	—	—	39	—	—
1986	The Blind Leading the Naked Released: March 1986 Labels: Warner Bros., Slash (25340) Formats: CD, CS, LP	84	—	31	—	—	77	—	6	27	81
1989	3 Released: January 1989 Labels: Warner Bros., Slash (25819) Formats: CD, CS, LP	93	—	64	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
1991	Why Do Birds Sing? Released: April 30, 1991 Labels: Slash, Reprise (26476) Formats: CD, CS, LP	141	—	26	—	—	—	67	31	—	—	ARIA: Gold[21]
1994	New Times Released: May 17, 1994 Label: Elektra (61553) Formats: CD, CS, LP	90	—	60	—	—	67	95	—	—	—
1995	Rock!!!!! Released: 1995 (Australia), 2000 (US) Label: Mushroom (93424) Format: CD, CS	—	—	30	—	—	—	—	33	—	—
2000	Freak Magnet Released: February 22, 2000 Labels: Beyond Music, BMG Entertainment (78058) Format: CD	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
2016	We Can Do Anything Released: March 4, 2016 Label: PIAS America (PIASR420CDX [CD]; PIASR420LP [LP]) Format: CD, LP, download	184	9	59	153	147	—	—	—	—	—
2019	Hotel Last Resort Released: July 26, 2019 Label: PIAS America (PIASR1100) Format: CD, LP, download	—	29	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
"—" denotes a release that did not chart.

Live albums

Year	Album details
1999	Viva Wisconsin Released: November 23, 1999 Labels: Beyond Music, BMG Entertainment (78024) Format: CD
2005	BBC Live Released: August 2, 2005 Label: Hux Records (065) Format: CD
2006	Archive Series No. 1: Live in Iceland Released: July 27, 2006 Label: Add It Up Productions (01) Format: CD
	Archive Series No. 2: Live in Chicago Q101 Released: September 2006 Label: Add It Up Productions (02) Format: CD
2017	2 Mics & the Truth[22][23] Released: July 7, 2017 Label: PIAS America (PIASR975CD) Format: CD, LP

Compilation albums

Year	Album details	Chart peaks				Certifications (sales thresholds)
		US [8]	AUS [10]	CAN [13]	NZ [15]
1990	Debacle: The First Decade Released: 1990 Label: Liberation Records (30477) Formats: CD, CS, LP	—	39	—	41
1993	Add It Up (1981–1993) Released: September 14, 1993 Labels: Slash Records, Reprise Records (45403) Formats: CD, CS, 2xLP	146	45	58	30	RIAA: Gold[20] ARIA: Gold[24]
2001	Something's Wrong Released: August 2001 Label: eMusic.com Format: Digital download	—	—	—	—
2005	Permanent Record: The Very Best of Violent Femmes Released: July 12, 2005 Label: Rhino Entertainment (78472) Format: CD	—	—	—	—
"—" denotes a release that did not chart.

EPs

Year	EP details
2015	Happy New Year[25] Released April 18, 2015 Label: Add It Up Productions (VF001) Format: 180-gram clear vinyl EP

Singles

Retail singles

Year	Single	Peak chart positions		Album
		US Mod [26]	AUS [10]
1983	"Gone Daddy Gone"	—	—	Violent Femmes
	"Ugly"	—	—	Non-album single
1984	"It's Gonna Rain"	—	—	Hallowed Ground
1986	"Children of the Revolution"	—	54	The Blind Leading the Naked
	"I Held Her in My Arms"	—	—
1989	"Nightmares"	4	146	3
1991	"American Music"	2	118	Why Do Birds Sing?
	"Do You Really Want to Hurt Me"	—	—
	"Used to Be"	—	90
1993	"I Held Her in My Arms" (alt. version)	—	111	Add It Up (1981–1993)
1994	"Machine"	—	—	New Times
	"Breakin' Up"	12	118
1995	"Tonight"	—	62	Rock!!!!!
2000	"All I Want"	—	—	Freak Magnet
	"Sleepwalkin'"	—	—
2008	"Crazy"	—	—	Non-album single
2016	"Memory"/"You Move Me" (Record Store Day 2016 release)	—	—	We Can Do Anything
"—" denotes a release that did not chart.

Promotional singles

Year	Single	Album
1994	"Don't Start Me on the Liquor"	New Times
1995	"She Went to Germany"	Rock!!!!!
1997	"Blister in the Sun"	Grosse Pointe Blank OST

Music videos

Year	Song	Director(s)
1983	"Gone Daddy Gone"	Douglas Martin Steven Martin
1986	"Children of the Revolution"	Mick Haggerty
1989	"Nightmares"	Martin Atkins
1991	"American Music"	Adam Bernstein
	"Used to Be"	Phil Waters
1993	"I Held Her in My Arms"	Mick Haggerty
1994	"Breakin' Up"
	"Machine"	Sean Casey
1995	"Tonight"
1997	"Blister in the Sun"	Evan Bernard
2000	"All I Want"	Dominic Engel
2015	"Love Love Love Love Love"	Jake Brebes
	"Good For/At Nothing"	Harley Hefford
2016	"Memory"
	"Issues"	David Gladstein

Video albums

Year	Title
2005	Permanent Record: Live & Otherwise Released: July 12, 2005 Label: Rhino Entertainment (970428) Format: DVD
2006	No, Let's Start Over Released: March 28, 2006 Label: Universal Music Group (0602498756775) Format: DVD
2007	Live at the Haçienda Released: December 11, 2007 Label: Cherry Red (CRDVD163) Format: DVD

Soundtracks and compilations

Year	Title	Track(s)	Note(s)
1987	I Was a Teenage Zombie: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack	"Good Feeling"
1991	Triple J's Live At The Wireless 2	"Kiss Off" (live)
	never mind the mainstream...The Best of MTV's 120 Minutes: Vol. 2	"Gone Daddy Gone"
1994	The Crow: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack	"Color Me Once"
	Woodstock 94	"Dance, Motherfucker, Dance!/Kiss Off" (live)
1995	Step Right Up: The Songs of Tom Waits	"Step Right Up"
	Saturday Morning: Cartoons' Greatest Hits	"Eep Opp Ork Ah-ah (Means I Love You)"	From The Jetsons.
1997	Grosse Pointe Blank Soundtrack	"Blister in the Sun"	Although it appears on the soundtrack, "Blister 2000" does not appear in the actual film.
		"Blister 2000"
1998	MTV's 120 Minutes Live	"Kiss Off" (live)
1999	End Sessions: The End 107.7	"Fat" (live)
	South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut: Music From and Inspired by the Motion Picture	"I Swear It (I Can Change)"	The Femmes' rendition of "I Can Change" does not appear in the actual film.
	Mystery Men: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack	"No More Heroes"
	The Best of KROQ's Almost Acoustic Christmas: Volume One	"Blister in the Sun" (live)	From Acoustic Christmas 1993.
2000	Y100 Sonic Sessions: Volume Four	"Add It Up"
2002	Discrespective: Big Day Out	"Girl Trouble" (live)
2006	Rocket Science: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack	"Blister in the Sun"	Instrumental covers of "Blister in the Sun" and "Add It Up" by Sam Matthews and Houfei Tang also appear in the film.
		"Kiss Off"
2007	Triple J's Live at the Wireless: From the Vaults	"Blister in the Sun" (live)
2023	Okemah Rising	"Gotta Get to Peekskill"	The band appear on the Dropkick Murphys song from their 2023 studio album.