Violent Femmes is an American folk punk band. Based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin the band started in 1980, and took a hard-earned break from 2009-2013. They are currently active.

The band consists of 3 members: singer-songwriter and guitarist Gordon Gano, current drummer John Sparrow, and bassist Brian Ritchie.

Violent Femmes has released nine studio albums and fifteen singles during the course of their career. The band found immediate success with the release of their self-titled debut album in early 1983. Featuring many of their well-known songs, including “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.
Violent Femmes went on to become one of the most successful alternative rock bands of the 1980s, selling more than 9 million albums by 2005.
After the release of their third album The Blind Leading the Naked (1986), the band’s future was uncertain and they split up in 1987, when Gano and Ritchie went solo. However, they regrouped a year later, releasing the album 3 (1989). Since then, Violent Femmes' maintained steady popularity, especially in the United States, where the songs “Nightmares” and “American Music” cracked the top five on the Modern Rock Tracks chart.