Understanding Blister In The Sun [17 minute analysis of "Blister in the Sun" by the Violent Femmes. The topic is music theory. Very interesting if you're into that subject.]

YouTube ^ | December 10, 2021 | 12tone

[grundle]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDpcVKtxB4g

[grundle]

The song can be heard at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JE-dqW4uBEE

[pepsi_junkie]

I saw an iterview with the guy who wrote / sang this song. He said he was on his way to an audition to join a band and he scribbled out this song quickly so he’d be able to show them that he could contribute songs too. He didn’t really have any before. When it was done he decided it was too good to give away and he just started his own band instead.

[BBB333]

I’m pretty sure I know what the song is about...musical theory if it? Interesting.

[sauropod]

Great song.

[DoodleBob]

This ties in to a different VF song, but at a company presentation I had to circulated a sign-in sheet. Someone asked "what happens if we don't sign in?"

I replied "I hope you know, that this will go down, on your permanent record."

Most of the attendees looked at me like I was in the Stasi. About three guys got it and laughed.

[pepsi_junkie]

Here's the band telling the story about this song, interviewed by youtuber "Professor of Rock". This guy, I don't know how, gets interviews with people like Brian Wilson and gets them to just talk about the creative process on different songs, no high school drama stuff, just the music. Some good interviews on there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGeFOvpJyNg

[SamAdams76]

Bookmark for later.

This was one of my favorite bands for about 15 minutes in the mid 1980s. Seriously, I did not know what "Blister In The Sun" was actually about until years later. But I did like that entire first album by Violent Femmes. I had it on cassette and it mostly played in my 1976 AMC Pacer as I drove the streets in and around Boston.

[dfwgator]

I remember back when I was at UF, driving to the beach with my friends with this tape blasting in the car. Good times.

[struggle]

Now we need an explanation of King Missile’s Detachable Penis

[grundle]

Thanks for the link. I’ve seen plenty of his videos, and I have also wondered how he gets those interviews.

[KarlInOhio]

It’s about NCAA “women’s” sports. :-)

[BEJ]

It was a good analysis. The riff is the hook and without it, it’s meaningless. The riff is, to my understanding, a takeoff of the “Pretty Woman” and “Day Tripper” riff. It has the essential notes of 1, 3, and b7 but with swing and fill in notes to give it a quick energy. To think of this song is to hear the riff. So mush of rock is like that.

[Organic Panic]

And I thought I was the only freeper who heard that song. They use to play it all the time on the local college radio.

[struggle]

If SNL had any writing talent, there’s a skit with a music editor for a women’s swim competition with trans males that gets yelled at over and over by the show editor for playing old gems like “Dude Looks Like A Lady” and “Detachable Penis” as bumpers waiting to be made.

[ifinnegan]

“Professor of Rock” is annoying.

[sauropod]

Delicious.

I would’ve done that. ;-) ‘Pod