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American Music (Violent Femmes Song)
''Why Do Birds Sing?'' is the fifth studio album by Violent Femmes, released on April 30, 1991. It was the band's last album with original drummer Victor DeLorenzo, who left two years later to devote his time to acting, and was produced by Michael Beinhorn, best-known then for his work with Red Hot Chili Peppers on ''Mother's Milk (album), Mother's Milk'' and ''The Uplift Mofo Party Plan''. The album featured the single "American Music," which rose to number 2 on ''Billboard''s Modern Rock chart during the week of May 18, 1991, and became a staple of the band's live shows. Track listing Personnel Violent Femmes * Gordon Gano – singing, vocals, guitar * Brian Ritchie – bass guitar, bass, guitar, bouzouki, banjo, ukulele, Jew's harp, mouth harp, didgeridoo, xylophone, glockenspiel, vocals * Victor DeLorenzo – drum set, drums, Percussion instrument, percussion, tranceaphone, vocals Additional musicians * Michael Beinhorn – Hammond organ on "American Music", Mel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Violent Femmes
Violent Femmes are an American folk punk band from Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The band consists of founding members Gordon Gano (guitar, lead vocals) and Brian Ritchie (bass, backing vocals), joined by multi-instrumentalist Blaise Garza (joined 2004), and drummer John Sparrow (joined 2005). Former members of the band include drummers Victor DeLorenzo (1980–1993, 2002–2013), Guy Hoffman (1993–2002), and Brian Viglione (2013–2016). Violent Femmes are considered to be an integral part of the then-underground folk punk and alternative rock scenes of the 1980s, and remain influential or inspirational to the subsequent movements, particularly on folk rock, indie rock, grunge, pop punk, emo, and the late 1980s and 1990s alternative rock scene. Violent Femmes have released 10 studio albums and 19 singles during the course of their career. The band found critical acclaim with the release of their Violent Femmes (album), self-titled debut album in early 1983. Featuring many ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mikey Craig
Michael Emile Craig (born 15 February 1960) is a British musician and DJ best known as the bassist of the pop/soul/new wave group Culture Club Culture Club are an English new wave music, new wave band formed in London in 1981. The band comprises Boy George (lead vocals), Roy Hay (musician), Roy Hay (guitar and keyboards), and Mikey Craig (bass guitar), and formerly included Jon Moss ( .... Craig started the group Culture Club, which became one of the most successful bands of the 1980s, selling millions of albums. In 1988, he released a solo single entitled "I'm a Believer", which failed to make an impact. Craig was an executive producer in the mid-1990s for his own dance label, SLAMM records. Craig continues to tour with Culture Club and its original members Boy George, Roy Hay, and until his departure from the group in 2021, Jon Moss. Craig has also occasionally performed with Kid Creole and the Coconuts during their UK shows. Personal life Craig went to St Clement ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Didgeridoo
The didgeridoo (;()), also spelt didjeridu, among other variants, is a wind instrument, played with vibrating lips to produce a continuous Drone (music), drone while using a special breathing technique called circular breathing. The didgeridoo was developed by Aboriginal Australians, Aboriginal peoples of northern Australia at least 1,000 years ago, and is now in use around the world, though still most strongly associated with Indigenous Australian music. In the Yolŋu languages of the indigenous people of northeast Arnhem Land the name for the instrument is the yiḏaki, or more recently by some, mandapul. In the Bininj Gun-Wok, Bininj Kunwok language of West Arnhem Land it is known as mako (pronounced, and sometimes spelt, as mago). A didgeridoo is usually cylindrical or Cone (geometry), conical, and can measure anywhere from long. Most are around long. Generally, the longer the instrument, the lower its pitch or key. Flared instruments play a higher pitch than unflared in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jew's Harp
The Jew's harp, also known as jaw harp, juice harp, or mouth harp, is a lamellophone instrument, consisting of a flexible metal or bamboo tongue or reed attached to a frame. Despite the colloquial name, the Jew's harp most likely originated in China, with the earliest known Jew's harps dating back 4,000 years ago from Shaanxi province. It has no relation to the Jewish people. Jew's harps may be categorized as idioglot or heteroglot (whether or not the frame and the tine are one piece); by the shape of the frame (rod or plaque); by the number of tines, and whether the tines are plucked, joint-tapped, or string-pulled. Characteristics The frame is held firmly against the performer's parted teeth or lips (depending on the type), using the mouth (plus the throat and lungs when breathing freely) as a resonator, greatly increasing the volume of the instrument. The teeth must be parted sufficiently for the reed to vibrate freely, and the fleshy parts of the mouth should not come into ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ukulele
The ukulele ( ; ); also called a uke (informally), is a member of the lute (ancient guitar) family of instruments. The ukulele is of Portuguese origin and was popularized in Hawaii. The tone and volume of the instrument vary with size and construction. Ukuleles commonly come in four sizes: soprano, concert, tenor, and baritone. Ukuleles generally have four nylon strings tuned to GCEA. They have 16–22 frets depending on the size. History Developed in the 1880s, the ukulele is based on several small, guitar-like instruments of Portuguese origin, the , and , introduced to the Hawaiian Islands by Portuguese immigrants from Madeira, the Azores, and Cape Verde. Three immigrants in particular, Madeiran cabinet makers Manuel Nunes, José do Espírito Santo, and Augusto Dias, are generally credited as the first ukulele makers. Two weeks after they disembarked from the SS ''Ravenscrag'' in late August 1879, the '' Hawaiian Gazette'' reported that "Madeira Islanders recently arriv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Banjo
The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and in modern forms is usually made of plastic, where early membranes were made of animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashioned by African Americans and had African antecedents. In the 19th century, interest in the instrument was spread across the United States and United Kingdom by traveling shows of the 19th-century minstrel show fad, followed by mass production and mail-order sales, including instructional books. The inexpensive or home-made banjo remained part of rural folk culture, but five-string and four-string banjos also became popular for home parlor music entertainment, college music clubs, and early 20th century jazz bands. By the early 20th century, the banjo was most frequently associated with folk, cowboy music, and country music. By mid-century it had come to be strongly associated with bluegrass. Eventu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bouzouki
The bouzouki (, also ; ; alt. pl. ''bouzoukia'', , from Greek , from Turkish ) is a musical instrument popular in West Asia (Syria, Iraq), Europe and Balkans (Greece, North Macedonia, Bulgaria, Turkey). It is a member of the long-necked lute family, with a round body with a flat and a long neck with a fretted fingerboard. It has steel strings and is played with a plectrum producing a sharp metallic sound, reminiscent of a mandolin but pitched lower. It is the precursor to the Irish bouzouki, an instrument derived from the Greek bouzouki that is popular in Celtic, English, and North American folk music. There are 3 main types of Greek bouzouki: the ''trichordo'' (''three-course'') has three pairs of strings (known as courses) the ''tetrachordo'' (''four-course'') has four pairs of strings, & then the ''pentachordo'' (''five-course'') with 5 pairs of strings. The instrument was brought to Greece in the early 1900s by Greek refugees from Anatolia, and quickly became the central ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bass Guitar
The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer neck (music), neck and scale length (string instruments), scale length. The electric bass guitar most commonly has four strings, though five- and six-stringed models are also built. Since the mid-1950s, the bass guitar has replaced the double bass in popular music due to its lighter weight, smaller size, most models' inclusion of Fret, frets for easier Intonation_(music), intonation, and electromagnetic pickups for amplification. Another reason the bass guitar replaced the double bass is because the double bass is "acoustically imperfect" like the viola. For a double bass to be acoustically perfect, its body size would have to be twice as that of a cello rendering it unplayable, so the double bass is made smaller to make it playable. The elect ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brian Ritchie
Brian Ritchie (born November 21, 1960) is an American musician, best known as the bassist for the alternative rock band Violent Femmes. Ritchie was born and raised in the United States and is currently a dual citizen of the U.S. and Australia, with his full-time residence in Australia. In 2007 the Violent Femmes broke up acrimoniously after an argument between Ritchie and singer Gordon Gano. The band eventually re-formed and still tours today. It has since released several albums including Hotel Last Resort in 2019. Ritchie was curator of MONA FOMA festival at Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) in Tasmania from 2007 until it was discontinued in 2024. In addition to his bass playing, Ritchie is proficient at the shakuhachi, a Japanese bamboo flute. He acquired a Jun Shihan (shakuhachi teaching license) in March 2003 from James Nyoraku Schlefer, and his professional name is "Tairaku" ("big music" in Japanese). Ritchie has released three solo albums: in 1987, "The Blend, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Guitar
The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or Plucked string instrument, plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strings against frets with the fingers of the opposite hand. A guitar pick may also be used to strike the strings. The sound of the guitar is projected either Acoustics, acoustically, by means of a resonant hollow chamber on the guitar, or Amplified music, amplified by an electronic Pickup (music technology), pickup and an guitar amplifier, amplifier. The guitar is classified as a chordophone, meaning the sound is produced by a vibrating string stretched between two fixed points. Historically, a guitar was constructed from wood, with its strings made of catgut. Steel guitar strings were introduced near the end of the nineteen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Singing
Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singing as the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. Other common definitions include "the utterance of words or sounds in tuneful succession" or "the production of musical tones by means of the human voice". A person whose profession is singing is called a singer or a vocalist (in jazz or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung accompaniment, with or a cappella, without accompaniment by musical instruments. Singing is often done in an ensemble (music), ensemble of musicians, such as a choir. Singers may perform as Soloist (music), soloists or accompanied by anything from a single instrument (as in art songs or some Jazz, jazz styles) up to a symphony orchestra or big band. Many styles o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Add It Up
"Add It Up" is a song by American rock band Violent Femmes, released on their 1983 debut album ''Violent Femmes''. It contains the lyrics: Band member Gordon Gano commented: The song title was used as the name for the compilation album by the group, '' Add It Up (1981–1993)''. Some radio stations substitute a guitar note for the swear word for airplay. Used in other media * Ethan Hawke's character in the 1994 film ''Reality Bites'' plays a cover of "Add It Up" with his band Hey That's My Bike. * The song is featured in the soundtrack of the 2004 skateboarding video game Tony Hawk's Underground 2. * The song was covered on a cello and piano, as are several other Violent Femmes songs, in the 2007 film '' Rocket Science''. * Canadian singer Shawn Mendes performed a cover of the song during the season 3 premiere of '' The 100''. A music video for the cover was released by The CW. Violent Femmes bassist Brian Ritchie responded positively to the rendition through the band ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
