SHOULD HAVE SEEN THE RAMONES ON UNCLE FLOYD:

"Blister in the Sun," that first song, starts with a melody that uses all of three notes, suddenly replaced by a snare played like a handgun: bang bang, bang bang. That directness--created with guitar, bass, and a drum kit that wouldn't fill the trunk of a Ford Fairmont--astonished me.

By the 1980s, rock 'n' roll had acquired the aural patina you can only get with talent, practice and lots and lots of money. I had friends who wanted to be in a band, and though they could play, they could not--ever--make their guitars sound like the triumph of engineering that characterized most of our musical diet: Led Zeppelin, The Who, Pink Floyd.

The Violent Femmes offered a way out of this bind. Their music said, "We don't know how to sound like that either! Here we go!" 

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