10 Greatest Acoustic Rock Albums

Your stereotypical acoustic album is calm, safe, coffeeshop fodder. Violent Femmes went in somewhat of a different direction with their self titled debut. This is the sound of three bratty punks grabbing whatever they could find and making a racket.

Opener (and continued alt-radio favourite) “Blister In The Sun” starts things off at pace, with an instant earworm riff and the frantic percussion of Victor DeLorenzo, who often has nothing more than a snare to work with. The album has pop hooks for days, from the plaintive harmonising of “Please Do Not Go” to the xylophone-led “Gone Daddy Gone”, later covered by Gnarls Barkley.

The band - specifically frontman Gordon Gano - come into their own on the biting, bitter tracks, though. “Kiss Off” and “Add It Up” form a perfectly adolescent duo, with Gano the whining, lovesick soul simultaneously whining and snapping at the girls who won’t give him the time of day.

By “Good Feeling”, though, they’ve grown up, closing off the record with a pretty, simple, sincere ballad. From the rattling bass of Brian Ritchie to the perfectly pitched adolescent lyrics, this is a totally distinct album that sounds as fresh today as it did in 1983.