Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. The Violent Femmes were founded by bassist Brian Ritchie and percussionist Victor DeLorenzo following the demise of the initial wave of American punk rock, and became a full-fledged band upon the arrival of lead vocalist and guitarist Gordon Gano. In its early days, the band frequently played coffee houses and street corners. They were discovered by James Honeyman-Scott (of The Pretenders) on August 23, 1981, when the band was busking on a street corner in front of the Oriental Theatre, the Milwaukee venue that The Pretenders would be playing later that night. Chrissie Hynde invited them to play a brief acoustic set after the opening act. The band signed to the then-independent Los Angeles punk label Slash Records. They released their debut, Violent Femmes, which they had recorded in July 1982. The music was an innovative combination of American folk music and punk rock, which would much later come to be known as "folk punk." The lyrics were the common themes of yearning for love, sex and affection.