Maintaining strong indie credibility, this platinum-selling Milwaukee bred alt-rock triop has been called the "original unplugged band." The raw power of their no-frills yet highly emotive acoustic sound-plus the lyrical heft of Gordon Gano's songs-made the Femmes postmodern cult heroes with enormous staying power. In his notes to this, their first career-spanning collection, Rolling Stone's David Fricke states, "The Violent Femmes are what rock & roll must have sounded like at the creation." Hear it on 16 classics including "Blister in the Sun," "Add It Up," "Gone Daddy Gone", "Nightmares," and "American Music."