Thirty-five years ago, in the spring of 1991, Violent Femmes released the album Why Do Birds Sing? It was the Milwaukee-formed trio’s fifth studio album overall, and my college radio station was intently ready for it. The band’s preceding full-length, 3, was a huge hit on our airwaves, in no small part because Violent Femmes kicked off the tour in support of that release by playing one of the gyms on our university’s modest campus. Adding to all that, it had been almost ten years since the Femmes’ self-titled debut, and that LP was in the process of elevating to a full iconic status when most of us at the station were of an age that allowed us to especially relate to its discombobulated teen angst. Nestled into the middle of Wisconsin, we felt a special kinship with our fellow America’s Dairyland spawn Gordon Gano, Brian Ritchie, and Victor DeLorenzo. These were our guys.

As I recall, Why Do Birds Sing? got played a whole lot on our station all through the spring and into the summer. We weren’t the only ones spinning it. Lead single “American Music” climbed all the way to the runner-up spot on Billboard‘s commercial alternative chart, and I’m pretty sure it topped the equivalent tally for CMJ, the trade publication that served college radio. It’s not my favorite Violent Femmes song, but it’s undoubtedly a key entry on the soundtrack to a certain era of my time as a student broadcaster. For a little stretch of glorious time, it felt a certain group of creators were making music just for us.