The Complete Idiot’s Guide to the Residents
Posted by John Brownlee
I have long been a fan of the Residents. Ever since my father at the age of 10 pushed a copy of The Commercial Album into my grape-stained hands and awesomely whispered about an anonymous group of musical pioneers who were only known to their fans as a quartet of tuxedo-clad bloodshot eyes, I was hooked. I’ve been to four of their live performances and sat in the front row, my eyes rolled white in rapture, my hands seizing myself involuntarily.
To the non-fan, the allure of the Residents is hard to convey. Their music is hardly what one would call catchy. You fall in love with the weirdo mystique first and the music second.
But I like nothing better than to teach new people about the Residents, so here’s my gift to you: the Jefitoblog has posted up a massive primer to the Dapper Ocular Ones. Each album’s written up and sample mp3s are posted for listening.
If I were you, I’d start with The Commercial Album: even now, the Residents are best when their madness is distilled into catchy sixty second pseudo-songs. From there, I’d check out The King and Eye (their cover-album of Elvis Presley songs), Third Reich and Roll, Freak Show and Wormwood. And for God’s sakes don’t miss God in Three Persons, an album about “two Siamese Twins with healing powers and liquid gender, and their promoter/manager who falls in love with one”
The Complete Idiot’s Guide to the Residents [Jefitoblog] : Idolator
Categories: Music, Weirdos
Posted at 11:06 am on August 1, 2007
6 Comments -
Fantastic find. I love the Residents despite not having heard very many of their pieces or seen very many of their videos. This might be a good jumping off point for further collection.
Comment by Dr Aum — August 1, 2007 @ 11:52 am
I guess I’m too young because the only reference to The Residents I’v ever seen was in The Venture Bros. I had to do a wiki search to figure out what they were talking about and why it was funny.
Comment by Sean Grimm — August 1, 2007 @ 1:42 pm
[...] The Complete Idiot’s Guide to the Residents [Jefitoblog, via Ectoplasmosis] [...]
Pingback by frankie23.com | viva la rudo » Blog Archive » The Complete Idiot’s Guide to the Residents — August 1, 2007 @ 3:36 pm
Got into the residents just a few years ago when my artist neighbor pulled out Third Reich and Roll during one of his many late-night substance-induced rants. This is a great guide!
Comment by Angry Sam — August 2, 2007 @ 1:23 am
@angrysam
Same thing happened to me a few years ago except it was my high school English teacher who decided Third Reich would make excellent test-taking music.
Comment by whitebrice — August 2, 2007 @ 2:01 am
Awesome. It seems like English teachers and art teachers have this amazing store of weird and fringe music, which seems surprising when you’re a teenager and becomes less so if you make friends with liberal arts education majors in college. My art teacher used to play John Cage all the time during class, eliciting all types of response from her confused pupils.
Comment by Angry Sam — August 2, 2007 @ 8:16 am