Residents, The

Profile:
The Residents are an experimental music group from San Francisco, USA. Never giving interviews and only appearing on stage in disguise their identities have always been shrouded in mystery. There is a common belief among fans that their spokespersons and managers Cryptic Corporation, The aka Homer Flynn and Hardy Fox, are in fact The Residents, although neither have confirmed this and to this day deny it. The veil of lies and deceit continues........

'Uncle Willie's Highly Opinionated Guide To The Residents' puts it like this:
"It's said that the thing one never forgets about a person is their gender.
THE RESIDENTS are genderless.
The next most memorable feature is the face.
THE RESIDENTS are faceless.
The third thing we remember is personality.
THE RESIDENTS have no personalities."

Matt Groening, creator of "The Simpsons" and "Life In Hell" puts it this way: "There is no true story of The Residents. You should know that right off. The secrets of The Residents will never be revealed by anyone but The Residents themselves, and so far they aren't saying much. [...] Part of what The Residents are about is their camouflage, and any understanding of them must take into account both their organized sounds and their organized silence."

One fact is the origin of the name : they mailed a tape in May 1971 to Hal Haverstadt of Warner Brothers Records, in a bold attempt by the anonymous group to secure a recording contract with that company. Hal mailed the tape back months later with a short rejection notice addressed to 'Residents' -- hence the group's name.

Over the years the group have worked with numerous guest musicians and vocalists, most notably Snakefinger (1969-1987), Eric Drew Feldman (1982-2004), Joshua Raoul Brody (1982-present), Molly Harvey (1994-2005), Carla Fabrizio (1998-present) and Nolan Cook (2002-present).
Sites:
Aliases:
Members:
Variations:
[a6708]
history / edit

Artist

  • Residents, The Discography

    Recent Releases from Residents, The
  • Sort By
  • Show
< Prev 1 2 3 4 5 ... 7 8 Next >

Albums

Meet The Residents

(22 versions)
Ralph Records 1974

The Third Reich 'N' Roll

(22 versions)
Ralph Records 1976

Fingerprince

(14 versions)
Ralph Records 1977

Duck Stab / Buster & Glen

(16 versions)
Ralph Records 1978

Not Available

(16 versions)
Ralph Records 1978

Eskimo

(17 versions)
Ralph Records 1979

Commercial Album

(24 versions)
Ralph Records 1980

Mark Of The Mole

(8 versions)
Ralph Records 1981

The Tunes Of Two Cities

(9 versions)
Ralph Records 1982

The Live Mole Show

(5 versions)
Ralph Records 1983

Residents, The & Renaldo And The Loaf* - Title In Limbo (2 versions)

Ralph Records 1983

Whatever Happened To Vileness Fats?

(4 versions)
Ralph Records 1984

George & James (American Composer Series - Volume 1)

(9 versions)
Ralph Records 1984

Assorted Secrets

(2 versions)
Ralph Records 1984

The Census Taker (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

(2 versions)
Episode Records (2) 1985

The Big Bubble (Part Four Of The Mole Trilogy)

(10 versions)
Ralph Records 1985

Residents, The Featuring Snakefinger - Live In The USA! 13th Anniversary Tour (2 versions)

Ralph Records 1986

Stars & Hank Forever!: The American Composer's Series - Volume II

(13 versions)
Ralph Records 1986

Residents, The Featuring Snakefinger - 13th Anniversary Show - Live In Japan (10 versions)

Ralph Records 1986

Residents, The Featuring Snakefinger - 13th Anniversary Show - Live In Holland (CD, Album)

Torso 1987

God In Three Persons Soundtrack

(4 versions)
Rykodisc 1988

God In Three Persons

(10 versions)
Rykodisc 1988

Mole Show (Live In Holland June 6th 1983)

(2 versions)
Torso 1989

The King & Eye

(11 versions)
Enigma Records (3) 1989

Freak Show

(20 versions)
Torso 1990
< Prev 1 2 3 4 5 ... 7 8 Next >
▸ show all 4 reviews

Reviews & Discussion

Review by shoestringrecords Dec 23, 2010
When one is dealing with the Residents, there are different "eras" in which to venture.

Era 1: The "Early" Years (1972-1980). Offerings like the mixed bag debut LP "Meet The Residents", the classic "The Third Reich N' Roll", "Duck Stab/Buster & Glen", unique "Eskimo", and the great "The Commercial Album".

Era 2: The "Mole" Era (1981-1984). Here, the Residents start to change, developing into story-oriented material, with the Mole Trilogy. Also at the tail end of this era (not an era of it's own) are the "American Composers" two albums, which are touch and go (at least, with me).

Era 3: The "Middle" Period (1986-1989). Mixed bag of things like "God In Three Persons" and "The King And Eye", which tells the Elvis Presley story an interesting way.

Era 4: The "Storyteller" Era (1990-Present). Basically what they've been doing ever since "Freak Show". While I haven't heard all of the releases, I found some, like "The River Of Crime", to be one-time only listens.

Everything Else: Large number of limited editions, live recordings, demos, outtakes, single-only releases, soundtracks, etc.

Review by Crijevo May 12, 2009
With their image, I guess, The Residents can go on for ages to come. Imagine the year 2345 and their legacy up to that point. Nobody will still know who the hell they are (or were) and the 'freak' show will continue... Not that anybody cares these days, anyway.

The Residents' catalogue is something of equally fascinating and annoying matter. While they remain so unseriously arty, their concept rages between bizarre adult cartoon episodes, grotesque fairy tales and total parody of pop-culture.

We cannot tell them by the colour of their eyeballs, size or by detection of voice - a deliberate, obscure, yet very intelligent camouflage that can manage their funky business spinning for centuries. Depending on the patience of every next protagonist accepting the fact of being anonymously famous.
Review by Alastis Feb 25, 2006 (edited over 6 years ago)
I just realized how much would've been lost if it wasn't for Residents or, god forbid, if they would've decided to break up in a couple of years after getting together. Certainly, plunderphonics, collage and various oddballs like Negativland and Nurse With Wound do owe something to Residents. To me, one of their biggest achievements was the idea about wearing costumes and never revealing an identity of each member of the group. This is a direct violation of what pop industry has been promoting for the past 50 years or so - violation of idea about focus on the body, face and make-up, rather than music. Of course, music is not least important - so many odd ideas, so much weirdness and yet so much fun. Hell knows how they were able to survive throughout so many years, but kudos to Residents for sticking around for as long as they did !
Review by denisoliver Feb 07, 2003
The Residents, active since 1972 (!) now, are surely one of the most important and influential bands in experimental electronic music. Their style is absolutely unique and after all these years still nobody knows, who they are (due to their restrictive policy of individual anonymity).They are pioneers in music video and performance art, and always have worked as soon as possible with the most advanced technologies.
edit

Videos

Disclaimer: Videos may not match exact release