[An occasional series of articles about artists who made great records but failed to break through to the mainstream.]
The Residents
Few bands can be described as “marmite” as much as The Residents. Spanning a career of over fifty years and countless recordings, they have existed as a relentless artistic statement. Even the band itself doesn’t really exist, being an artificial construct in which its residents can surprise, amuse, shock, bemuse, soothe, repulse, transport, educate and entertain. One of their albums was written with the intention of never releasing it. Another was written to be played as radio commercials. They even made up their own history.
Their story started in the aftermath of San Francisco’s hippy culture, where like-minded “freaks” came together from the deep south of the USA to make experimental music and film in their own communal living space, with extremely mixed results. They kicked off their music with an anonymous bizarre tape, which they sent to a bigwig at Warner Brothers, only to be returned with a short note addressed to “The Residents” thus christening the collective. Over the next few years, they self-financed their experimental sound collages and movies to little response.
The Third Reich ‘n’ Roll (1976)
But their fortunes changed when a cash windfall enabled them to pack in their day jobs and buy decent equipment. A series of albums in the late seventies attracted critical praise as far as the UK; they were able to finally get rid of their stockpile of records and they became more ambitious with each successive album. If you had already heard of The Residents, it might be because of Eskimo, their album of Arctic songs, allegedly featuring tunes about walrus hunts, fishing and lots of cold wind noises, all wrapped up with an iconic cover, portraying the band as four tuxedoed and top-hatted eyeball-headed dancers.
The Mole Show (1981–83)
Inevitably, the increasingly bizarre subjects of their music resulted in a desire to take the show on the road, again self-financed. They hired the magician-comedian Penn Jilette and a bunch of dancing roadies to tour the story of the culture clash between the Moles (primitive and spiritual refugee miners) and the Chubs (greedy and bohemian capitalists) using early samplers and homemade props. The audiences love it (well, those who weren’t too confused).
The band then reinterpreted music by James Brown, George Gershwin, Hank Williams, John Philip Sousa and Elvis Presley. They embarked on a world tour, performing their cult “hits” to audiences for the first time. However, financial problems caused by constant project overreach necessitated selling of assets and rights and streamlining the core membership of the collective.
With this, the band entered a storytelling phase, including another bizarre love triangle, the life of Elvis, the history of American music, and the characters in a travelling freak show.
Harry the Head (1990)
As their grasp of technology grew in the early nineties, they expanded into computer animation and CDROM, appealing to a whole new generation of fans, who could see and interact with the stories and the characters as well as the music. But, as usual, once it reached its logical conclusion, they grew restless and moved on to the next project.
How to Get a Head (1998)
They built up a roadworthy band and began regular touring. Each successive project developed completely different themes and concepts, involving changing instrumentation, costumes, performances, sets and lighting. Side projects were also increasingly common, some produced by alter egos of core members.
The 5th Day of Brumalia (2004)
The Residents continue to confuse and entertain to this day, though one of their original members retired and revealed his identity (RIP). Don’t go to a concert expecting to hear their greatest hits just as you remember them; their capacity for reinvention applies equally to their own songs and performances. And, if you manage to get an autograph, expect it to be signed “A Resident”.
Keith, Swanage Record Club (swanagerecordclub.uk, @swanagerecordclub)
