The Residents
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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The Residents are an American art collective best known for avant-garde music and multimedia works and their composition "Kaw-Liga" (1986).
The first official release under the name of Meet The Residents was in 1974, and the group has since released over sixty albums, numerous music videos and short films, three CD-ROM projects and ten DVDs. They have undertaken seven major world tours and scored multiple films. Pioneers in exploring the potential of CD-ROM and similar technologies, The Residents have won several awards for their multimedia projects. Ralph Records, a record label focusing on avant-garde music, was started by the band.
Throughout the group's existence, the individual members have ostensibly attempted to operate under anonymity preferring, instead, to have attention focused on their art output. Much outside speculation and rumour has focused on this aspect of the group. In public, the group appears silent and costumed, often wearing eyeball helmets, top hats and tuxedos — a long-lasting costume now recognized as its signature iconography.
Its albums generally fall into two categories: deconstructions of Western popular music, or complex conceptual pieces, composed around a theme, theory or plot. The group is noted for surrealistic lyrics and sound, disregard for conventional music composition, and the over the top, theatrical spectacle of their live performances.
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Discography
Albums
- Meet the Residents – 1974
- The Third Reich 'n Roll – 1976
- Fingerprince – 1977
- Duck Stab/Buster & Glen – 1978
- Not Available – 1978
- Eskimo – 1979
- Commercial Album – 1980
- Mark of the Mole – 1981
- The Tunes of Two Cities – 1982
- Title in Limbo with Renaldo and the Loaf – 1983
- George & James – 1984
- Whatever Happened to Vileness Fats? – 1984
- The Big Bubble: Part Four of the Mole Trilogy – 1985
- Census Taker – 1985
- Stars & Hank Forever: The American Composers Series – 1986
- God in Three Persons – 1988
- The King & Eye – 1989
- Freak Show – 1990
- Our Finest Flowers – 1992
- Gingerbread Man – 1994
- Hunters – 1995
- Have a Bad Day – 1996
- Wormwood: Curious Stories from the Bible – 1998
- Roosevelt 2.0 – 2000
- Roadworms: The Berlin Sessions – 2000
- Icky Flix – 2001
- Demons Dance Alone – 2002
- WB: RMX – 2003
- 12 Days of Brumalia – 2004
- I Murdered Mommy – 2004
- Animal Lover – 2005
- River of Crime (Episodes 1–5) – 2006
- Tweedles – 2006
- Night of the Hunters – 2007
- The Voice of Midnight – 2007
- Smell My Picture – 2008
- The Bunny Boy – 2008
- Postcards from Patmos – 2008
- Hades – 2009
- The Ughs! – 2009
- Arkansas – 2009
- Ozan – 2010
- Strange Culture/Haeckel's Tale – 2010
- Dollar General – 2010
- Chuck's Ghost Music – 2011
- Lonely Teenager – 2011
- Coochie Brake – 2012
- Mush-Room - 2013
Compilation albums
- The Residents Radio Special – 1979
- Please Do Not Steal It! – 1979
- Nibbles – 1979
- Residue of the Residents – 1984
- Ralph Before '84: Volume 1, The Residents – 1984
- Assorted Secrets – 1984
- Memorial Hits – 1985
- The Pal TV LP – 1985
- Heaven? – 1986
- Hell! – 1986
- Stranger Than Supper – 1990
- Liver Music – 1990
- Daydream B-Liver – 1991
- Poor Kaw-Liga's Pain – 1994
- Louisiana's Lick – 1995
- Our Tired, Our Poor, Our Huddled Masses – 1997
- Residue Deux – 1998
- 25 Years of Eyeball Excellence – 1998
- Land of Mystery – 1999
- Refused – 1999
- Dot.Com – 2000
- Diskomo 2000 – 2000
- Petting Zoo – 2002
- Eat Exuding Oinks – 2002
- Best Left Unspoken...Vol. 1 – 2006
- Best Left Unspoken...Vol. 2 – 2006
- Best Left Unspoken...Vol. 3 – 2007
- Ten Little Piggies – 2009
- Chicken Scratching with The Residents – 2010
- Ozark – 2011
- ERA B4-74 – 2012
- The Residents Present The Delta Nudes Greatest Hiss - 2013Template:Multicol-break
Live albums
- The Mole Show Live at the Roxy – 1983
- The 13th Anniversary Show Live in the U.S.A. – 1986
- 13th Anniversary Show: Live in Japan – 1986
- The Thirteenth Anniversary Show – 1987
- The Mole Show Live in Holland – 1989
- Cube E: Live in Holland – 1990
- Live at the Fillmore – 1998
- Wormwood Live – 1999
- Kettles of Fish on the Outskirts of Town – 2002
- The Way We Were (live CD/DVD) – 2005
- Cube E Box Set – 2006
- Talking Light Rehearsal – 2010
- Talking Light – 2010–11 (recordings of most shows from the Talking Light tours, available as downloads)
- Demonic: Demons Dance Alone Live in Oslo – 2012
Singles and EPs
- Santa Dog – 1972
- Satisfaction – 1976
- The Beatles Play the Residents and the Residents Play the Beatles – 1977
- Duck Stab! - 1978
- Santa Dog '78 – 1978
- Babyfingers – 1979
- Diskomo – 1980
- The Commercial Single – 1980
- Intermission: Extraneous Music from the Residents' Mole Show – 1983
- Safety is the Cootie Wootie – 1984
- It's a Man's Man's Man's World – 1984
- Kaw-Liga – 1986
- Earth vs. the Flying Saucers – 1986
- It's a Man's Man's Man's World (Australia) – 1986
- Hit the Road Jack – 1987
- For Elsie – 1987
- Snakey Wake – 1987
- Buckaroo Blues – 1988
- Santa Dog 88 – 1988
- Double Shot – 1988
- Holy Kiss of Flesh – 1988
- From the Plains to Mexico – 1989
- Don't Be Cruel – 1989
- Blowoff – 1992
- Santa Dog '92 – 1992
- Prelude to "The Teds" – 1993
- Pollex Christi – 1997
- I Hate Heaven – 1998
- In Between Screams – 1999
- High Horses – 2001
- The Sandman Waits – 2007
- Anganok – 2009
- GBM(i) – 2011
- RZ VF – 2011
Multimedia projects
- Vileness Fats (unfinished film project) – 1972–1976
- The Mole Show/Whatever Happened to Vileness Fats? (VHS) –1984
- Freak Show (CD-ROM) – 1991
- The Eyes Scream: A History of the Residents (VHS) (with host Penn Jillette) – 1991
- Twenty Twisted Questions (Laserdisc) – 1992
- Gingerbread Man (CD-ROM) – 1994
- Bad Day on the Midway (CD-ROM) – 1995
- Icky Flix (DVD) – 2001
- Eskimo (DVD) – 2002
- Disfigured Night DVD (DVD) – 2002
- Live! On The Outskirts (DVD) – 2002
- Demons Dance Alone (DVD) – 2003
- The Commercial DVD (DVD) – 2004
- Wormwood: Curious Stories from the Bible (DVD) – 2005
- The Way We Were (CD/DVD) – 2005
- Cube E Box (CD/DVD) – 2006
- The River of Crime (podcast) – 2006
- Timmy (Internet video series) – 2006
- The Bunny Boy (Internet video series) – 2008
- Icky Flix Live (DVD) – 2009
- The Mole Show (Kabuki) (CD/DVD) – 2009
- Is Anybody Out There? (DVD) – 2009
- Randy's Ghost Stories (DVD) – 2010
- Talking Light 3D DVD/Comic (Blu-ray) – 2011
- Bimbo's Talking Light DVD (DVD) – 2011
See also