Thanks for this guidebook! It has been extremely helpful.
I never made the connection between Ralph Records and the Residents until you sent me these links. I am looking at my Frank Johnson's Favorite's compilation right now as a result and there on the tracklist is the Residents. I think I may have been a little too hung up on Snakefinger and especially Tuxedomoon when I bought that record but after watching the One Minute Films, I realized that I had seen the Residents before and had really dug them a long time but promptly forgot about them. I'm going to argue the bands anonymity may have cost them a fan back in the day because everything I've seen and heard thus far is definitely something I would have been in to, I am sure of it.
The band Primus did some Residents covers from Duck Stab, I believe that would be my introduction to the band. I like it more now that I did then, I am much more tolerant for weird now than I was when I was younger. Eskimo and the Commercial Album are more my deal. I think I made the mistake of going back to Third Reich & Roll and Meet the Residents, I wasn't ready for those dadaist expressions and had no footing in experimental music beyond Cage or Ligeti. In the same way I wasn't ready for Small Change or Blue Valentine by Tom Waits after falling in love with Rain Dogs, just too young. I should have started here so I appreciate the tip.
Kinda crazy how all of this stuff has been floating around in my orbit but never managed to make a dent in my brain. Well, better late than never.
Finally! I've always needed the passionate fan to sell me on the Residents and it has happened, 30+ years after I first heard them and said not for me. I am going to check out the documentary and try listening to some of the albums I've acquired over the years and still have yet to play.
I think there are three main reasons I never discovered the Residents despite being aware of them and all of them are age related, in that I am a product of the age I first discovered music not played on commercial radio.
1. None of my peers growing up were into the Residents. In the days prior to the internet and even pre-MTV, peers played a major part in what direction you were going to head off in. The big deal records from my time were the first Gun Club and Gang of Four albums, that was about as far from the orthodoxy of punk rock as you could stray and still seem like you were cool, at least in my peer group. The Residents weren't going to make that unwritten approval list.
2. Following the logic line of number 1, the Residents weren't going to make the list because they seemed gimmicky and that was always such a big no-no for me. There was this total rejection of the Sixties ideal growing up because there was so much gimmickry that anything like it, even if wrongly perceived as such, was seen as bad. Looking back with that 20/20 hindsight, I realize that I felt conned by Devo, who went from the creative liberation of Booji Boy to the commercial gimmickry of Freedom of Choice so quickly. Little did I know that was going to be the industry's textbook for artists like Devo moving forward. It really had nothing to do with the Sixties and I've since made peace with Devo, why not the Residents? I mean, I finally "got" the Grateful Dead in the last year or so (not going to go as far as saying I am a fan). If I can do that, literally anything is possible.
3. I am just now getting down to the business of listening to music, but in a very different way - simply by what I hear. So many of my years listening were spent in the business so my opinions about aesthetic quality were being shaped by connection to the artist rather that what I was actually hearing. Every album I owned I was connected to in one way or another - I knew this person, the artist's management, I worked on that record, etc. It was all based on tangential connection rather than critical ear. An anonymous artist not in my peer group that purposely remained opaque, the old me would never have considered the Residents. They weren't in my orbit and the anonymous thing wasn't going to endear them to me. Now that I am retired but still a passionate fan of music and especially now that we're all on lockdown all I want to do is discover new sounds, so this week I will sit down with the Residents. I am still not sold on the anonymous artist concept, but you do posit an interesting concept with regards to the times we are living in. I will ponder it while listening to the Residents.
Thanks for this guidebook! It has been extremely helpful.
I never made the connection between Ralph Records and the Residents until you sent me these links. I am looking at my Frank Johnson's Favorite's compilation right now as a result and there on the tracklist is the Residents. I think I may have been a little too hung up on Snakefinger and especially Tuxedomoon when I bought that record but after watching the One Minute Films, I realized that I had seen the Residents before and had really dug them a long time but promptly forgot about them. I'm going to argue the bands anonymity may have cost them a fan back in the day because everything I've seen and heard thus far is definitely something I would have been in to, I am sure of it.
The band Primus did some Residents covers from Duck Stab, I believe that would be my introduction to the band. I like it more now that I did then, I am much more tolerant for weird now than I was when I was younger. Eskimo and the Commercial Album are more my deal. I think I made the mistake of going back to Third Reich & Roll and Meet the Residents, I wasn't ready for those dadaist expressions and had no footing in experimental music beyond Cage or Ligeti. In the same way I wasn't ready for Small Change or Blue Valentine by Tom Waits after falling in love with Rain Dogs, just too young. I should have started here so I appreciate the tip.
Kinda crazy how all of this stuff has been floating around in my orbit but never managed to make a dent in my brain. Well, better late than never.
Finally! I've always needed the passionate fan to sell me on the Residents and it has happened, 30+ years after I first heard them and said not for me. I am going to check out the documentary and try listening to some of the albums I've acquired over the years and still have yet to play.
I think there are three main reasons I never discovered the Residents despite being aware of them and all of them are age related, in that I am a product of the age I first discovered music not played on commercial radio.
1. None of my peers growing up were into the Residents. In the days prior to the internet and even pre-MTV, peers played a major part in what direction you were going to head off in. The big deal records from my time were the first Gun Club and Gang of Four albums, that was about as far from the orthodoxy of punk rock as you could stray and still seem like you were cool, at least in my peer group. The Residents weren't going to make that unwritten approval list.
2. Following the logic line of number 1, the Residents weren't going to make the list because they seemed gimmicky and that was always such a big no-no for me. There was this total rejection of the Sixties ideal growing up because there was so much gimmickry that anything like it, even if wrongly perceived as such, was seen as bad. Looking back with that 20/20 hindsight, I realize that I felt conned by Devo, who went from the creative liberation of Booji Boy to the commercial gimmickry of Freedom of Choice so quickly. Little did I know that was going to be the industry's textbook for artists like Devo moving forward. It really had nothing to do with the Sixties and I've since made peace with Devo, why not the Residents? I mean, I finally "got" the Grateful Dead in the last year or so (not going to go as far as saying I am a fan). If I can do that, literally anything is possible.
3. I am just now getting down to the business of listening to music, but in a very different way - simply by what I hear. So many of my years listening were spent in the business so my opinions about aesthetic quality were being shaped by connection to the artist rather that what I was actually hearing. Every album I owned I was connected to in one way or another - I knew this person, the artist's management, I worked on that record, etc. It was all based on tangential connection rather than critical ear. An anonymous artist not in my peer group that purposely remained opaque, the old me would never have considered the Residents. They weren't in my orbit and the anonymous thing wasn't going to endear them to me. Now that I am retired but still a passionate fan of music and especially now that we're all on lockdown all I want to do is discover new sounds, so this week I will sit down with the Residents. I am still not sold on the anonymous artist concept, but you do posit an interesting concept with regards to the times we are living in. I will ponder it while listening to the Residents.