An avant-garde rock group that have released over 100 albums, helped pioneer the modern Music Videos, and produced some of the creepiest songs, both original and covers, for about 4 decades, all while staying anonymous to the public until the early 2010's.The current lineup as it is now comprises Randy Rose (formerly known as Mr. Skull), Charles Bobuck, and Bob. A member named Carlos was part of the band (and even did vocals in lieu of Mr. Skull for one album, which was credited to the gang as Sonidas De La Noche) but has since retired.
Associated Tropes:
Acceptable Targets: invoked They've taken half(?)-joking potshots at The Beatles a few times. Around the time The Beatles Play The Residents and The Residents Play The Beatles was released, (since-debunked) rumor had it that the Residents completely despised the Beatles.
Appropriated Appellation: Before they had settled on a name, they sent out a demo tape to Warner Brothers. Because the return address didn't include a name, their rejection letter was simply addressed to "Residents".
Black Sheep Hit/Germans Love David Hasselhoff: "Kaw-Liga", a dance/house-style cover of a Hank Williams song with the bass line of Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean" was a minor club hit in France. One could say that they don't really have a consistent style to be at odds with really, but it's a lot more poppy than what they usually do.
Seattle wasn't built in a day, Did you know that? I bet you did. I have to be right, I cannot be wrong, After all, Jesus wasn't built in a day.
Bunny-Ears Lawyer:Their "managers" (more or less friends of theirs that they have handle the business side of the music business, who may or may not BE them) have described working with them as more or less baby-sitting, but are basically willing to put up with it because they make awesome music.
Canon Immigrant: The Residents have shown up as characters in Matt Howarth's assorted comic-books, usually as musical wizards.
Child Popstar: Subverted; the child singing on some of the Demons Dance Alone tracks was actually collaborator Molly Harvey. She did such a good Creepy Child impersonation that it was once thought that a child did the vocals
Darker and Edgier: Nobody can agree when exactly, but after a certain point, their albums became progressively heavier and bleaker.
Early Installment Weirdness: Seriously, good luck comparing Meet The Residents (or any of their demos) with anything they've put out since Not Available got released.
Executive Meddling: The "Disfigured Night" show was hosted by Marlboro, who insisted that Randy not wear his trademark skull for fear of associating their trademark product with death.
The Faceless: The band always performs masked, leaving their true identities to speculation, which resulted in frequent speculation. Popular theories included Homer Flynn and Hardy Fox. During The New Tens, however, the band began using their first names, and even revealed Chuck's full name.
He Also Did: These days, the identities of the members of the band Cromagnon is common knowledge to those who've actually heard of it, but back in the day it was rumored that bits of the band had moved onto help form The Residents. Also, they were briefly rumored to have been The Beatles.
I Am the Band: Randy Rose is rumored to be the only remaining original member, and supposedly has been for some time. Word Of God and friends of the band say otherwise, (there is suspicion that not even he is an original member) but it's quite widely believed. Either way, he is definitely the oldest, having been around as early as 1971.
Orphaned Series: The Mole Series of six albums, of which only three appeared.
Opinion Myopia: The Wormwood tour, based on an album which dealt in the Darker and Edgier stories of The Bible, was accused of panning it. This got it a lot of backlash—perfectly well-selling shows would get cancelled out of nowhere, objects would get thrown at the performers, Nolan Cook even had to leave a show in Athens, Greece after taking a rock to the eyeball-mask.
Precision F-Strike: Their songs are usually rather clean, but they will belt out an expletive every now and then.
Skull for a Head: What the band resorted to when the Red Eyeball mask was stolen and returned in a beat-up state—the skull in question was originally a prop for a photoshoot.
Un-Person: Mr. Red Eye is a subversion. While reissues (and recent music videos) of work he did before becoming Mr. Skull still show him as Mr. Skull anyway, they still issue videos that featured him (including the old "This Is A Man's World" cover and the One Minute Movies.)
Updated Rerelease: Subverted: WB:RMX would be one—if the original ever saw release.
The Voiceless: They never speak in public, instead having a "spokesperson" do the interview. Usually, the Residents are left to wander in the background, and the result is often hilarious.
Those Wacky Nazis: The Third Reich 'n' Roll has only two tracks, each called "Swastikas on Parade" and "Hitler Was a Vegetarian." The cover art depicts Dick Clark in a Nazi uniform surrounded by drawings of Hitler dancing.
Written-In Infirmity: The basic concept for "Our Finest Flowers" was allegedly thought up after a bandmate retched all over a list of songs for the "greatest hits" compilation they would have released.
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