History Music / TheResidents

* DreamTeam: They did a collaboration with fellow avant-gardists Renaldo and the Loaf, called ''Title in Limbo'', in 1983.
** Music/ToddRundgren was one of the guests on ''The Gingerbread Man''
** Gamelan Sekar Jaya joined the band on stage and in studio multiple times, most notably on local performances of songs from ''Wormwood'' in 1998 and 2001.
** ''Commercial Album'' had, as its special guests, the likes of Fred Frith, Lene Lovich, and Andy Partridge. Furthermore, in 2019 it was confirmed the Special Secret Appearances were Music/DavidByrne and Music/BrianEno, initially left uncredited at their request.
** ''Tweedles!'' saw the band working side by side with the entire Film Orchestra of Bucharest.
** The single '"DIE! DIE! DIE!" from ''Metal, Meat, and Bone'' features lead vocals by Black Francis of Music/ThePixies.

* UpdatedRerelease: Inverted; [=WB:RMX=] saw release over a decade before ''The Warner Brothers Album''.

* {{Yandere}}: In ''Wormwood'', "Bathsheba Bathing" basically presents King David as one of these, the unsettling melody only adding to it. Especially due to how there's some... rapey implications too.

* DreamTeam: They did a collab with fellow avant-gardists Renaldo And The Loaf, called ''Title In Limbo,'' in 1983.

** The role of Mr. Skull was originally played by Hardy Fox, under the alias "Dead-Eye Dick."
** Initially, the band did not use their signature eyeball masks or tuxedoes, instead using a variety of one-off costumes for their publicity photos (such as the Beatles parody costumes for ''Meet the Residents'' era or the newspaper costumes for the ''Music/TheThirdReichNRoll'' music video). It wasn't until 1979's ''Music/{{Eskimo}}'' when the band settled on the eyeballs and tuxedoes as their "default" appearance, and even that was a compromise from their first idea.

* ThoseWackyNazis: ''Music/TheThirdReichNRoll'' 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.

** Initially invoked with their second album ''Not Available''. As part of the band's "theory of obscurity", the album was withheld from release, with ''Music/TheThirdReichNRoll'' (the second album to be released) being billed as the band's ''third'' album in its liner notes while ''Not Available'' was only alluded to. This was replicated in the band's "pREServed" series of archival rereleases by having the reissue of ''Not Available'' and its catalog number skipped over in the first wave of rereleases and instead released later on.

* HarshVocals: The lead singer of the group is known for extremely twangy vocals, which got progressively more gravelly as he aged. The others could get in on it, too -- particularly on ''Not Available,'' where even Hardy manages a pretty good take.

* {{Fanservice}}: The cover of "God in Three Persons" depicts the protagonist, Mr. X, and the two twins, who are naked and seen from behind. [[spoiler: Since part of the story is that Mr. X can never quite figure out which of the twins is "male" and which is "female", this comes with a hefty dash of Viewer Gender Confusion: see YMMV.]]

** ''The Commercial Album'' had, as its special guests, the likes of Fred Frith, Lene Lovich, and Andy Partridge. Furthermore, in 2019 it was confirmed the Special Secret Appearances were Music/DavidByrne and Music/BrianEno, initially left uncredited at their request.

* EstablishingCharacterMoment: ''Meet the Residents'' opens with a tuneless, caterwauled cover of "These Boots Are Made For Walking" with a loud, wheezing brass section, quickly summarizing what the band was all about.

* PerishingAltRockVoice: Hardy Fox had a uniquely unpleasant variation of this--in interviews as Chuck, he stated he had horrible stage fright, which bandmates and producers would openly encourage.

* TheShowMustGoWrong: Discussed on "The Crash At Crush"

* ThoseWackyNazis: ''Music/TheThirdReichNRoll'' 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.

* UpdatedRerelease: Inverted; [=WB:RMX=] saw release over a decade before ''The Warner Brothers Album.''

* ThoseWackyNazis: ''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.

* PunBasedTitle: ''Music/The ThirdReichNRoll''

** ''Mark Of The Mole'' was intended to be the first of a six part "trilogy", of which only four albums were released - the accompanying tour was a financial disaster that almost broke up the band, so they opted to move on to other projects. Of the released albums, ''Mark Of The Mole'' is the only one to have an overall plot, and it ends very ambiguously. The other three (''Tunes Of Two Cities'', ''The Big Bubble'' and ''Intermission'') largely consist of music supposedly made in-universe by the clashing cultures depicted in the story.

** ''The Commercial Album'' had, as its special guests, the likes of Fred Frith, Lene Lovich, and Andy Partridge. Furthermore, in 2019 it was confirmed the Special Secret Appearances were Music/DavidByrne and Music/BrianEno, initially left uncredited at their own request.

* ElectronicMusic: The Residents were notoriously early adopters of electronic instruments in general--it began influencing their overall sound as early as the late seventies. By the '90s, it was a key aspect of their sound.
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: ''Meet The Residents'' opens with a tuneless, caterwauled cover of "These Boots Are Made For Walking" with a loud, wheezing brass section, quickly summarizing what the band was all about.

* HarshVocals: The lead singer of the group is known for extremely twangy vocals which, which got progressively more gravelly as he aged. The others could get in on it, too--particularly on ''Not Available,'' where even Hardy manages a pretty good take.

* OddFriendship: With Creator/{{Penn| And Teller}}, who at one point joined them on tour.

* PunBasedTitle: ''The Third Reich 'n' Roll''
** The song titles "Guylum Bardot" and "The Booker Tease" are puns on the names of musicians: Guy Lombardo, a big band leader, and Booker T. Jones, front-man of the instrumental soul group Booker T & The M.G.'s. Simiarly "Krafty Cheese" references Kraft cheese and the fact that the group thought the song sounded like "cheesy {{Music/Kraftwerk}}".

* SkullForAHead: 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.

* ThoseWackyNazis: ''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.

* UnPerson: 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.)

* [[ShowWithinAShow Album Within An Album]]: ''The Big Bubble''. The front cover even subtly references this - the photo supposedly depicting the FakeBand The Big Bubble and their logo is askance and casts a slight shadow over the rest of the design, as though the Big Bubble album has been placed on top of it.

* WereStillRelevantDammit: When it's invoked, it's PlayedForLaughs.

** Initially, the band did not use their signature eyeball masks or tuxedoes, instead using a variety of one-off costumes for their publicity photos (such as the Beatles parody costumes for ''Meet the Residents'' era or the newspaper costumes for the ''Music/ThirdReichAndRoll'' music video). It wasn't until 1979's ''Music/{{Eskimo}}'' when the band settled on the eyeballs and tuxedoes as their "default" appearance, and even that was a compromise from their first idea.

** Initially invoked with their second album ''Not Available''. As part of the band's "theory of obscurity", the album was withheld from release, with ''Music/ThirdReichAndRoll'' (the second album to be released) being billed as the band's ''third'' album in its liner notes while ''Not Available'' was only alluded to. This was replicated in the band's "pREServed" series of archival rereleases by having the reissue of ''Not Available'' and its catalog number skipped over in the first wave of rereleases and instead released later on.

* ''Music/ThirdReichAndRoll'' (1976)

* AxCrazy: The narrator of [[TheCoverChangesTheMeaning their version]] of "[[Music/TheRollingStones Satisfaction]]".

** Their cover of Music/TheRollingStones' "Satisfaction" isn't called the "most intentionally repulsive song" for nothing.

--> - '''''Uncle Willie's Highly Opinionated Guide to The Residents'''''

* {{Yandere}}: In ''Wormwood'', “Bathsheba Bathing” basically presents King David as one of these, the unsettling melody only adding to it. Especially due to how there’s some... rapey implications too.

* [[ShowWithinAShow Album Within An Album]]: ''The Big Bubble''

** Up until the late seventies, there was no one Singing Resident. Even then, the other members all regularly did vocals on albums until the early '80s, at the earliest.

* AchievementsInIgnorance: The band initially hoped to invoke this--they refused any form of musical training, as they felt it would give them artificial preconceptions of music.

* Absurdism: The name of the game when it comes to The Residents.

* EstablishingCharacterMoment: ''Meet The Residents'' opens with a caterwauled cover of "These Boots Are Made For Walking" with a loud, wheezing brass section, quickly summarizing what the band was all about.

* AbsenteeActor: Several Residents albums, starting with 1995's ''Hunters'', don't feature The Singing Residents' vocals at all. The most recent example of this is Mush-Room. Examples of this from between 2008-2013 have been often accredited by fans to a singular Resident, with some even being officially re-released as Charles Bobuck solo albums.

* EstablishingCharacterMoment: ''Meet The Residents'' opens with a caterwauled cover of "These Boots Are Made For Walking" with a loud, wheezing brass section, pretty much explaining what the band was all about.

* NWordPrivileges: Averted during the "Black Barry" suite of ''Cube-E,'' which deals in gospel songs, spirituals, and blues/jazz music.

* AbsenteeActor: Several Residents albums, starting with 1995's ''Hunters'', don't feature The Singing Residents' vocals at all. The most recent example of this is Mush-Room. Examples of this from between 2008-2013 have been often accredited by fans to a singular Resident, with some even being re-released as Charles Bobuck solo albums.

* AbandonedMascot: Mr. Red, was retired in favor of Mr. Skull in early 1986. Also, before the introduction of the Eyeball Masks in 1979, the group intended to have different looks for each album, with the newspaper costumes appearing frequently in promotional images.

** Initially, the band did not use their signature eyeball masks or tuxedoes, instead using a variety of one-off costumes for their publicity photos (such as the Beatles parody costumes for ''Meet the Residents'' era or the newspaper costumes for the ''Music/ThirdReichAndRoll'' music video). It wasn't until 1979's ''Music/{{Eskimo}}'' when the band settled on the eyeballs and tuxedoes as their "default" appearance.

* AppropriatedAppellation: 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".