Editing The Residents (section)

===1972–1980: "Classic" era===

====''Santa Dog'', ''Meet the Residents'', ''Not Available'' & ''The Third Reich 'n Roll'' (1972–1976)====
[[File:Residents-EnigmaticFoe1974.jpg|thumb|left|The Enigmatic Foe (still from the [[Not Available (album)|''Not Available'']] sessions, 1974)]]
In early 1972, the band left San Mateo and relocated to 20 Sycamore St, [[San Francisco]]; a studio they named "El Ralpho", which boasted a completely open ground floor (seemingly ideal for a sound stage), allowing the group to expand their operations and also begin preliminary work on their most ambitious project up to that point, a full-length film entitled ''[[Vileness Fats]]'', which consumed most of their attention for the next four years. Intended to be the first-ever long form music video, the Residents saw this project as an opportunity to create the ultimate [[cult film]]. After four years of filming (from 1972 to 1976) the project was reluctantly cancelled because of time, space, and monetary constraints. Fifteen hours of footage was shot for the project, yet only approximately 35 minutes of that footage has ever been released.

The group also formed [[Ralph Records]] at this time, as a small, independent label to release and promote their own work. In 1972, to inaugurate the new business, the group recorded and pressed the ''Santa Dog'' EP, their first recorded output to be released to the public. Designed to resemble a Christmas card from an insurance company, the EP consisted of two 7" singles, one song on each side. The four songs were presented as being by four different bands (Ivory & the Braineaters, Delta Nudes, the College Walkers, and Arf & Omega featuring the Singing Lawnchairs), with only a small note on the interior of the gatefold sleeve mentioning the participation of "Residents, Uninc."

They sent copies of ''Santa Dog'' to west coast radio stations with no response until Bill Reinhardt, program director of [[KBOO]]-FM in [[Portland, Oregon]], received a copy and played it heavily on his show. Reinhardt met the Residents at their studio at 20 Sycamore St.<ref name=Sycamore>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/ripitupstartagai00reyno|url-access=registration|title=Rip it Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978–1984|first=Simon|last=Reynolds|date=January 1, 2005|publisher=Penguin|access-date=November 16, 2016|page=[https://archive.org/details/ripitupstartagai00reyno/page/200 200]|quote=sent back addressed to "Residents, 20 Sycamore St., San Francisco|via=Internet Archive|isbn=9780143036722}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sfmuralarts.com/neighborhood/mission/sycamore-street/11.html|title=San Francisco Mural Arts – Mission – Sycamore Street|website=Sfmuralarts.com|access-date=July 13, 2018}}</ref> in the summer of 1973 with the news of his broadcasts. The Residents gave Reinhardt exclusive access to all their recordings, including copies of the original masters of ''Stuffed Trigger'', ''Baby Sex'', and ''[[The Warner Bros. Album]]''.

Throughout this point, the group had been manipulating old tapes they had collected and regularly recording jam sessions, and these recordings eventually became the group's debut full-length album, ''[[Meet the Residents]]'', which was released in 1974 on Ralph. To aid in promoting the group, Reinhardt was given 50 of the first 1,000 copies of ''Meet the Residents''. Some were sent to friends, listeners and critics, and two dozen were left for sale on consignment at the [[Music Millennium]] record store, where they sat unsold for months. KBOO DJ Barry Schwam (a.k.a. Schwump, who also recorded with the Residents) promoted them on his program as well. Eventually, KBOO airplay attracted a cult following.[[File:TheResidents1976.jpg|thumb|The Residents, 1974–1976]]Following the release of ''Meet the Residents'', the group began working on a follow-up entitled ''[[Not Available (album)|Not Available]]''. Following N. Senada's theory of obscurity, the LP was recorded and compiled completely in private, and would not be released until the group had completely forgotten about its existence.<ref>The Residents - ''[[Not Available (album)|Not Available]]'' liner notes [<nowiki/>[[East Side Digital]]] (ESD80192) 1988</ref>

During breaks in the sessions for ''Vileness Fats'', the group recorded their next project, entitled ''[[The Third Reich 'n Roll]]'', over the course of a year between October 1974 and October 1975. The album consisted of two side-long [[medley (music)|medleys]] of the band covering popular songs from 1950s and 1960s, whilst toying with the concept of the popularity of [[rock 'n' roll]] being comparable to that of the rise of [[Nazism]] in the 1930s. The resulting LP was released in 1976, and was the group's first project to feature a [[music video]], created by syncing an old video of the group performing with an edited version of "Swastikas on Parade".<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Third Reich 'n' Roll - Historical - The Residents|url=https://residents.com/historical/?page=thirdreichandroll|access-date=2020-11-19|website=residents.com}}</ref>

After ''the Third Reich 'n Roll''{{'}}s release, a group of enterprising friends and collaborators from their early days in [[San Mateo, California|San Mateo]] — Homer Flynn, [[Hardy Fox]], Jay Clem and John Kennedy — also joined the group in San Francisco, forming what became the Cryptic Corporation to manage and represent the band. Clem became the band's spokesman; Fox edited, produced and compiled the band's increasingly prolific output; Flynn was already handling the group's cover design and promotional art under the banner of Pore Know Graphics; and Kennedy took the role of "President" (admittedly a fairly empty title, as overall responsibilities were handled more or less equally by the four). The Cryptic Corporation took over the day-to-day operations of Ralph Records, and provided the band with an improved public relations platform.

Shortly after the introduction of the Cryptic Corporation, the Residents recorded their "[[(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction|Satisfaction]]" single, the B-side of which featured the Residents' first work with the [[ARP Odyssey]], the first synthesizer owned by the group, purchased by the Cryptics.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Synth City {{!}} CODGERS ON THE MOON|url=http://hardyfox.com/public_html/codgers/page13/index.html|access-date=2020-11-19|website=hardyfox.com}}</ref>

====''Eskimo'', ''Fingerprince'', ''Duck Stab'', & rise in popularity (1976–1979)====
Following "Satisfaction", the group began recording [[Eskimo (album)|''Eskimo'']] in April 1976; a concept album based upon the Theory of Phonetic Organisation that suggests that music should not be confined to chords and structures, but instead should simply be a collection of fascinating noises. The album featured acoustic soundscapes inspired by Inuit culture,<ref>Eskimo Liner Notes (Ralph Records, ESK7906) [1979]
</ref> whilst parodying American ignorance of other cultures. The ''Eskimo'' sessions lasted many years, and featured many divergences, the first of which, in November 1976, resulted in ''[[Fingerprince]]'', a collection of unused recordings from ''the Third Reich 'n Roll'', ''Not Available'', and ''Eskimo'' sessions.<ref>The Residents - Fingerprince Liner Notes, (Ralph Records RR1276) [1977]</ref>

''Fingerprince'' received considerable coverage in the British press, and was the first LP by the group to receive any critical attention when [[Jon Savage]] reviewed the album and its two predecessors favorably for the December 31st issue of [[Sounds (magazine)|Sounds]] magazine.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/residents-imeet-the-residents--third-reich-n-roll--finger-prince-i|title=Residents: Meet the Residents *****; Third Reich 'N' Roll *****; Finger Prince *****. By Jon Savage : Articles, reviews and interviews from Rock's Backpages.|website=Rocksbackpages.com|access-date=2020-01-06}}</ref> This review gained the group considerable attention, with many of their previously unsold mail-order items being sold seemingly overnight.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Duck Stab / Buster & Glenn pREServed Liner Notes|last=Shirley|first=Ian|publisher=Pale Pachyderm Publishing|year=2018|pages=1}}</ref> The sudden success of ''Fingerprince'' and its predecessors caused the group to briefly halt production on ''Eskimo'' to create something more appealing to their newfound audience.

The Residents followed up ''Fingerprince'' with their ''[[Duck Stab!]]'' EP – their most accessible release up to that point. This EP got the band some attention from the press (namely ''[[NME]]'', ''[[Sounds (magazine)|Sounds]]'' and ''[[Melody Maker]]''), and was followed in 1978 by the ''[[Duck Stab/Buster & Glen]]'' album, which paired the EP with a similar, concurrently recorded EP which had not been released separately. The group then continued work on ''[[Eskimo (album)|Eskimo]]'', which proved a very difficult project, marked by many conflicts between the band and their management which led to a number of delays in the release date.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Jones |first=Kevin L. |date=June 30, 2014 |title=Tap Into Your Inner Resident: Notes on our Planet's Strangest Band {{!}} KQED |url=https://www.kqed.org/arts/10137103/tap-into-your-inner-resident-notes-on-our-planets-strangest-band |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210723160043/https://www.kqed.org/arts/10137103/tap-into-your-inner-resident-notes-on-our-planets-strangest-band |archive-date=July 23, 2021 |access-date=May 21, 2024 |website=www.kqed.org |language=en}}</ref>

The sudden attention afforded to them by the success of the ''Duck Stab!'' EP and "Satisfaction" single required an album release as soon as possible to help fund the band's spiraling recording costs, and to meet the demand for new Residents material. This forced the release of the band's long-shelved "second album" ''[[Not Available]]'' in 1978. The Residents were not bothered by this deviation from the original plan not to release the album, as the 1978 release ultimately did not affect the philosophical conditions under which it was originally recorded.

''[[Eskimo (album)|Eskimo]]'' was finally released in 1979 to much acclaim, even making it to the final list for nominations for a Grammy award in 1980, although the album wasn't nominated. Rather than being songs in the orthodox sense, the compositions on ''Eskimo'' sounded like "live-action stories" without dialogue. The cover art of ''Eskimo'' also presents the first instance of the group wearing eyeball masks and tuxedos, which was later considered by many to be the group's signature costume. The Residents had only intended to wear these costumes for the cover of ''Eskimo'', but adopted the costumes in the longer term as it provided them with a unique and recognisable image.

The group followed ''Eskimo'' with ''[[Commercial Album]]'' in 1980. The LP featured 40 songs, each exactly one minute in length.<ref name="rf">{{cite book
| last1                  = Buckley
| first1                 = Peter
| last2                 = Fontenoy
| first2                = Richard
| title                 = The Rough Guide to Rock
| url                   = https://books.google.com/books?id=7ctjc6UWCm4C&q=The+Rough+Guide+to+Rock
| access-date            = January 8, 2013
| date                  = November 20, 2003
| publisher             = [[Rough Guides]]
| isbn                  = 978-1843531050
| pages                 = 868–870
| edition = 3rd
}}</ref> Around this time, two short films were made in collaboration with [[Graeme Whifler]]: ''One Minute Movies'', consisting of four music videos for tracks from the ''Commercial Album''; and a video for "Hello Skinny" from the ''Duck Stab'' LP. Created at a time when MTV (and what later became known as "music video" in general) was in its infancy, the group's videos were in heavy rotation since they were among the few music videos available to broadcasters.