"An invaluable source for filling in the gaps in The Residents' collective hive memory with occasional nuggets of information it turns out everybody has forgotten over the past fifty years."
The Cryptic Corporation, Faceless Forever - A Residents Encyclopaedia, 2022
Welcome to Meet The Residents Wiki, an unofficial (but officially acknowledged!) fan-sourced guide and resource dedicated to North Louisiana's Phenomenal Pop Combo! For 50 years and counting, The Residents have existed at the forefront of virtually every new technology in sound, video, performance and interactive media - all while operating under a veil of obscurity and anonymity.
Since January 29th 2017, this wiki, founded and maintained by members of the fan group The Mysterious Spanish Ladies, has aimed to build a free and comprehensive hypertext encyclopedia and reference point on The Residents, sourced by and for fans, while also aiming to include details on The Cryptic Corporation, Ralph Records and other related entities.
Meet The Residents Wiki has been derived largely from the online resources (both official and unofficial) listed below, as well as other reference texts, many more of which we hope to transcribe and preserve for Residents fans and historians for decades or even centuries to come.
You can begin your journey through the wiki either by typing phrases or words into the search bar to the upper right hand side of the page, using the quick links in the "explore", "contents" and "recent projects" tabs in the drop-down navigation menu at the top of the screen, or the links under the "navigation" heading below.
The "classic eyeball"
Discography | Live shows | Videography | Soundtracks | Interactive media | Bibliography
Disguises | Identities | Aliases | Unfinished projects | Collaborators | Tribute albums
Record labels | Studios | Equipment
User rules | Style manual | Fandom guides | Help index
Fandom terms of use | Fandom privacy policy
Contact the administrators
Recent and upcoming releases
pREServed
CD series
- The most recent instalment in the pREServed CD reissue series is the long-delayed three disc CD set American Composer's Series 1982-1987, released June 20th 2025. The set features newly remastered versions of the two American Composers albums George & James and Stars & Hank Forever!, with other contemporary live and studio material. It features thirteen previously unreleased tracks, including a side-length suite of Sun Ra covers, covers of songs by Buddy Holly and Lou Christie, and a never-before-heard Residents original, "Burning with Desire".
- The next expected instalment in the pREServed CD series is an expanded edition of Animal Lover, which has been compiled and is "ready to roll", with Carla Fabrizio and Brian Poole (aka "Renaldo M") of former Ralph stablemates Renaldo & The Loaf assisting The Residents in sorting through material from the era. Initially planned for autumn 2024, the Animal Lover pREServed edition is now expected for release in 2026.
- Other future instalments expected in the pREServed CD series include the complete Icky Flix soundtrack (previously issued on vinyl for Record Store Day 2020), expanded Tweedles! and The Bunny Boy reissues, an expanded double CD collection of the Leftovers Again?! trilogy of vinyl releases, a collection of studio material from the "Randy, Chuck and Bob" era, and a "Film and TV" collection; no release date has yet been announced.
Vinyl series
- The Residents issued a new limited edition vinyl release for Record Store Day on April 12th 2025 - Leftovers Again?! Again!?! (Again), the third and final instalment in The Residents' "accidental" trilogy of long-lost, previously unreleased material. The album (described as a "labour of love for all involved") will feature "entirely unheard material from deep, deep within the archive", dating from the latter half of the 1980s, from the Big Bubble recording sessions through to God In Three Persons.
Doctor Dark
- The Residents' new studio album Doctor Dark, a three-act "modern opera" recorded in collaboration with conductor Edwin Outwater and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, was released on CD and double vinyl LP via Cherry Red Records, MVD Audio and New Ralph Too on February 28th 2025. Inspired by the life of euthanasia advocate Jack Kevorkian and the 1990 Judas Priest subliminal message trial, the album tells the story of three characters: Maggot, Mark and Dr. Anastasia Dark. Copies ordered from the Cherry Red website also include one of two optional Residents beer mats, the design of which is exclusive to each format of the album.
- On March 2nd 2025, Psychofon Records released a "special collectors' edition" of The Residents' Doctor Dark. This hand-numbered edition of 150 copies comes in a fold-out cover, and is pressed on "exceptional" 180 gram translucent yellow and rainbow splatter colored vinyl.
- Also on March 2nd, Psychofon issued a "Die Hard" box set edition of Doctor Dark for "the inclined hardcore collector"; this edition (known as the "Vance/Kevorkian" edition) of only fifty hand-numbered copies comes in a hand-made box covered in bandages, with intravenous drips lining the interior of the box. The album's two LPs are pressed on 180 gram translucent and blood red liquid vinyl. This edition sold out within two hours.
- A seven minute sampler/preview track titled "Doctor Dark's Gift", featuring a selection of excerpts from Doctor Dark, was released to subscribers of the Cherry Red Residents mailing list on February 1st 2024. According to Cherry Red, the sampler was "expertly pieced together by the group to showcase the new album whilst carefully not giving away any spoilers regarding the story it tells".
- On February 14th 2025, a short excerpt from the Doctor Dark track "Ol' Man River", titled "Ol' Man River (Machine Edit)", was released as a single to streaming platforms.
- On April 25th 2025, an edited version of the Doctor Dark track "White Guys with Guns" was released to streaming services as a digital single.
Barking in the Dark
- Barking in the Dark, a short documentary "film essay" on The Residents by filmmaker Marie Losier, which follows the group "from Bourges to Brussels, from Paris to Essen and to San Francisco" during (and after) their 50th Anniversary tour Faceless Forever, premiered at the Rotterdam International Film Festival on February 1st 2025, followed by a second screening on February 3rd.
- Barking in the Dark was screened at the Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival (CPH:DOX) on March 27th 2025, alongside the Leos Carax film It's Not Me. A second screening of the two films on March 30th also featured a live Q&A with director Marie Losier.
Klanggalerie
- On May 20th 2025 Klanggalerie reissued Charles Bobuck's GOD-O: Music for a Gallery Opening, with a second disc featuring a previously unheard thirty minute version of "God Damn Chickens", as well as reworked versions of the songs, which had previously been released as digital downloads.
- Unconventional Residents IV, the latest instalment in Alieno de Bootes' Residents cover album series, has been announced as an upcoming release via Klanggalerie.
- Klanggalerie have also announced a "deluxe" reissue of The Residents' 2005 live album The Way We Were to be released at an unconfirmed date.
- A compilation of unreleased Hardy Fox material entitled Fragments & Failures was originally scheduled to be released on Klanggalerie in early 2021, but was delayed by the label in favor of the Charles Bobuck compilation Oddities 2013-2015. Fragments & Failures is still expected for release, but no date has been announced.
Miscellaneous releases
- A new restoration of animator Bruce Bickford's 1988 film Prometheus' Garden premiered on March 22nd 2025 at TV Eye in Queens, New York; this version of the film features a new soundtrack by twenty-eight artists, each of whom contributed a minute of the material to the score. Musicians contributing to the soundtrack include The Residents, J.G. Thirlwell, Lee Ranaldo, Brian Chippendale and more.
- The April 2025 issue of the Cherry Red Residents email newsletter featured a free digital mini-album, "Seven Cats", comprising seven outtakes from the Hunters soundtrack sessions. It is the second of several planned Hunters digital mini-albums, following the December 2024 release "Wood Snakes".
Future projects
- The December 2024 Cherry Red Residents newsletter mentioned "rumours of another new recording project", connected to their Cortical Palace live performance in Paris in October 2024.
- The February 2025 issue of the Cherry Red Residents newsletter announced that The Residents have begun work on their "next album", which has been described only as "X-rated" and "far too sexually explicit for us to discuss online without Zucky and Musky's interference". As of April 2025, the group have completed recording demos for the album.
- A long-in-development series of "uber niche" limited edition releases, to be sold via mail order and aimed primarily at specialist collectors, is under ongoing consideration by the group, possibly under the long-defunct UWEB branding.
- The Residents are said to be preparing a book for release which collects their numerous unproduced screenplays and treatments for film and television. Further information is yet to be announced.
Upcoming live shows
Eskimo Live  The Residents in Eskimo Live, 2025
The premiere of the show took place at the Exoticon Exotica and Tiki Festival at the Mayan Theater in downtown Los Angeles on June 7th 2025. Further American shows are expected to be announced in the coming months. |
On this day...
  "Misdelivered Mummy!", the third episode of The Residents' serial crime drama The River of Crime, released July 12th 2006 · July 12th 2006: The Residents release "Misdelivered Mummy!", the third episode of their serial crime drama The River of Crime, through the Apple iTunes store. |
External links and references
Photo montage by Graeme Whifler and The Residents for "Hello Skinny", 1979
Official
- The Residents Official Website
- The Residents Historical
- The Cryptic Corporation Official Website
- The Residents on Facebook
- The Residents on YouTube
- The Residents on Instagram
- The Residents on Bluesky
- The Residents on TikTok
- The Residents on MySpace
- Euro Ralph Official Website (defunct 2006)
- Ralph America Official Website (defunct 2011)
- Hacienda Bridge (Hardy Fox / Charles Bobuck) (defunct 2018)
- The Residents on Twitter (defunct 2022)
Unofficial
- The Talk of Creatures forum
- The Residents unofficial Facebook group
- Ralph Records unofficial Facebook group
- Mr. Riggsy's ResTube on YouTube
- The Residents on Wikipedia
- The Residents on AllMusic
- RZWeb (semi-official; defunct 2004)
- Smelly Tongues - The Unofficial Residents Fan Club (defunct 2005)
- The Moles' Bach Is Dead Discography and Virtual Museum (defunct 2006)
- Giant Eyeballs - A Tribute To The Residents (defunct 2009)
- RRROAR - The Residents and Ralph Records Online Audio-Visual Resource (defunct 2015)
- Grandpa Gio and The Residents (defunct 2016)
Buy Or Die!
- Buy Or Die! The Official Residents Online Shop
- The Residents' Faceless Forever - Official Merchandise Store (US)
- The Residents' Faceless Forever - Official Merchandise Store (UK/EU)
- The Residents on Cherry Red Records
- The Residents on Psychofon Records
- Secret Records on Bandcamp
- Klanggalerie on Bandcamp
- The Residents on Amazon (see also The Residents Amazon author page)
- The Residents on Discogs
- Ralph Records on Discogs
- Ralphlet Outlet on Bandcamp
Listen online
In memoriam
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June 17th 1949 - July 1st 1987 |
March 29th 1945 - October 30th 2018 |
Something missing?
Meet The Residents Wiki is compiled and maintained by members of the fan group The Mysterious Spanish Ladies for the education and information of other fans, and has not been officially endorsed by The Residents, The Cryptic Corporation, or their record labels past or present. Although we have attempted to derive as much of our information as possible from official sources, some information seen in these pages may nevertheless be missing, incorrect, outdated, or apocryphal.
You can help The Ladies by signing up as a Fandom user and helping to create and edit our articles. You can also drop into our Discord server, Mysterious Spanish, Uninc. to chat with The Mysterious Spanish Ladies and other wiki contributors. If you are intending to contribute to the wiki, please first take the time to read our user rules and style manual.
Missing articles
Feel like lending The Ladies a hand? The following is a selection of articles which need to be created. We are currently attempting to expand our pages relating to Vileness Fats and Doctor Dark, so missing articles related to those projects have been highlighted.
Vileness Fats
- Scene 34 (Vileness Fats): Also known as "The Knife Fight"; the penultimate scene planned for The Residents' unfinished feature film Vileness Fats. It depicts the dramatic (and deadly) knife fight between the twin wrestlers Arf and Omega Berry on the dance floor of Uncle Willy's nightclub, followed by a closing benediction delivered by a ventriloquist. As the film's closing sequence was never completed, this scene closes both the 1984 VHS featurette Whatever Happened To Vileness Fats? and the 2001 "concentrate" edit on the Icky Flix DVD. Excerpts are also included in The Residents' 2022 feature film Triple Trouble; a remastered version of the scene is featured in the special features of the DVD and Blu-ray editions of the film.
- Weenie: Character from The Residents' unfinished feature film Vileness Fats, portrayed by Danny Williams (who also portrays the character Ninnie). Weenie is the rebel Lonesome Jack's right hand man, and the only member of the Bell Boys to know about Jack's dual identity as Saint Steven, the religious leader of Vileness Flats.
- Abraham Lincoln: American lawyer and politician born in February 1809 who served as the 16th President of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. Portrayed by Jay Clem in Vileness Fats as a previous incarnation of the film's protagonist Saint Steven and former love interest of the enchanted Native American priestess Weescoosa. In the film, Lincoln is said to be much shorter in real life, with his height being hidden by a tall hat (mirroring both Steve and his other prior incarnation, Napoleon). Lincoln is also mentioned in the liner notes of The Residents' album Intruders as having seen a ghostly doppelganger prior to his death.
- Resources: Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum official website, Abraham Lincoln at Wikipedia, Mole Show/Whatever Happened to Vileness Fats? VHS, Vileness Fats at The Residents Historical, Ima Buddy's Totally Impartial Companion to Uncle Willie's Highly Opinionated BIG MAMAS, Intruders liner notes, "Lincoln's Doppelganger" at JonahWorld!
Doctor Dark
- Dr. Anastasia Dark: The titular character from The Residents' 2025 "modern opera" Doctor Dark. Based on the real life euthanasia activist Jack Kevorkian, Dark is an "insomniac Russian physician" and "disgraced visionary" who has devised a lethal "machine" designed to offer the terminally ill "the gift" of assisted suicide. Much like Kevorkian, Dark is a visual artist, whose paintings depict the gruesome deaths of the unfortunate people whose suicides he has helped to facilitate. In his appearance in the opera's final scene, Dark is accompanied by a bluebird who seems to act as a harbinger of death.
- Prelude / Metal Madness: The opening track from The Residents' album and "modern opera" Doctor Dark, released February 28th 2025. The song introduces the opera's contrasting orchestral and metal musical styles, as well as two of the three main characters, Maggot and Mark. In advance of the release of the album, the song premiered on January 7th 2025 on Australian independent radio station 2BOB Radio, and later aired on London radio station Resonance FM on January 19th.
- Resources: Doctor Dark at Discogs
- White Guys with Guns: The second track from The Residents' album and "modern opera" Doctor Dark, released February 28th 2025. Described in the opera's libretto as a "teenage anthem of angst", the song depicts the characters Maggot and Mark being drawn into a "twisted heroic vision" of "virility". On April 25th 2025, a "single edit" of the song was released to streaming platforms to promote the album.
Miscellaneous
- Where To Begin: A recording by The Residents featuring vocals by Hardy Fox which would later become incorporated into "The Making of a Soul" on the group's 1978 album Not Available. The song features a spoken monologue by Fox, traces of which remain embedded in the finished mix of "The Making of a Soul"; a section of the monologue was extracted from the song by a fan in the early 2000s. The clip was posted on The Residents' Official News BOG in 2004, giving rise to the legend of a so-called "hidden monologue" within the track. The original recording was released in its entirety in 2019 on the pREServed CD reissue of Not Available.
- Burning with Desire: A song by The Residents, which was first recorded as an instrumental titled "Going Nowhere", possibly during sessions for the unfinished Part Three of The Mole Trilogy. This early instrumental version was first released on the 2019 pREServed box set Mole Box. The track was later revisited by The Residents, and developed to include lyrics, under the title "Burning with Desire". The later version, which may have been intended for the unfinished album Man, was first released on the pREServed compilation American Composer's Series 1982-1987 in 2025.
- The Ghost of Hope (live performance): A one-off live performance by The Residents at the Exploratorium in San Francisco on March 30th 2017, promoting the release of their concept album The Ghost of Hope. Originally announced as an album listening party with The Residents in attendance, the event turned out to be a full-fledged, unique live performance of around an hour in duration. The show took place between the Japanese and European legs of their In Between Dreams international tour. Although no audio or video has been officially released by The Residents to date, the show was filmed and released in its entirety on YouTube by the Exploratorium two days later, and remains viewable there.
- The Stone: A novella by Hardy Fox, serialized in his Hacienda Bridge email newsletter between March and October 2017. The novella marks the end of Fox's use of the Charles Bobuck persona, and is most well known for being the medium by which Fox chose to announce Bobuck's true identity. It is also related to the posthumous Fox album Ibbur.