With most The Residents releases there is a theme of some kind. "Eskimo" simulates the sound of the tundra with Eskimo tradition mixed in. "King & Eye" is a recording of Elvis songs. However, perhaps their most amusing experiment was "Commercial Album."
Originally released in 1980, "Commercial Album" was The Residents' response to pop song writing. Their theory was that after the fluff is eliminated from a pop song, there is really only a minute of material there. Which also happens to be the length of a television commercial. So the "Commercial Album" is The Residents' personal top-forty. Forty songs, each a minute long. Done in that trademark Residents style.
Now, as if such a project isn't a big enough artistic statement already, they decided to go one step farther. They went to San Francisco's number one top-forty radio station and bought forty 60 second commercial slots over a two day period and got the entire album played. This catapulted The Residents into a fury of speculation. Was the move done for artistic reasons? Or was it meant to promote an otherwise unknown, little market album? Whatever the reasons, "Commercial Album" and it's lore has become a staple in the crazy Residents history.
"Commercial Album" sparked something else that may have completely changed the shape of musical history. They took four of the songs featured on the album and made one minute music videos for them. Concept videos for individual songs were an unheard of idea back then and those four videos ended up in heavy rotation on MTV (once it finally came into existence in August of 1981). Those four videos are now a part of the Museum of Modern Art in New York as a part of their permanent collection.
Now, in time for the 25th anniversary, The Residents with Mute Corp. re-released "Commercial Album" so you don't have to spend forty dollars on ebay for it. The great thing about the album is that the songs are only a minute long. So which a filler song comes on its over in the blink of an eye. The sad the about the album is when a good song is on it, also, is over in a flash. But if you take the cd as a whole it feels quite cohesive and flows well.
Article comments
1 - SFC Ski
Thanks for the tip, I remember seeing the videos for "Third Reich and Roll" and "Hello Skinny" as well as videos by Tuxedomoon, Renaldo and the Loaf, and Snakefinger, all of them twisted my adolescent mind. I can't listen to the Residents all the time, but some times they are just perfect.
2 - Temple A. Stark
I got this up on Advance.net
Here's one link to one of the ADV pages.
You'll be there, just scroll down :)