Back in the early 1970s, Louisiana's Hardy Fox and his band The Residents set out to be the weirdest band in rock 'n' roll and by most any measure they largely succeeded and they stayed that weird for the next 45 years or so, putting out one inscrutable album after another.
We're sad to note that Mr. Fox passed away this week and that his distinctive drawl will no longer be heard on any new recordings.
The thing about Residents' albums is you never know what you're going to get. One album might be of distorted Elvis covers and another of imagined Eskimo chants. One might be all narration, Hardy telling the story of The Baby King to a group of children. One album might be nearly unlistenable noise and another surprisingly melodic gamelan music. The one thing you knew is that you'd never be bored.
Back in the early Aughts, we somehow managed to acquire nearly the entire Residents' discography, no small feat considering that they put out nearly an album a year from 1974 to 2001 and beyond, plus an equal number of CDs of live recordings, rarities, and compilations. Listening through that entire discography, mostly on CD while driving in my car, turned into an exercise in sanity (as in, trying to hold on to sanity).
Anyway, they will be missed.
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