You don't need drugs to understand what The Residents are trying to convey through their songs. I've always looked at their music as auditory performance art.

"i was just exhausted from the act of being polite" damn this hits hard

The way this album was explained to me was this: the residents could not get airtime with their music. But they realized if they paid for less than 60 seconds advertising on the radio the stations we're obliged to play whatever they paid for. And they have an entire album to prove it

I would base my perfect society on the guitar solo in "moisture".

I love all these comments from 10+ years ago I feel like I'm chilling with a bunch of KZfaq ghosts

people don't seem to understand that this is the sort of thing going through my head all the time.

god i remember discovering this video when i was 12 or 13 and thought nothing but how quirky and interesting it was in older youtube days. Now at 25 I rediscovered it and didn't realize what great music it is.

Genius. The Commercial Album is a great album (once you really think about it, all pop songs are nothing more than a verse and a chorus) and this is a great set of videos.

Hearing "Perfect Love" for the first time caused me to instantaneously fall in love with the Residents. Most musicians prattle on for a garish five minutes in a vain attempt to conjure up a fraction of the meaning that the Residents can manage in two or three lines of simple verse.

The RESIDENTS doesn't need AUTO-TUNE 🔥🔥💯💯

Wow! I remember seeing this on a late night TV music show when I was a kid many moons ago and I've always remembered it. Thanks so much for posting it!

Yay for performance art! These guys are sooo weird! It's great! They can say so much in just a one minute song....

Superb. I bought the Residents commercial album the day it came out on the strength of a review in Sounds, never looked back. Stunningly dark and surreal band.

certainly. and since those 2 bands are my favourite ever, when I finally stumbled upon the residents' work I was totally blown away. The unseen four (or any number you may prefer, really) RULE

That video was one of most remarkable ones I saw on MTV's in the early 90's. It was great to see it again 15 years later. Very original !

Before MTV there was a show on late at night on PBS from called LIVE FROM OFF CENTER which showed music videos, which were then pretty arty and cool. This is where I first watched The Residents and heard the line "They found a snail inside," which has stuck in my mind all this time.

Twistedly amazing. The perfect blend of insanity, music, and art.

Great! Very surrealistic. Reminds me of David Lynch.

As classical and ultramodern as an artist can be!Congratulations! Always loved u!

seconded. even though it's only a minute long, it's one of my favorite Residents songs.

Every time I think I'm strange, someone comes along & puts me to shame. Great stuff.

I sing some of these one minute songs while cycling in the Suffolk countryside - very addictive

"Moisture" is the most terrifying song & video of all time.

The Residents achieve a level of weird unparalleled in music and video.

I hope when I die people reenact The Simple Song video but instead of a pig it’s my corpse.

This used to play on my public TV music video show when I was younger and always gave me nightmares.

Did you realize how weird and wonderful this was when you first saw it a long time ago? Welcome back l!

I remember this from the 80's between alternative videos...thanks for the memories.

I find the music incredibly enjoyable both on and off marijuana. But I have to admit, when on it, I tend to hear more subtleties in the music, particularly in the bass.

These are from the Commercial Album which was released in 1980. The videos were made somewhere between 80-84 (they were put out on VHS in 84). I can't remember at the moment I want to say '82. The Residents themselves formed in the late 60's and are still very active now. They just finished another US/European tour this winter.

I still cannot, cannot, cannot, just CAN'T for the life of me decide whose genius I prefer . . . Negativland's or The Residents', since they both purposely do all of the don'ts required to excell as a Pop Music phenom & then end up with a steady following nonetheless. Get a copy of their classic Lp from '85, "The Big Bubble: Part Four of the Mole Trilogy" . . . pure genius. Thanks, matibbs, for uploading this gem ~ (•8-D

The Residents are the very best !! I love their weirdness !! :-)

the best guitar solo ever

This was so beautiful. I have no words. Thank you again

hypnotizes me like crazy

there's something i must tell you, there's something i must say, the only really perfect love is the one thst gets away. Gotta love em.

excellent. been a fan of the residents for over 20 years and never seen this. thanks!

These set of videos is amazing, one of my favourites music vids ever, awesome, hail the residents!

Back on 31-October-93, Elvira was the guest VJ for Halloween night. She got to pick all of the videos for that night, and she showed several of the Residents' 1-minute videos. This is the first time I've seen them since then. Wow...

I love these guys!

I love them sooo much!

🎇2 BILLION VIEWS IN 12 HOURS ON MY PLAYLIST CHEERS TA THE RESIDENTS!!!💝

That's something I was looking for, for quite a long time :-).

Saw this '80? '81? Couldn't forget it. After all that time...

these 1 minute movies absolutley make no sense, just like this world...isnt that simply just beautiful. THE RESIDENTS RULE OBSCURITY.

Best band ever

Hooray! Thanks for the information.

that will be the video of the year for me.. please upload those videos!!

You are correct, good eye and ear.

What a legendary I band love em

I wish more people had broader context for this, but The Residents are just an astoundingly interesting art collective, well in advance of their time, who will probably never get the attention or respect they deserve. That's what happens when you blaze trail, though; no guarantee anyone's going to follow.

This is a very weird episode of the hydraulic press channel

WOW!! O.O surreal...

The guitarist is actually Fred Frith, of Hatfield and the North and Art Bears fame.

snakefinger ruled!!!

If These Guys Did An Album With Sleepytime Gorilla Museum It Would Be Fantastic.

this people is awesome!!!

that scared the living shit out of me as a young boy of about 3. it was on bbc2 one night and i just freaked the hell out. the last part kinda reminds me of the mighty boosh. genius!

Maravilhoso !!

this video, along with the residents' moisture, snakefinger's videos (all of them), snakefinger and the residents' "the spot," gary numan's "cars" and kraftwerk's "t.e.e." are some of the toppermost best PV's ever.

completely agree!

pretty nice! perfect love :)

The last song really fucked me up I may not sleep tonight

Agree!!!

Bowie, Ferry, and Jagger are too serious. I've thought about this extensively.

super-duper!

The Commercial Album is so intense

The Commercial Album (1980). These videos are on the Commercial Album DVD.

insane but freaky funny and genius

super Lubie:)

I saw them on a SF public tv show called "Videowest" in '81.

long sinds I heard them always fit perfect into short movies

I am one of the residents. I do know this much, there was a "new resident" on demons dance alone and most likely on all the new albums.

Genius...

simple song is genius.

Perfect Love is perfect.

dude i thought the exact same thing when i watched songs for swinging larvae!

To whoever said the residents singer sounds like les claypool is ill informed. The residents have been around since Les was about 10 years old. Les has said many times that the residents are one of his biggest influences however. I personally love both bands, but the residents undoubtedly the progenitors, not visa versa.

drugs dont make music more enjoyable, music makes drugs more enjoyable.

Well that was certainly entertaining.

I keep getting their mail ...

Act of being polite used to scare the fuck out of me as a kid. somethin about that eyeball lady..

Their music reminds me of, like, a demented teletubbies episode

Ten years older than DEVO as you know it. DEVO started in 72, that's three years after The Residents started operations.

this is propa genius

Takin a walk down Grove St.

Has anyone ever noticed that the intro/title segment seems to be using a bit of Stockhausen's "Gesang de Junglige"?

pretty sure there was another upload of this up on youtube until late 2021(?)

Act of Being Polite is brilliant

Thats probably my main reason for using drugs, thinking/inspiration/perception. On shrooms I realized that we would have no need for government, rules, and laws if there was no evil in the world, and I now believe that the reason we are here on Earth is to help each other.

haha insane

the pig scared me quite a bit

I have no idea whats going on but thats okay

I can't believe you put the tag "progressive" in Captain Beefheart and his magic band

Maybe this will cure me from boredom

00:48 that is one of the residents without mask!!

these will give me very strange dreams tonight...

this is actually what i think all day. i think my mind is fucked up.

these guys are disturbing but intriguing

But they scare you in a good way, don't they?