After 50 years, the Residents are still on the road

At a gig in Los Angeles that kicked off the 50th-anniversary tour, diehard fans bedecked in Residents merchandise howled their approval. The performers were swathed in fabric imprinted with hundreds of eyeballs, their signature image. Their anonymity, guarded by eyeball-themed masks, has been key to their success.

The masks safeguard their creative freedom as well as their identities. From the moment the original quartet mounted their first guerrilla raid on a folk-music club in San Francisco in October 1971, they understood that performing anonymously “gave them a lot more space underneath to be whoever they wanted, or do whatever they wanted”, says Mr Flynn. An early attempt at a record deal failed when their demo tape was sent back by a Warner Brothers scout, addressed to “Residents”.

The fanbase is impressively wide: more than 100,000 people follow their Facebook page. Long before he created “The Simpsons”, Matt Groening extolled the group as “the most significant pop-music ensemble of the 20th century”. And for a west-coast underground sensation, their tentacles reach surprisingly far—many male baby-boomers in America, Europe and Australia own a Residents disc. Much to their gratification, fans emerge in each new generation.

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