RESIDENTS Vinyl Records and CDs

Upon a first listening, most people will respond to The Residents the way they would to smelling salts. Their songs can be as opaque, esoteric, and bizarre as Rosicrucianism, but perhaps the most puzzling aspect of the band is their Mafia-like code of silence about their identities. These living ciphers have remained among rock's avant-garde by branching into music videos (they were among the first to make them), movie scores, CD-ROMs, and even comic books. Concept albums and cover songs predominate the band's musical output, including a 1977 send-up of "Satisfaction" which remains the band's most recognizable song. Three decades after it began, the aggressively experimental output of these multimedia pioneers shows no sign of letting up. From behind their trademark eyeball masks, the white suit and top hat bedizened Residents continue to be the wittiest, most subversive concept artists in rock.