At some point in 1977, The Residents happened to stumble
onto a review of their album, The Third Reich 'N' Roll, and
the reviewer was joyously proclaiming, "Kids today don't
want to listen to music like The Residents make. There is
no fun in it. You certainly can't dance to it." That kind
of pissed The Residents off, not so much because he said
their music was no fun, but more because it implied that
kids were complete idiots.
So The Residents set out to make an album of shorter, more
fun tunes to prove to the world that it would be just as
unpopular as their other recordings. So The Residents
recorded Duck Stab.
However, when it came out in February of 1978, it was an
instant smash. The kids ate it up, proving that The
Residents were wrong yet again, and the pesky reviewer knew
what he was talking about. The kids were idiots after all.
Duck Stab produced several instant classics. Hello Skinny,
Constantinople, Bach is Dead, and Blue Rosebuds became
anthems of Residents mania. The very reviewer who didn't
take to earlier Residents works proclaimed, "Duck Stab
lifts the country out of the slumber of the Seventies."
Even now, 30 long years later, Duck Stab is, to many
people, the ultimate Residents album. The kids obviously
grew into adult idiots. The Residents gave up trying to
prove that catchy music would be unpopular and announced
that next they would record an album of wind noises and
grunting. Which is exactly what they did. But that is
another story.