THE COMMERCIAL ALBUM
The Commercial Album is another manifestation of The
Residents' whimsical relationship with pop music and their
interest in music about music. The album is a collection of
forty one-minute commercial songs -- their very own
personal Top 40, or perhaps a collection of one-minute
jingles: the music of commercials.
The Residents teamed up
with several artists, including their old friend
Snakefinger, who not only provided guitar, but sings on Ups
& Downs. The band also recruited Chris Cutler, who had
worked with them on Eskimo, Fred Frith, Lene Lovich, Andy
Partridge and others.
Working from September, 1979, to
July, 1980, The Residents used a number of ideas which had
cropped up during the recording of Eskimo but were
inappropriate for that project.
The Commercial Album was
the first Residential album to be licenced overseas, and
was heavily promoted by the licencees. PRE Records in
England even put out The Commercial Single, which included
two songs which had been left off of the album because The
Residents felt that they didn't quite fit in. Phonogram and
Celluloid Records financed a series of four short videos
called One Minute Movies, featuring the songs Moisture, The
Act of Being Polite, Perfect Love, and Simple Song.
Meanwhile, in North America, the Cryptic Corporation
bought forty one-minute commercial slots on KFRC-AM radio,
the top-40 radio station at that time in San Francisco, and
broadcast the entire album in bite-sized chunks. This stunt
was questioned by Billboard magazine as payola, though the
time purchased was quite definately commercial time.
The
album is currently in a deluxe release by Mute Records. An
award winning interactive DVD, also distributed by Mute, is
available featuring 56 one minute videos.