Based in San Francisco, The Residents initially unleashed their daring attempts at self-promotion on an unreceptive world, producing music that seemed doomed to the furthermost outpost of anonymity. With titles like Third Reich and Roll and Duck Stab their records where some of the strangest and most uncompromising ever made. By the time full-scale notoriety arrived, The Residents kept their real identities a closely guarded secret. In this updated edition, Ian Shirley takes an outsider's view of their operations - a world where nothing is as it seems.

Meet The Residents: America's Most Eccentric Band!

Shirley, Ian

Humor & Entertainment

SAF Publishing Ltd.

Eyeball-to-eyeball adventure into the weird and wacky world of The Residents. Who are they?

Meet The Residents: America's Most Eccentric Band

S A F Pub Ltd

A fantastic tale of notoriety as Gothic-Glam heroes Bauhaus slip into rock and roll excess, a tangle of out-of-control egos and musical disagreements leading to the inevitable split. Based around candid interviews with all the band members throughout their turbulent career, Ian Shirley unravels the uncompromising story of four individuals who have consistently confounded their detractors by turning up the unexpected. Fully updated to include their recent reformation, Dark Entries is an essential read for those exploring the darker side of rock.

Dark Entries: Bauhaus and Beyond

Brett Lee, the lead singer of heavy metal band Plunder, is enjoying a game of sex golf in his New York hotel when an explosion rocks the room. Investigating the cause, he ends up stark naked in another dimension, where he is swiftly accused of assassinating a pig by shagging it to death. And that is only the start of his problems. Ian Shirley is a freelance journalist whose feature work has appeared in The Times, The Sunday Times, Mojo, Record Collector, Classic Rock and other publications. His first science fiction novel, Shadowplay, was published in 1998.

Heavy Mental

Literature & Fiction

Contemporary

Respected rock journalist and comic fan Ian Shirley examines the unexplored links between comics and music, from Frank Sinatra to the White Stripes and all in between. Encompassing pop bands’ own comics—for The Beatles, Kiss, The Monkees and Johnny Cash—along with punk in comics, unauthorized comic biographies, 1960s psychedelic poster artists and fictional bands from The Maniacs to the Gorillaz, this book will look at rock and roll and comics from a totally different perspective. Written in a clear, informative style with extensive interviews (including Alan Moore and Robert Crumb) and a multitude of illustrations with cover artwork by Mike Allred, this will be a must-have book for music and comic fans alike.

Can Rock & Roll Save The World?: An Illustrated History Of Music And Comics

Arts & Photography

Music

From their very first single, Bauhaus were intent on making an impact. Bela Lugosi's Dead rode the indie charts for two years and hit a nerve with a post-punk generation. However, notoriety led to rock and roll excess, out-of-control egos and musical disagreements culminating in an inevitable split. Varied projects evolved from the ashes of the fallout, eventually leading to US chart success for both Love And Rockets and Peter Murphy. Now fully updated to include their recent reformation, Dark Entries is a tale of constant tension—an essential read for any fan of Goth, or those exploring the darker side of rock.

Bauhaus: Dark Entries

Packed with interviews and imagery, Never Known Questions tells a unique and original tale of a band truly like no other Since their inception in the early 1970s, The Residents have confused, confounded, and delighted fans and critics for more than 40 years. Shrouded in anonymity, the band has charted a course with no beginning and no end that has taken them to the outer limits of entertainment and audience expectations. From their debut Santa Dog single, through warped sonic tributes ranging from the Beatles to Hank Williams, mysterious recordings made among the Inuit, iconic eyeball imagery, and collections of one minute songs to jaw dropping live shows, innovations in audio visual technologies and social media, conceptual albums and tours, abandoned film projects and eventual semi de-masking to reveal the slightly unsettling Randy Rose, the band is unquestionably one of pop’s most innovative acts. Never Known Questions delves deep into The Residents’ psyche, charting their rise from cottage industry imagineers to art pop figureheads and exploring 40 plus years of chameleonic musical adventures, along with the lore and legend that has built up around the group. It covers such questions as Were they really Talking Heads and Brian Eno in disguise? What is a Cryptic Corporation? Who was Nigel Senada? Did they really forget about recording an album? How’s Randy doing now? And what kind of a band sells a fridge full of records for $100,000 anyway?

Never Known Questions: Five Decades of The Residents

Biographies & Memoirs

Arts & Literature

Cherry Red Books

During a 10-year period bridging the 1980s and 1990s, Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty created pop masterpieces at a prodigious pace, leaving behind a body of work unlike anything created before or since. From international hit singles and legal wrangles with ABBA to mysterious rituals conducted on far-flung corners of the British Isles and abandoned road movies, the duo questioned, accused and entertained in equal measure.Turn Up the Strobe tells the story of two of the 20th century’s most vital artists, and those who understood them. A story of success, fear, ego, power, graffiti, house music, independence, control, disaster, the Roland TR-808, love, sheep, marketing, God, death, 12” vinyl records, escape, freedom, populism, a Ford Galaxie and the money and fame all of these things attract. Ian Shirley respectfully charts the journey from youthful adventures in pop music and elsewhere towards the Justified Ancients Of Mu Mu, The Timelords and the chart-topping monster The KLF became. Drummond and Cauty have recently announced a resumption in activity planned for August 2017, and continue to be actively involved in engaging work today. The duo’s fanbase remains as strong as their mystique.

Turn up the Strobe: The KLF, The JAMS, The Timelords: A History

Launched in 1987 and published biannually, the 
 Rare Record Price Guide 2022 is the SIXTEENTH edition of the World's most comprehensive guide to prices of UK releases from 1950 to the current day. Compiled by the expert staff and contributors of Record Collector the World's leading magazine in the field, The Guide 
spans every musical genre from Rock, Pop, Soul, Punk, Blues, Jazz, Disco, Acid House, Techno, Hip-Hop, Reggae, Dance, Rock n' Roll, Metal, Progressive, Psych, Indie, Country, Folk, Exotica, Soundtracks, and M.O.R. With over 100,000 entries, the 1400+ page publication provides an A to Z guide to rare and collectable UK releases with catalogue numbers, B-sides, and current mint values for every UK single worth over £5, EP and 12 single over £10, LP over £15, as well as other collectable formats like 10 LPs, flexi, and picture discs. Rest assured that no matter how obscure your taste you'll find the most sought after items here, whether your particular obsession is Progressive rock, Dance, 70's Jazz Funk, Soul, 80's Post Punk, Hip-Hop, Reggae, NWOBHM, Northern Soul, British Jazz, and collectable bands and artists from the 1950s to the present day.

Rare Record Price Guide 2022

Diamond Publishing

This is the most up-to-date version of the now world-renowned Rare Record Price Guide. It is the undisputed key text detailing pricings for a huge array and range of vinyl, from familiar classics to lost, underground albums of yesteryear.

The Rare Record Price Guide 2024

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Books by Shirley, Ian