Third Reich N Roll

Residents | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 4, 2005)
• Original Release Date: 2005
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Mute U.S.
• ASIN: B000AP2ZQW
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #191,917 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars still brilliant, January 27, 2008

By 

Koren (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Third Reich 'N' Roll (MP3 Download)

Brilliant on a number of levels.
As an adolescent in a salmon-colored/mica-concrete c.1980 Florida fortress, had an arsenal of Empty-the-House-Albums. Put one on the stereo, & suddenly dear mom felt an irresistible urge to go out & buy groceries--asap.
Funhouse, Dead Kennedys, White Light/White Heat, 1st Cramps album, Siouxie's The Scream; sure, these were all effective to varying degrees--but for sheer speed of response time, Third Reich n Roll was unsurpassed in its ability to trigger parental errands. 5 mins, tops, she'd be hunting for the car keys. A twist of the volume dial, & shortly thereafter the house would reverberate with this amazing Pop-blender-from Hell. Guess it's time to add Reich n Roll to my Mid-Life Crisis Music Collection. Haven't seen or heard the album for over 20 years, but it stays w/you.
Funny to find out what *doesn't* weather the test of time: no enduring nostalgia for James White & "Contort Yourself"; Sex Pistols now sound fake & silly, a punk version of Spice Girls (ok, like Spice Girls who spit a lot). But who can't love the Residents' unforgettable "Hey Jude/Sympathy for the Devil"? Pity it's near the end of the record; poor Mom was rolling thru the aisles of Publix by that point & missed the experience...

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is American Top 40, and this is bulls***, May 17, 2001

By 

Ryan Hennessy (Albany, NY) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Third Reich N Roll (Audio CD)

"The Third Reich And Roll" is a nightmarish trip through the pop music of the 60's. Although there seem to be two songs on the album, these two songs actually meander from one pop song cover to the next. The fact that they're all rolled together gives you a sense that they don't mean anything individually, they just contribute to the whole of pop. And that's not even saying anything about the texture of the music. It sounds alternately like pop with all of the life sucked out of it, nightmarish versions of pop songs being covered by Satan and his band of demons, or a couple of drunks in a basement playing what they remember of "In A Gadda Da Vida." It all beautifully serves its purpose: to tarnish the image of the music we hear on the radio. By the end of the album, pop is left in a stinking heap of bubblegum, synthesizers, and dog food.

It starts with a Chubby Checker's german version of "Let's Twist Again." I'll admit, maybe the Residents went to far with all of the Nazi imagery on the cover and inlay. Maybe comparing pop music to the third reich is taking it too far. Who knows what they were thinking. It still works. By the time they start chanting the "Na nah-nah-nah-na"s from "Land of 1000 Dances" you know you're in for something special. Their cover of "Double Shot of My Baby's Love" ends with what sounds like World War II era footage of a plane plummeting to the ground. "Hey Little Girl" sounds absolutely evil and sinister. "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag" is sung in German and the only element of the original left over is the occasional trumpet blast. The trumpet blast sounds like it's getting swallowed by a machine so that it turns into the guitars of "Talk Talk."

While the first side has a lot of the toy instruments we heard on "Meet The Residents," by side two, you can already hear the Residents giving up their old instruments in favor of synthesizers. One of the best moments on the album is when the man from "96 Tears" tells Lesley Gore from "It's My Party" that it is her party and that she should cry if she wants to. My favorite cover might be the absolutely whimsical take on "Light My Fire" by The Doors. It's about time someone dethroned that song. Some of the best parts of the album come when The Residents play the music so seriously and with such emphasis and sing the words like they actually mean something.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars pointing & laughing at fascist pop media, May 17, 2002

By 

"hirofantv" (tomorrow) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Third Reich N Roll (Audio CD)

The Residents are awesome; this album is hilarious. They recorded their own musical tracks on top of top 20 hits, then took away the actual pop hit music, so what you're left with is just the bubblegum madness they re4corded over the hits. They also made a statement about the lack of individual worth of all these greatest hits by throwing them together into 2 long collages that are 2 epic "songs" made up of so many smaller ones without individual mention anywhere on this album that just kind of turn into one another without wsarning. This is my favorite Residents cd.