In part four of Kris Needs Fifty Outiders list for Clash magazine’s Outsider issue we look at The Residents, The Slits, Larry Levan, Arthur Russell, Throbbing Gristle and others.
31. FLAMIN’ GROOVIES
San Francisco’s Flamin’ Groovies were spitting high-energy rock ‘n’ roll with punky attitude during psychedelia then, when punk exploded, donned Beatle suits to homage the British beat boom.
32. LEGENDARY STARDUST COWBOY
Texan psychosillybilly pioneer Norman Carl Odam donated space-fixated name and out-there agenda to Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust master-plan, his cacophonous ‘Paralyzed’ single dominating World’s Worst Records lists.
33. THE RESIDENTS
For nearly forty years, a mysterious clutch of avant-artists sporting eyeball headgear have released around sixty albums on their Ralph Records.
34. THE SLITS
The Slits trampled sexual roles and musical barriers, making one of the punk era’s finest debuts in ‘Cut’, influencing future female outfits immeasurably in sound, looks and attitude.
35. LARRY LEVAN
Manic showman who revolutionised New York’s gay disco underground while blueprinting modern clubbing at New York’s Paradise Garage, bombarding his euphoric flock with dramatic effects and heart-soaring anthems. Besieged by rampant drug abuse, he died in 1992.
36. RON HARDY
If Frankie Knuckles was the face of Chicago’s 1980s house music explosion, Ron Hardy was its manic heart and soul, holding court at the hole-in-the-wall Music Box, hammering DJ Pierre’s newly-created ‘Acid Trax’ until the crowd screamed.
37. ARTHUR RUSSELL
Shy avant-disco cellist/producer Arthur Russell flew under the radar during New York’s Eighties downtown revolution until dying of AIDS in 1992. A complex, driven individual who dreamed of stardom but more obsessed with the creative process.
38. JACKIE LEVEN
Outsider troubadour who led the senses-shattering Doll By Doll out of Maida Vale’s squat-land at the height of punk, going against 1977’s grain. After the band imploded, Leven released over twenty intimately-charged albums until his recent untimely death.
39. THROBBING GRISTLE
The most dangerous, scary outfit operating in the UK during punk, Genesis P-Orridge, Cosey Fanni Tutti, Chris Carter and ‘Sleazy’ Christopherson took revolutionary sonic innovations and taboo subject matter to new levels.
40. WESLEY WILLIS
Known for strange outings like ‘Rock ‘N’ Roll McDonalds’, Willis produced hundreds of ink-pen drawings of his native Chicago. Poor while living, his drawings go for thousands since his 2003 death.
