W.E.I.R.D.

W.E.I.R.D. (or "We Endorse Immediate Residents Deification") was the first official fan club devoted to The Residents, founded in June 1978 by Phil Culp and Mimi King. The club's motto was "Ignorance of your culture is not considered cool".
W.E.I.R.D. had a membership of around five hundred fans; the club published The Official W.E.I.R.D. Book of The Residents, the first official book about the group, in 1979. Members also had opportunities to purchase items such as the extremely limited Third Reich 'n Roll Collectors' Box, an "actual section of tape" from the Eskimo recording, and the Babyfingers 7" EP.
W.E.I.R.D. folded in 1981. It was succeeded seven years later by a new official fan club, UWEB, which was operated with direct input from The Residents, and continued until 1992.
== History ==
W.E.I.R.D. was the first official Residents fan club, founded in June 1978 by Phil Culp (who would go on to play bass on a Residents recording) and Mimi King. Membership for the W.E.I.R.D. fan club was $5.00 (equivalent to $24.14 as of October 2024) for US and Canadian residents and $7.00 USD (equivalent to $33.80 as of October 2024) for international fans. Once established, the club quickly grew to five hundred members. 
Shortly after its foundation, W.E.I.R.D. held a contest, in an attempt to discover what the acronym "W.E.I.R.D." actually stood for. Notably, Renaldo & The Loaf submitted a tape in response. Ultimately, the club landed on "We Endorse Immediate Residents Deification".
W.E.I.R.D. sent out its first product eleven months after its formation: The Official W.E.I.R.D. Book Of The Residents, illustrated by Gary Panter and written by Matt Groening. Membership cards were sent out the following month,Matteo Torcinovich, The Residents: Buy Or Die! Ralph Records Artwork 1972-2015, Goodfellas, 2017, pg. 122-123 and "A Piece of Eskimo" (described as "an actual section of tape taken from The Residents' epic recording") the month after that.Matteo Torcinovich, The Residents: Buy Or Die! Ralph Records Artwork 1972-2015, Goodfellas, 2017, pg. 153 
The club's first newsletter, "Blue Newsbuds Number One", was sent to subscribers in the fall of 1979. In the fall of 1980, W.E.I.R.D. held auctions for the twelve remaining unsold copies of The Third Reich 'n Roll Collectors' Box,Dave Warden, The Cryptic Guide to The Residents, Bach's Decay, 1986 and also released a picture sleeve edition of the "Shut Up Shut Up" single, previously released exclusively in France, in a generic sleeve.
At its peak, the club had over a thousand members, but was difficult for the organizers to maintain. Ultimately, Culp and King decided to release their final product in 1981, a high quality reissue of The Residents' Babyfingers 7" EP with newly created cover art (white label copies of the EP had previously been sent to a limited number of fans, in either a generic sleeve or a defaced "Santa Dog '78" sleeve).
=== Legacy ===
W.E.I.R.D.'s imagery fit in well with Ralph Records' unique style; in particular, W.E.I.R.D.'s "Ignorance of Your Culture Is Not Considered Cool!" poster has become iconic among The Residents' fans. Other W.E.I.R.D. artworks were reprinted in the 2017 art book Buy Or Die! Ralph Records Artwork 1972-2015, and the 2022 book A Sight For Sore Eyes, Vol. 1.
Seven years after W.E.I.R.D. closed down, The Residents started a new official fan club, UWEB, which operated from 1988 to 1992. Unlike W.E.I.R.D., The Residents themselves had direct input into the operation of UWEB, and the new club would go on to release a series of exclusive EPs and CDs featuring otherwise unreleased content.
== Releases ==
*The Official W.E.I.R.D. Book Of The Residents (May 1979, updated ed. Jan 1981)
*W.E.I.R.D. membership card (November 1979)
*A Piece of Eskimo (December 1979)
* The Third Reich 'n Roll Collectors' Box ‎(Fall 1980)
* "Commercial Single Two" 7" single (October 1980)
*Babyfingers 7" EP (1981)
=== Newsletters ===
* Blue Newsbuds Number One - Fall 1979
==See also==
*Phil Culp
*Mimi King
*Matt Groening
*UWEB
==External links and references==
*Fan clubs at The Residents Historical
*W.E.I.R.D. at RZWeb (archived via archive.org)
Category:W.E.I.R.D.
Category:Fan clubs