Hardy Fox, who played a major role in creating the uniquely warped sound of long-running audio-visual subversives the Residents, has died from brain cancer at age 73.

The Residents' Facebook page ran an announcement last night.

Formed in Shreveport, Louisiana and based for most of their career in San Mateo, California, the Residents changed underground music forever with their bizarre détournements of pop and rock (see Third Reich N Roll for mind-boggling examples), as well as their respectfully irreverent interpretations of the songbooks of James Brown, George Gershwin, Hank Williams, and John Philip Sousa.

Beyond those accomplishments, the group's own compositions plumbed eerie and grotesquely beautiful sonic and lyrical realms that defied conventional logic and often made you wonder how the hell their hallucinatory sounds were being generated. The Residents erected their own distinctive world that accrued a sizable cult following despite making zero compromises, remaining anonymous (for the most part; it became known that the radically adventurous guitarist Snakefinger was a member), and existing largely outside the musical industry as an autonomous organism. Hardy Fox leaves an enduring legacy of inspirational weirdness. RIP.