Tag: Faith No More

Faith No More – Album Of The Year

On By bigbadburchIn Album of the Week6 Comments

I’m now back to covering albums, and to kick this back off I want to head back to 1997 and have a look at this sometimes overlooked and other times hotly-debated album. It served as the final offering from one of alternative rock’s pioneering bands for nearly 20 years.

Faith No More – Album Of The Year

Released June 3, 1997 via Slash Records

By 1996, Faith No More seemed to be sputtering towards a breakup. While the band had planned on doing a new album, members became vested in other projects. Singer Mike Patton was more involved with Mr. Bungle. Keyboardist Roddy Bottum had launched a new band, Imperial Teen, that he had declared was his new main act. Drummer Mike Bordin landed the coveted Ozzy Osbourne gig, which also saw him assume the drum throne for Black Sabbath.

This left bassist Billy Gould holding the bag in terms of creating a new album. He began this effort with guitarist Dean Menta, but Patton did not enjoy the songs being created and Menta left the group. Menta was replaced by Jon Hudson, a friend of Gould’s. Eventually an album was formed, with the busy members circling back around to help complete the project.

Album Of The Year saw Faith No More pull back from some of their weirder blending of styles and offer up a more straightforward rock album, at least in comparison to their older material. The group introduced a fair bit of electronic elements into the mix as well, though these serve more as compliments to the music rather than being the driving force. The band described the album as being cinematic, replete with several references to old films in several songs. The record is, in general, a more atmospheric and “vibes-based” affair than previous FNM material.

Today I’ll cover the original album, though a few other versions exist – one saw a bonus CD of remixed songs, and a later reissue included several other bonus tracks.

Collision

Up first is what qualifies as the most straightforward rock track on the album. Fairly quiet verses give way to caustic choruses as Mike Patton screams about a car accident he had a few years prior. The wreck caused injuries he still apparently deals with to this day. Patton’s demented screaming lends a bit something extra to this song. Grade: A-

Stripsearch

A moody, atmospheric and electronic passage here. Very catchy and pleasant to listen to. The song deals with someone at a low point in their life, not sure exactly what it is. They seem ready to face the music for whatever they’ve done. A haunting and very nice piece of music. Grade: A

Last Cup Of Sorrow

Back to heavier rock here on another of the album’s singles. This is a quintessential Faith No More song – powerful, with riffs and keyboards blending seamlessly. It’s also a powerful message about getting over things and getting on with life. The video was an homage to Alfred Hitchcock’s classic film Vertigo. Grade: A

Naked In Front Of The Computer

Hard, heavy and brief here as Patton explores the idea of having a relationship with someone over a computer via email. This was when the Internet was just starting to take over life and would be a dead-on predictor of how things would go. Grade: B+

Helpless

This is a wistful ballad that strays toward country music territory. Someone is struggling with their life and lack of control of it at this point, they seem to try to find a way to slow things down and enjoy the moment. The songs gets more electric as it moves on and it descends into Patton screaming for help at the end. While the band did this style of ballad to greater effect on their prior album with Take This Bottle, this one does venture into other territory and is still a worthy listen. Grade: B

Mouth To Mouth

This one kicks off with some weird stuff that is very reminiscent of Patton’s other act Mr. Bungle. It is crazy circus music that briefly gets more conventional for its short chorus. Not a bad song by any means but one that feels like it belongs on a different band’s album. Grade: B-

Ashes To Ashes

Up next is the album’s lead single. This is another pretty straightforward rock track that doesn’t take any real twists or turns. And it shouldn’t, as it is the crowning achievement of the album. This song is powerful, with the chorus being massive and all-consuming. Patton’s lyrics seem to outline the coming end of the band, it is the simplest interpretation around. While the band were sputtering at this point by most metrics, they still were able to record a song that’s lauded as one of their best. Grade: A+

She Loves Me Not

This one is an R&B track of some sort, I’m not radically familiar with that music so I don’t know what I’m talking about. The song is ok but not anything I really asked for. Grade: C+

Got That Feeling

This one doesn’t linger long at 2:20. It’s a pretty hard and slamming track with Patton sort of scatting all over the place about whatever. The song seems kind of pointless but it’s not bad. Grade: C

Paths Of Glory

This is a bit of a trippy piece that is fairly interesting, even though the song doesn’t ultimately feel like it goes anywhere. It is a decent sounding track on an album that is definitely falling off the rails in its latter half. Grade: C+

Home Sick Home

This is another song that has an interesting premise but doesn’t do a whole lot. It’s really short so it doesn’t overstay its welcome – in fact, it’s like the song was never really even here. Grade: C

Pristina

The closer was thought up by Billy Gould when he was on a trip through the Balkans in the mid ’90’s. For those unaware, the Balkans had a lot going on at that time. Pristina is the capital of Kosovo, which was the final flashpoint of the Balkan Wars. The song is atmospheric and vague and doesn’t honestly communicate much of anything, it’s a pretty big dud to wrap up with. Grade: D

Album Of The Year did not quite live up to its lofty moniker. The album placed at 41 on the Billboard 200 and has sold around 220,000 copies in the US. It did place well in Australia and New Zealand, topping both charts and going platinum in Australia.

Faith No More toured the album through April of 1998, when members finally pulled the plug and cast the band into hiatus until 2009. The group toured and released one more album in the 2010’s and have now gone on hiatus again, this time seemingly for good.

The album has divided opinions among critics and fans. It received some good reviews and more than a few bad ones. For me, the album contains a handful of really nice songs and then a bunch of stuff that really isn’t up to snuff. Overall the record proves its worth in the songs that do work, as they work very well, but this is dragged down some by a lot of filler and directionless stuff.

Album Grade: B

My grade might be generous, as this isn’t an album I really seek to put on and play through. But there is enough quality here to listen to, and the top-heavy stuff is pretty fantastic. It probably was the right decision to put the band on ice after this, but Faith No More did leave some songs worth the trouble before they first bowed out.

Picking Five Songs From 1989

On By bigbadburchIn Songs By Year6 Comments

Welcome back to the “five songs from a year” series. Simple premise, as always – I choose five of my favorite songs from a particular year (not necessarily my five favorite, just five favorites). I started at 1967 and will run all the way through 2025.

Today is bittersweet as I’m now 22 entries into the series, which is really good. But it’s also sad since this is the final entry from the 1980’s. I grew up in that decade and it was a wonderland of entertainment of all avenues. It’s an era that hasn’t been, and probably can’t be, replicated.

All things must come to an end though, and here we are at the end of the ’80’s. Let’s get into my five picks from the end of the line.

Mötley Crüe – Kickstart My Heart

The Crüe had themselves a banner year in 1989. Their album Dr. Feelgood was a well-produced and written affair that saw them ride the end of the hair metal wave on top. The album contained this song, which ranks among the band’s very best. This is a total ass kicking burst of adrenaline that celebrates the band’s triumph of adversity and Nikki Sixx’s cheating death a few years prior. It doesn’t get much better.

Neil Young – Rockin’ In The Free World

Neil Young did NOT have a good decade in the 1980’s. He recorded some off the wall stuff and literally got sued for not sounding like himself. He spent the latter part of the ’80’s righting the ship and then lightning struck at the ass end of the decade with what has become one of his most well-known songs. Neil wrapped up criticism of the first George Bush administration in both poignant and noisy form. The political ramifications of the song have lived on for nearly 40 years since and the track is one of Young’s most beloved cuts from a discography that has roughly 9,000 albums in it.

Nine Inch Nails – Sin

The times they were a changin’, and the proof was in the pudding even before the decade turned. One signpost of the change was the advent of industrial and electronic music, and Nine Inch Nails would lead the charge into the next decade. This one has a bit of a dance beat to it, which isn’t really my thing in general but I’m cool with what Trent Reznor gets up to here. The song is about power struggle, control, lust and other cool stuff like masochism. It’s a twisted good time.

Aerosmith – What It Takes

When that gal who you had that crazy fling with in the last song is done with you, you can lean on this somber ballad from Steven Tyler and company to pull you through the tough times. This isn’t just a breakup song, it’s a lament of the most painful kind of loss, the end of that deep relationship that was supposed to be “the one.” The band did work with Desmond Child to craft this one but wanted to capture a different essence than the “big-time” ballad they went for on the album prior. I’d say they hit a home run.

Faith No More – Epic

Another sign that things were about to get a lot different was Faith No More’s 1989 hit album The Real Thing. It was their first with new singer Mike Patton and the band would become one of the harbingers of the coming weirdness of the next decade. This one would combine hard rock and a rapping vocal style, so feel free to direct the blame for nü-metal right here.

But there’s a lot more here than the primordial ooze that Korn and Limp Bizkit would crawl out of. This has pounding verses and a soaring chorus that will get wedged into any listener’s head. It’s full of musical movements and switches, including a moving piano outro that really flips things on its head. Faith No More were out in left field even for the coming alt-rock revolution, and the next decade would have their stamp all over it.

That does it for 1989 and the golden decade of the 1980’s. Next week I press on into the sea of changes that turned popular music on its head.

Faith No More – The Real Thing (Album of the Week)

On By bigbadburchIn Album of the Week6 Comments

Leading off this week with the album that brought about the 1990’s before 1990 even hit. The album brought everything but the kitchen sink, though that was probably in there somewhere too.

Faith No More – The Real Thing

Released June 20, 1989 via Slash/Reprise Records

My Favorite Tracks – Epic, Falling To Pieces, Surprise! You’re Dead!

Faith No More had started as early as 1979, with a lot of shifting line-ups that at one point included Courtney Love. The core of the band was settled with drummer Mike Bordin, bassist Billy Gould, guitarist Jim Martin and keyboard player Roddy Bottum. Vocalist Chuck Mosley joined for the band’s first few albums but was fired in 1988.

Faith No More recorded the music for The Real Thing without a vocalist through ’88. They quickly focused their singer search on Mr. Bungle vocalist Mike Patton, who joined Faith No More then wrote lyrics for all of The Real Thing over the course of a few weeks.

The album moved slowly out of the gate but would go on to success as the decade shifted and music tastes moved on from hair metal to alternative rock. The Real Thing lingered on MTV for a few years and Faith No More became a signpost for the major shift in music trends that shook the world in 1991.

Normally when I do an AOTW I leave off “bonus tracks” or things of that nature, but in the case of The Real Thing I will include two songs that were not available on vinyl but were on CD and cassette copies. I had the tape growing up so it’s the version I’m familiar with, so the two non-vinyl cuts are included here.

From Out Of Nowhere

The album opener also served as the lead single. It is an uptempo affair with the bass and keyboard lines providing the main drive behind the song and Jim Martin’s guitar a bit more in the background. The song’s lyrical fare is pretty simple and is about meeting someone who takes your breath away on first sight but then the person is gone. The song quickly follows suit at a hair over three minutes, not lingering around long enough to know what hit you.

Epic

In the Faith No More lexicon, Epic is surely the band’s most-known song. This is a true kitchen sink song that could be listed under ten different genres and not be wrong. Funk-metal and alt-metal are probably the two main descriptors, though the song is also an early example of rap-metal.

The song’s meaning is very obscure, though Patton offered that he wrote it about sexual frustration. Most remember the very simple “it’s it – what is it?” repeated at the end of the track.

Epic was the band’s first major hit and remains today as their best-performing US single. The iconic video saw heavy MTV play and drew a lot of attention, this is one of the prime cuts of pre-grunge 1990 rock.

The fish in the video also became famous – the band were assailed by animal rights activists for allowing the fish to flop around out of water. Reports are that the fish did survive. The band also started a joke that the fish belonged to singer Bjork and either she gave the band the fish or they stole it from her, a gag that Bjork went along with. This of course led to widespread belief that the story was true.

Falling To Pieces

The funk metal train continues on with another album single. Mike Patton expresses falling apart at the seams as the band slams through with more alt-groove and atmospheric keyboards. The single itself wasn’t a hit but again, the video was often found on MTV.

Surprise! You’re Dead!

A super heavy track that’s pretty simply about revenge killing someone. The song had a video filmed for it but was never released as a single.

Jim Martin actually began this song in the 1970’s while he was in a Bay Area band with future Metallica bassist Cliff Burton. While Burton has no connection to the song, he and Martin were great friends and Martin often paid tribute to Burton with shirts and in interviews.

Zombie Eaters

A very interesting premise that sees lyrics told from the point of view of a newborn baby who relies on its parents for everything. The baby winds up being the dominant figure in the relationship, as the parent becomes a zombie in caring for the infant. The music is also really well done here, starting with a very moody intro before going into a heavy groove for the rest of the track.

The Real Thing

The title track serves as a bit of an “all you can eat buffet” of what Faith No More is about on this record. It covers both groove and atmospheric ground and shifts between movements and passages. It’s perhaps an underrated highlight of the record.

Underwater Love

The upbeat music belies the lyrics actually being about murdering your loved one via drowning. A pretty trippy tune as the soundtrack to domestic discord.

The Morning After

The funk is in full effect here on this song that’s either about waking up after a one-night stand or becoming a vampire, no one is sure which. It’s a pretty rocking and peppy take on something that’s generally looked at through a gloomy lens.

Woodpecker From Mars

An instrumental that sounds like it’s based on some old piece of music but I can’t place it so I’m not sure. It’s a pretty nice tune that holds attention better than these kind of pieces in other places.

War Pigs

Here we have a cover of the famous Black Sabbath song. The band often performed this live, with Patton famously forgetting words and making up gibberish to fill the gaps. In the studio he got everything down right.

Edge Of The World

The other sort-of bonus track is a slow, jazzy/lounge piece. In it Mike Patton plays the part of an older man who makes advances on younger women. The song has been described in some circles as being about criminal acts but no actual evidence bears that out, this more of an old man of means preying upon young twenty-somethings. Sure it’s creepy but it’s legal creepy.

The Real Thing released to little fanfare but its audience built as Epic hit radio and MTV. The album would eventually hit platinum in the US and reach number 11 on the Billboard charts, while also getting platinum in Australia and peaking at 2 on its album chart. It also got a gold certification in the UK and is believed to have sold upwards of 4 million copies worldwide.

Faith No More would have vast influence over the music of the coming decade. They were a primary favorite of up-and-coming acts, members of Korn have practically written a book about how much they were into FNM while coming up. Faith No More’s ability to craft songs outside the confines of rock structure at the time led them to being a torch-bearer for many musicians who would make their own mark.

As an aside it’s worth noting that not everyone was entirely into Faith No More – specifically Red Hot Chili Peppers frontman Anthony Kiedis. Kiedis was unhappy about Mike Patton’s appearance in the Epic video, believing Patton to have copycatted Kiedis. While Kiedis kept his criticisms along those lines, it’s apparent that Faith No More and RHCP would be compared as their music was along similar lines. Patton did not engage Kiedis in the feud, at least as a member of Faith No More, but did express displeasure with him later due to RHCP interfering with a Mr. Bungle album release. The other members of both bands were not involved in the feud and reportedly got along well.

In the end the music is what matters, and Faith No More brought an album that would help transition music from its 1980’s rock phase into the more experimental period of the 1990’s. While Epic was the band’s most successful song, it’s arguable if The Real Thing is their biggest album, as the follow up Angel Dust did similar numbers and is hailed as a masterpiece in its own right. Obviously another story for another time.