Faith No More

Image:Faith No More promo photo 1997.jpg

The band in 1997.

Faith No More was an influental rock group, who formed in San Francisco, California in 1982, and disbanded in 1998. They are probably best known for the singles "Epic" and "Falling to Pieces" from their 1989 album The Real Thing, and, particuarly in Europe, for their cover version of the Commodores' classic Easy.

Their music is difficult to categorize neatly, but is rooted in heavy metal, and in some ways they anticipated the nu metal of the late 1990s, combining angular, distorted guitars with big pop choruses, and heavy doses of rap-style vocals. Faith No More have been classified as alternative metal, demonstrating their talent for incorporating elements of funk, rap, soul and even country into their sound.

1 History
2 Side projects and collaborations
3 Band members

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History

Image:Mike Patton Epic video.jpg

Mike Patton on the videoclip for Epic.

Faith No More formed in 1982 out of the ashes of Faith No Man, a band formed and headed by Mike "The Man" Morris. Roddy Bottum, Mike Bordin, and Bill Gould, all ex-Faith No Man members, reformed without him, and recruited Jim Martin to replace him on guitar. A number of singers passed through, including a brief stint by Courtney Love. Chuck Mosley became the full time singer, and appeared on their first two records. Their best known song from this era is probably "We Care a Lot", which satirized the prevalence of charity-related rock efforts such as Live Aid and "We Are the World".

The band gained a reputation for infighting and friction that sometimes went way beyond the limits of "creative differences." In a notorious interview in 1987, Mosley claimed that Martin had hit him with a bottle, and there were frequent rumours of physical confrontations between band members. Indeed, in a short history of the band in one issue, the British music newspaper Melody Maker observed that the band's internal relationships had descended into "pathological hatred". Bordin in particular seemed to be very much the "whipping boy" of the band and the butt of numerous cruel pranks and practical jokes. It is doubtful that the band would have stayed together had they not been successful after their second album, Introduce Yourself.

Mosley was fired in 1988, and replaced with singer Mike Patton. Patton would prove a more versatile singer than the monotone Mosley. At the time, he was singing with his high school band Mr. Bungle (and would continue to do so during his Faith No More years), and dropped out of Humboldt State University to join Faith No More. The group's first record with Patton, The Real Thing, was a major hit, selling over a million copies.

Patton's astonishing vocal range was, arguably, the salvation of Faith No More. Although never formally trained, the young ex-student was able to veer wildly from a deep, operatic bass through to screeching banshee death metal yowls and all the way up to soulful, almost feminine drawling, usually in the space of one album (compared to one song in Mr. Bungle). For example, the exuberant rap on "Epic" and the sleazy jazz vocals of "Edge Of the World" (on the 1989 album "The Real Thing") are wildly different. This burgeoning singing ability enabled the band to expand and develop far further. Keyboardist Bottum memorably described his new colleague as "a pair of lungs on legs."

The Real Thing has been described as "not quite early Brian Eno joins Led Zeppelin and Funkadelic." [1] The video for "Epic," which featured slow motion footage of a fish flopping out of water, received extensive airplay on MTV in the summer of 1990, despite provoking anger from animal rights activists. That same year, Faith No More gave memorable performances at the 1990 MTV Video Music Awards (September 6) and on Saturday Night Live (December 1).

Faith No More displayed a distinctly experimental bent on their next album, Angel Dust. One critic writes that the album is "one of the more complex and simply confounding records ever released by a major label," [2] and another writes that "'A Small Victory', which seems to run Madame Butterfly through Metallica and Nile Rodgers... reveals a developing facility for combining unlikely elements into startlingly original concoctions." [3] Angel Dust featured the singles "Midlife Crisis" and "A Small Victory", as well as a re-recording of the theme to the film Midnight Cowboy. Later pressings of the album also included their cover of "Easy", which in some parts of the world became the band's biggest hit. This album although not as succesful as The Real Thing in the US, it's sold (700,000) copies there. Angel dust did outsell TRT in many other world charts though. Like in Germany the record is certified Gold for sales of more then 270,000 copies! Along with the heavy airplay of Easy and Midlife Crisis the album became a bit of a sleeper hit' in UK,STH. AMERICA ,EUROPE & AUSTRALIA. After touring to support Angel Dust in the summer of 1992, (including tours with Metallica and Guns N' Roses), longtime guitarist Jim Martin was fired (although he claims he quit) during the early stages of recording their follow-up, King for a Day... Fool for a Lifetime in 1995. He was replaced by Mr. Bungle guitarist Trey Spruance. However, when the subsequent world tour was about to begin, Spruance jumped ship, leaving the band to recruit their keyboard roadie Dean Menta to handle guitar duties. King For A Day.. remains was the bands most heavily criticised album, varying in styles and moods from 'heavy,slow , spasmotic & jazzy. KFAD..FFAL did however sell ok in UK,GERMANY & AUSTRALIA. In the US the album failed to get any sort of attraction or following as it slipped out of the charts quickly! Sales were below of that of Angel Dust ( about 1.5mil) so the band decided to cut there world tour short by 4 months, deleted the singles Gentle Art Of Making Enemies & Take This Bottle & released a 7' x 7' boxset of singles that included the b- sides and some interviews between the songs.Album of the Year was released in 1997 which featured yet another new guitarist, Jon Hudson, who was a former roommate of Billy Gould. The album debuted much higher then expected in some countries like Germany # 2 (later going gold) Australia Platinum #1 and chartde in another 12 countries in Europo going either 'gold or platinum'. In the US the reaction was slow for the album but just as interest was picking up on their tours and album they called it a day. Singles Ashes To Ashes & Last Cup Of Sorrow had minimal success. Electro-Tinged ballad Stripsearch was released as a single in various countries (excluding US & UK),She Loves Me Not was cancelled as a single which was a little indicator of their immenent break-up.

In April 1998, after 16 years as a band, Faith No More dissolved. Although the break-up went by with limited media attention, many rumors had surfaced as to the reason, some which included infighting, disagreement over the amount of side-projects (since the line-up had consistently changed), collective exhaustion of creative energy and even the band's growing popularity, which had been attributed as a main influence for many nu-metal bands who would ascend to the mainstream at the end of the decade. Despite being extinct for some years, the band still manages to influence and inspire musicians worldwide.

Patton went on to collaborate with John Zorn, and has been active with several other groups, including Tomahawk and Fantômas. Guitarist Jim Martin went on to collaborate with Anand Bhatt. Keyboardist Roddy Bottum formed Imperial Teen, whose sunny pop music seemed very different from Faith No More. Mike Bordin regularly performs as a member of Ozzy Osbourne's band, as well as Black Sabbath. Billy Gould is a member of Brujeria, as well as founder of Kool Arrow Records, and has also overseen the releases of various Faith No More compilations. Jim Martin also now has the 235th largest pumpkin ever measured [4], and has made guest appearences on various records, including Antipop by Primus, as well as having released a solo album titled Milk and Blood (1996).

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Side projects and collaborations

In 1991, the Faith No More song "Perfect Crime" appeared on the soundtrack for Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey. "Big" Jim Martin also appears briefly in the film.

Faith No More collaborated with the Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E. for the song "Another Body Murdered" on the 1993 Judgment Night soundtrack.

In 1998, the Sparks album Plagarism was released featuring two collaborations with Faith No More ("This Town Ain't Big Enough for the Both of Us" and "Something for the Girl with Everything").

"Midlife Crisis" appeared on the soundtracks for Tony Hawk's Underground 2 and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, which were released on various platforms in 2004 and 2005.

Under the name "Anand Bhatt and Jim Martin", the duo released the controversial album and soundtrack "Conflict" in 2000, which has been rereleased for 2005.

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Band members

Band member	Instrument(s)	Dates	Albums recorded
Roddy Bottum	keyboards	1982-1998	all
Billy Gould	bass	1982-1998	all
Mike "Puffy" Bordin	drums	1982-1998	all
"Big" Jim Martin	guitar	1983-1993	We Care a Lot, Introduce Yourself, The Real Thing, Angel Dust
Mike Patton	vocals	1988-1998	The Real Thing, Angel Dust, King for a Day... Fool for a Lifetime, Album of the Year
Chuck Mosley	vocals	1983-1988	We Care a Lot, Introduce Yourself
Jon Hudson	guitar	1997-1998	Album of the Year
Dean Menta	guitar	1995-1997
Trey Spruance	guitar	1995	King for a Day... Fool for a Lifetime
Mark Bowen	guitar	1983
Courtney Love	vocals	1983