Faith No More: most underrated rock band of the 90s?

(I refer of course to their ridiculously popular cover of The Commodores' "Easy".)

like i said, great dancer too (for a fish).

BTW: There are very few top ten hits in the FNM catalog. What universe was Angel Dust a huge hit? Sure, it had radio/air play, but that doesn't equal sales or Billboard chart climbing.

ill out myself as an indie kid who loves faith no more. i got the real thing when it came out as an impressionable 10 year old. I didnt like everything on it, but thought it was pretty cool. I also picked up angel dust when that one came out but remember hating the shit out of it. it grew on me as i got older, obviously and i think its their crowning achievment, artistically. they kinda fell apart after all of the lineup changes, but like alex says, king for a day has a handfull of good songs on it and album of the year did as well.

Angel Dust is in my all-time top 20. The progression shown from The Real Thing is just remarkable. I agree with Alex that they recorded amazing material after AD too. Album Of the Year is an incredibly focused and coherent record.

this is actually interesting. even on *the real thing*, they were doing a sort of fake-middle-eastern music sometimes, right? and plenty of rock en espanol bands (los fabulosos cadillacs, caifanes, etc) wound up incorporating middle eastern stuff later as well. i can see how faith no more might have been an influence on those bands, in some ways. (though i bet the latin american guys were hearing REAL algerian rai stuff, too.) and i have to admit that it's been years since i listened to faith no more, so maybe i'm wrong. but from what i remember, fnm totally pale against lots of the south american and mexican rock bands of the mid '90s (who were way MORE eclectic.) but who knows, maybe sometime i'll listen to fnm again, and change my mind. (i do remember that i liked patton's vocals a lot more in undulating ballad mode than in his clunky rapping or hardcore modes.)

As far as I'm concerned, I liked them well enough at the time. I had an evening session from around the KfaD period on the other month out of curiousity and it was pretty good. However, and it's a big one, they were the first big 'funk rock' band to break in the UK (with 'Epic') and showed that you could get to #1 with ballads that didn't sound a bit like your reputation (I'm sure 'Easy' was #1, happy to be corrected) - and as such I hold them entirely responsible for the continuing career of Red Hot Chili Peppers beyond 'Mothers Milk', for which FNM should be reviled forever.

Hm...did FNM actually spawn System of a Down, then?

Oh I know, just look at how gross and offense song title have held back Tool.

As for "rap/metal" fusion, I can only assume you've just heard Epic and are basing everything on that. While Patton did staccato "rap" sections, that was hardly the epitome of their band, a fusion of "rap" and metal.

Name me one group who sounded like them on "Angel Dust" and say they were a mainstream act. Note that accessibility doesn't equate to mainstream sound, either. I consider many of King Crimson's songs "accessible" too.

You missed James' (very correct) points time and time again. No wonder he said "good riddance" to you.

It did debut at number 10 on the Billboard album chart, but that was entirely due to coming off a hit record (which may explain why this album was a staple of used CD stores in the 90s). It might have sold better had that Guns n' Roses/Metallica tour they were on when it was released not run into so many troubles.

Mike Patton speaks a fantastically fluent Italian - his Italian swearing being particularly good.

Now, much has been said that you won't 'get' this album until after a few listens. I'm not sure about this. It's severely awesome after just under 1 IMO. It's not a mindblowing record, not a 'new experience in sound', but it's kept me listening, entertained and thoroughly satisfied with my purchase. And it's got some REAL awesome, unconventionally-written songs. Best so far = probably Malpractice, or maybe Midlife Crisis.

-- Ned Raggett (ne...) (webmail), July 25th, 2004. (Ned) (link)

I was trying to say to this friend of mine who's a big System of a Down fan, that SoaD kinda sound like the first Mr. Bungle album. I even lent the album to her, but she refused to believe me. But I still think they do sound like it.

sorry, I know I'm about two years late to this party, but I just had to mention that the above comment might just be the single most inaccurate stream of words ever recorded in the history of human communication.

that is all.

I stand corrected. THAT was the single most inaccurate stream of words ever recorded in the history of human communication.

I love Faith No More still to this day.

they do give good schmaltz though - 'this guy's in love' and 'spanish eyes' are fantastic.

what with oasis not released any new music in this period, i am surprised you say this. perhaps it's bollocks?

No, I'm quite certain, and that's why I was fed up with it. They really floundered in the post-Britpop years, which was a shame really cos it had a really good format.

Not trying to one-up Dog Latin here but while (imho) the effects of Britpop were pretty cancerous for UK music, it's impact on the quality of music journalism was more akin to a flesh eating virus.

But then I remember when Smash Hits would have one page completely devoted to dance/indie/rock etc charts. That kind of broad approach is unthinkable even for Plan B anymore it seems (ok ok, counter argument could be that the charts have become far more irrelevant in the mp3 age BUT I have the notion that more awareness of their machinations and trends in general among indie people would be a better alternative to the current state of affairs than throwing Ideological Popism at them and hoping they die (or at least stop fooling around with retro guitars and seeing every Arctic Monkey record sold as a victory of real-ness).

This isn't the direction things are going to go in though quite clearly. That idea was lost a long time ago. Youtube > TOTP/MTV and iPod > Radio. In all probability not a bad thing, a changing culture is better than a dying one, but it makes me wonder if rock bands like Faith No More are going to be a thing of the past. Maybe Slipknot are the closest equivalent these days... Or Lordi.

Ah, Marion Barry, how we loved thee.

Faith No More's Epic was one of those albums my dad brought home only to have me play the living shit out of when I was around 10ish (I think that's when it came out. We had the cassette and the liners fell apart from being opened again and again). I loved Angel Dust, but had a friend who bought King For A Day and declared that it sucked, so I gave it a pass. Ah, youf. I liked Album of the Year a lot (I still think it's underrated), and probably would have rated it eponymously then.

I do remember catching them on that tour and seeing a young Limp Bizkit open up for FNM. LB kept saying "Who likes Rage? Who wants to hear some Rage?" and played not one, not two, but hree Rage Against the Machine covers. They were booed off the stage. (And thus, I can say that I hated LB before they got big).

I haven't heard that in probably 10 years....I remember it being really "wierd" but I bet it's not so wierd now.

Hmmm...

http://www.thetripwire.com/uncategorized/2009/02/24/faith-no-more-will-reunite-for-summer-tour/

if martin was playing, I'd go (maybe)