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

You Want It All
But You Can't Have It
It's In Your Face
But You Can't Grab It

Genius stuff, man.

Ladies and gentlemen of ILx...your understatement of the year!

BAhahahahahahahaha. Gosh, ya think so?

Is the most recent album any good?

Well, bear in mind that I'm a zealous fan, but it's better than it had any right to be, as far as I'm concerned.

(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.