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

Their music is difficult to categorize neatly, but is rooted in heavy metal. 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; the astounding vocals of Mike Patton adding greatly to Faith No More's distinctive sound. 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.

Contents 1 History 2 Side projects and collaborations 3 Influence 4 Band members 5 Discography 5.1 Albums 5.2 Singles 6 Videography 6.1 Music Videos 6.2 Other Music Videos 6.3 VHS Releases 7 Bibliography 8 External links

History

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, decided they wanted rid of him, and rather than firing him, all three quit. They changed their name to Faith No More at the suggestion of a friend (as "The Man" was no more). After cycling through a few guitarists, the members recruited Jim Martin. A number of singers passed through, including brief stints by Chris Cornell and 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 over the space of one album (as opposed to doing it in a single song as in the band 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 (or TRT for short) 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. Angel Dust, though not as successful as TRT in the U.S., sold 700,000 copies there, and did manage to outsell TRT in many other world charts. In Germany, for example, the record was certified Gold for sales of more than 270,000 copies. Along with heavy airplay of "Easy" and "Midlife Crisis", the album became a bit of a sleeper hit in the U.K., South America, Europe and 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. KFAD/FFAL remains the band's most heavily criticised album, varying in styles and moods from heavy and slow to spasmodic and jazzy. KFAD/FFAL did however sell acceptably in the U.K., Germany and Australia. In the U.S. the album failed to get any sort of attraction or following, slipping out of the charts quickly. Sales (about 1.5 million) were below that of Angel Dust. The band accordingly decided to cut their world tour short by 4 months, deleted the singles "Gentle Art Of Making Enemies" and "Take This Bottle", and released a 7 x 7-inch box set of singles that included the B-sides and some interviews between the songs.

Album of the Year was released in 1997 and featured yet another new guitarist, Jon Hudson, who was a former roommate of Billy Gould. The album debuted much higher than expected in some countries, for example Germany (#2, later going gold) and Australia (#1, going platinum). In an additional 12 countries in Europe, it went either gold or platinum. In the U.S. the reaction was slow for the album; however, just as interest was picking up on their tours and album they called it a day. Singles "Ashes To Ashes" and "Last Cup Of Sorrow" had minimal success. Electro-tinged ballad "Stripsearch" was released as a single in various countries (excluding the U.S. and U.K.). "She Loves Me Not" was cancelled as a single which was a little indicator of their imminent 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).

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.

The song "We Care A Lot" was used in the Pauly Shore and Stephen Baldwin movie Bio-Dome (1996) and the John Cusack/Minnie Driver romantic comedy "Gross Point Blank".

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 Plagiarism 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 the computer video games 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 re-released for 2005.

Influence

Faith No More has been credited with the influence of the rap/rock music genre. Many credit Aerosmith and RUN D.M.C. as its creators with Walk This Way, though Faith No More had done it a year before with We Care a Lot. We Care a Lot and Faith No More were not well-known at the time; still many rap/rock artists trace their influence back to Faith No More's 1989 commercial success, Epic.

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
Wade Worthington	keyboards	1982

Discography

Albums

• We Care a Lot (1985)
• Introduce Yourself (1987)
• The Real Thing (1989)
• Live at the Brixton Academy (live album, 1990)
• Angel Dust (1992)
• King for a Day... Fool for a Lifetime (1995)
• Album of the Year (1997)
• Who Cares a Lot? (compilation, 1998)
• This Is It: The Best of Faith No More (compilation, 2003)
• Epic & Other Hits (compilation, 2005)
• The Platinum Collection (UK compilation, 2005)

Singles

• 1987 "We Care a Lot"
• 1988 "Anne's Song"
• 1990 "From Out Of Nowhere"
• 1990 "Epic"
• 1990 "Falling to Pieces"
• 1992 "Midlife Crisis"
• 1992 "A Small Victory"
• 1992 "Everything's Ruined"
• 1993 "Easy"
• 1993 "I'm Easy/Be Aggressive"
• 1994 "Another Body Murdered"
• 1995 "Digging the Grave"
• 1995 "Ricochet"
• 1995 "Evidence"
• 1997 "Ashes to Ashes"
• 1997 "Last Cup of Sorrow"
• 1997 "Stripsearch"
• 1998 "I Started a Joke"

Videography

Music Videos

(In chronological order)

1. We Care A Lot
2. Anne's Song
3. Epic
4. Falling To Pieces
5. From Out Of Nowhere
6. Surprise! Your Dead
7. Midlife Crisis
8. A Small Victory
9. Everything's Ruined
10. Easy
11. Another Body Murdered
12. Digging The Grave
13. Ricochet
14. Evidence
15. Ashes To Ashes
16. Last Cup Of Sorrow
17. Stripsearch
18. I Started A Joke

Other Music Videos

1. From Out Of Nowhere (Live)
2. Caffeine (Live at Hanging With MTV) [there are a few more songs that were recorded from this show but only few were released, on different versions on the Video Croissant video]
3. Everything's Ruined (Live)
4. This Guy's In Love With You

VHS Releases

1. You Fat Bastards: Live At Brixton Academy
2. Video Croissant
3. Greatest Videos

Bibliography

1. The Real Story (Story about Faith No More)
2. The Real Thing (Tablature book)
3. Angel Dust (Tablature book)
4. King For A Day...Fool For A Lifetime (Tablature book)

External links

• FNM.com - home to FAQ, band history
• [5] - Czech Rock magazine with Faith No More

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