Faith No More Wiki Information
Faith No More
is an American alternative metal band from San Francisco, California formed originally as Faith No Man in 1981 by bassist Billy Gould, keyboardist Wade Worthington, frontman Mike Morris and drummer Mike Bordin. [1] A year later when Wade Worthington was replaced by keyboardist Roddy Bottum, and Mike Morris was ousted, the group began calling themselves Faith No More
. After going through a series of singers which included Courtney Love, the band was joined by Chuck Mosley in 1983. The same year, Jim Martin was recruited to replace guitarist Mark Bowen. The band is best known for combining elements of heavy metal, funk, progressive rock, hip hop, hardcore punk, thrash metal, and jazz, among many others, [2] and have been hailed as an influential rock band. [3]
Faith No More underwent several line-up changes before releasing their first album, We Care a Lot
, in 1985. Within a year the band signed up with Slash Records, and in 1987 their second album Introduce Yourself was released. Membership remained stable until vocalist Chuck Mosley was replaced by Mike Patton in 1988. In 1989, the band released their highly successful album, The Real Thing
, which featured their breakthrough hit single "Epic". The band's next album, 1992's Angel Dust
, was also highly successful and spawned the hit "Midlife Crisis", which became their sole #1 hit on the Modern Rock Tracks chart in their career. Faith No More declined in popularity after longtime guitarist Jim Martin left the group in 1994 and was replaced by Mr. Bungle guitarist Trey Spruance. After the release of their next album, 1995's King for a Day... Fool for a Lifetime
, Spruance was replaced briefly by Dean Menta, who would eventually be replaced by their current guitarist Jon Hudson. After releasing one more album, Album of the Year
, in 1997, Faith No More broke up in April 1998, and all members began work on side projects since then.
On February 24, 2009, Faith No More announced that they would be reforming for a European tour with the same lineup before their break up. [4] In June 2009, they performed together for the first time in eleven years at the Brixton Academy in London, England. The band has continued to perform at multiple live venues since. [5]
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FAITH NO MORE TICKETS
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History
Early years and We Care a Lot
(1981–1986)
After quitting their former band Faith No Man (1981–1982),
Billy Gould,
Roddy Bottum and
Mike Bordin formed Faith No More, a name suggested by a friend of Billy Gould's as "the Man" (referring to Mike "The Man" Morris, Faith No Man's singer) was "No More".
The band ended up playing with guitarist Mark Bowen for a brief period before he was replaced by
Jim Martin. A number of singers were tried, including a six-month stint by
Courtney Love, who was fired after only four gigs.
[6] Eventually,
Chuck Mosley was hired as the band's vocalist. Their self-financed debut
We Care a Lot
came in 1985 on
Mordam Records in the US, which led to a deal with
Slash Records.
Introduce Yourself
(1987–1988)
Introduce Yourself
was released in 1987, and a revamped version of the single "We Care a Lot" saw minor success on
MTV. Mosley was fired in 1988 due to his erratic behavior during sessions and at shows and the release party for the album
Introduce Yourself
.
During this period, the band gained a reputation for serious infighting and friction. 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.
The Real Thing
(1989–1991)
Chuck Mosley was replaced with singer
Mike Patton. Patton, who was singing with his high school band,
Mr. Bungle, was recruited at Martin's suggestion after he heard a demo of Mr. Bungle's long-over death metal days.
[7] Patton dropped out of
Humboldt State University to join Faith No More, and in two weeks, had written all the lyrics for the songs that would make up the Grammy award-nominated
The Real Thing
.
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The
music video for "
Epic" received extensive
airplay on
MTV in 1990, despite provoking anger from
animal rights activists for a
slow motion shot of a fish flopping out of water.
[8] [9] That same year, Faith No More gave memorable performances at the 1990
MTV Video Music Awards (
September 6) and on the 293rd episode of
Saturday Night Live (
December 1).
"
From out of Nowhere" and "
Falling to Pieces" saw releases as singles, and a cover of
Black Sabbath's "
War Pigs" was also produced for non-vinyl releases. In 1990, the band went on an extensive US tour, sending
The Real Thing
to Platinum status in Canada, the US, and South America. The album also had big sales numbers in Australia, UK, and the rest of Europe, pushing the total sales well above 4.0 million worldwide. Epic was released in 1989 and was a top 10 hit.
In February 1991, Faith No More released their only official live album,
Live at the Brixton Academy
. The album also included two previously-unreleased studio tracks, "The Grade" and "The Cowboy Song."
In 1991, the band contributed a track for the
motion picture soundtrack to
Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey
with the song "The Perfect Crime". Jim Martin also made a brief cameo in the film as "Sir James Martin" and head of the "Faith No More Spiritual and Theological Center".
Angel Dust
(1992–1994)
Faith No More displayed an even more
experimental effort 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"
[10] and another writes that the single " '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."
[11]
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Aside from "
A Small Victory" (which received a nomination for
Best Art Direction at the
MTV Video Music Awards), the tracks "Midlife Crisis" and "Everything's Ruined" were also released as singles. The album included a re-recording of the
theme to the film
Midnight Cowboy
, and later pressings included a cover of
The Commodores classic "
Easy", which in some parts of the world became the band's biggest hit.
Angel Dust
, though not as successful as
The Real Thing
in the U.S., sold 665,000 copies there, and managed to outsell
The Real Thing
in many other countries. In Germany, the record was certified Gold for sales of more than 250,000 copies. The album also matched the sales of
The Real Thing
in Canada (Platinum), Australia (Gold), and surpassed it in the Netherlands, France, Russia, and the UK.
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After touring to support
Angel Dust
in the summer of 1993, long-time guitarist
Jim Martin exited the band due to internal conflicts. According to Roddy Bottum, Martin was fired via fax. "Bottum: “Jim Martin had always been very conventional in what he wanted to do with the band, very much a fan of guitar music only and metal specifically. During the recording of ‘Angel Dust’ it became apparent to both him and us that we were heading in very different directions.”
[12] Martin himself states it was his decision to leave.
Killing Joke guitarist
Geordie Walker was reportedly offered to join FNM after Martin's departure, but declined to join.
[13] The position was filled by Mike Patton's
Mr. Bungle bandmate
Trey Spruance, who also left soon after recording 1995's
King for a Day... Fool for a Lifetime
; just before the band was to begin their world tour. Spruance was replaced by
Dean Menta, the band's keyboard tech.
King for a Day... Fool for a Lifetime
(1995–1996)
1995's
King for a Day... Fool for a Lifetime
varies greatly from song to song in style; Post-punk, country, jazz, along with other signature FNM elements, are woven together seamlessly throughout the album, making KFAD...FFAL a favorite among loyal fans. Singles included "
Digging the Grave", "
Evidence", and "
Ricochet". The album featured Mr. Bungle's
Trey Spruance on guitar. The record went Gold in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Netherlands and Germany, which gave the album a respectable sales figure of around 1.5 million copies. However, this was significantly lower than sales of their previous albums, and the band accordingly decided to cut their world tour short by 4 months. A 7 x 7-inch box set of singles was released, which included the B-sides and some interviews between the songs.
Album of the Year
(1997–1998)
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, in Germany, the album debuted at #2 and stayed in the chart for 5 months). In Australia,
Album of the Year
went to #1 and was certified Platinum. The album charted in many countries in Europe. To date Album of the Year has sold around 1.5 million copies worldwide. The singles "
Ashes To Ashes" and "Last Cup of Sorrow" had minimal success (notably, the music video for "Last Cup of Sorrow", which featured actress
Jennifer Jason Leigh, was inspired by the
Alfred Hitchcock film
Vertigo
). "Stripsearch" was released as a single in various countries (excluding the U.S. and UK).
Break-up and aftermath (1998–2008)
In early 1998 the new flaring of break-up rumors on the Internet began. Starting with a rumor posted to the Faith No More newsgroup alt.music.faith-no-more claiming Mike Patton had quit the band in favor of side projects, this rumor, although denied at the time, proved to be at least partly true. Faith No More played their last show in Lisbon, Portugal on
April 7,
1998.
[14]
The band canceled their planned support tour for Aerosmith and on
April 19,
1998 Billy Gould began spreading the following by email and fax:
“
| After 15 long and fruitful years, Faith No More have decided to put an end to speculation regarding their imminent break up... by breaking up. The decision among the members is mutual, and there will be no pointing of fingers, no naming of names, other than stating, for the record, that "Puffy started it". Furthermore, the split will now enable each member to pursue his individual project(s) unhindered. Lastly, and most importantly, the band would like to thank all of those fans and associates that have stuck with and supported the band throughout its history.
| ”
|
After the dissolution of Faith No More, the members went on to numerous different projects:
- Mike Patton went on to form his own record label, Ipecac Recordings, and returned to work with his band Mr. Bungle (which he had been playing with before FNM). Later, he worked with producer Dan the Automator on various albums, including Lovage: Music to Make Love to Your Old Lady By
. Other projects included collaborations with John Zorn, Björk, Rahzel, Imani Coppola and The Dillinger Escape Plan. He has also been active fronting several groups, including Tomahawk, Fantômas, and Peeping Tom. In 2007, he provided voice work for the 2K Games/Starbreeze Studios video game The Darkness and provided voice work for the Valve Corporation video games Portal
and Left 4 Dead
.
- Keyboardist Roddy Bottum formed Imperial Teen in 1996.
- Jim Martin has made guest appearances including Antipop
by Primus, on Metallica's 1998 Garage Inc. playing with several other musicians on their cover of Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Tuesday's Gone", as well as having released a solo album entitled Milk and Blood
in 1996. He also appeared on Echobrain's self-titled debut album alongside former Metallica bassist Jason Newsted.
- Mike Bordin regularly performs as a member of Ozzy Osbourne's band, as well as Black Sabbath, and performed with Korn for a tour when their drummer David Silveria had suffered a broken wrist. He played drums on Jerry Cantrell's album Degradation Trip
.
- Billy Gould was a member of Brujeria, as well as founder of Koolarrow Records, and has also overseen the releases of various Faith No More compilations. He also played bass on Fear Factory's 2005 album Transgression
. [15] In 1998, Billy Gould produced the album Vainajala
(1998) by the Finnish rock band CMX, "Living Targets" by German band The Beatsteaks, "FUCC the INS", "Kultura Diktatura", "We Came To Take Your Jobs Away" by Kultur Shock. He also toured with the German band Harmful as guitar player, throughout Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Czech Republic, and the Balkans in 2007. He produced their album 7
, available on Koolarrow Records. He also played bass on a song of the Romanian metal band Coma on their 2007 album "Nerostitele". In June 2008, Billy played a two night show with Jello Biafra (vocals), Ralph Spight (guitar) and Jon Weiss (drums) in celebration of Jello's 50th birthday, and it currently recording a new album with this outfit.
When Mike Patton was questioned in 2008 by co-hosts of
Fuse TV's
Talking Metal On Fuse
if a Faith No More reunion was a possibility, Patton responded "I highly doubt it", but also stated in a January 2008 interview with Artisan News that he "wouldn't rule it out", adding "I don't think we would need to reform the band, but maybe there's other things we could do together."
Reformation (2009–present)
On February 18, 2009, it was announced that Jim Martin would not be participating in the rumored Faith No More reunion tour.
[16] On February 24, 2009, Faith No More announced they would reform with the
Album of the Year
era line-up.
[17] On March 2, 2009, it was confirmed that Faith No More would be headlining the Main Stage on June 12 at the
Download Festival at
Donington,
England.
[18] They will also take part in the Highfield, Hurricane and Southside festivals in Germany.
[19] On March 24 it was announced that they will also headline the
Greenfield Festival in Switzerland, as well as
Hove Festival in Norway and Kaisaniemi Festival in Helsinki, Finland.
[20] [21] They were also a headliner at
Pukkelpop (August 20-22 in Hasselt, Belgium)
On April 22, 2009, it was briefly announced on their website that they will be playing
Reading and Leeds festivals, before being taken down due to conflicting info regarding the confirmation of their appearance on the bill.
[22] On June 10, 2009, at their first show after their reunion they released new merchandise stating they were playing the festivals.
[23] They were then added to the bill on June 15, 2009, as headliners of the NME stage. On July 3, 2009 they played on
Roskilde Festival. On August 8th 2009, the day Faith No More performed in Portugal at the Sudoeste festival registered the highest attendance of the whole festival. On the 14th of August they were headliners at the Spirit of Burgas Festival in Bulgaria. On August 16, 2009 they performed at the
Sziget festival in Budapest and on August 20th they headlined the main stage at the
Pukkelpop festival in Belgium. On the 25th Aug they played at the Edinburgh corn Exchange to a packed crowd for a superb setlist, their last show was in Scotland 17 years prior
[24] They will perform at the Rock En Seine festival on August 29th in Paris.
To coincide with the band's reunion tour, Rhino released the sixth Faith No More compilation,
The Very Best Definitive Ultimate Greatest Hits Collection
, a double album that includes their hit singles and b sides & rarities, in the UK on June 8, 2009.
[25] According to Killyourstereo.com, it is a possibility that Faith No More might be gearing up for a new studio album in the near future, although no release date has been set and it is unknown which label will handle it.
[26] [27]
On August 13, 2009, it was announced that Faith No More would be headlining Australian Music Festival
Soundwave 2010.
[28]
On August 28, 2009 they headlined the NME/Radio One tent at Reading Festival (and August 30th at Leeds Festival), playing a string of their old hits, such as 'Epic' and 'Midlife Crisis'
[29]. Also twice in the show they randomly broke into their version of the Eastenders theme tune, which recieved a great response from the festival goers
[29].
Music in popular culture
"Midlife Crisis" has been used in
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
and
Tony Hawk's Underground 2
, and "
From out of Nowhere" was featured in
EA Sports'
Madden NFL 2005
and
NHL 2005
. "Epic" is featured in a trailer for
Street Fighter IV
, on the
Burnout Paradise
soundtrack, and is a playable track in
Rock Band
(as is "We Care a Lot" via download).
[31]
"
Easy" was subsequently used in a commercial for
Levi's in 2006. A portion of the chorus from "We Care a Lot" has been used as the theme song for the
Discovery Channel's
Dirty Jobs
. "Falling to Pieces" was featured in
Ridley Scott's 2001 war movie
Black Hawk Down
, as background music while soldiers prepare for their mission. According to the
Mark Bowden book upon which the film is based, when the soldiers were preparing for the
actual 1993 mission,
Guns N' Roses' "
Welcome to the Jungle" was playing on the loudspeakers; however,
Axl Rose refused to let the song be used in the film, so "Falling to Pieces" was used as a substitute. "
We Care a Lot" was also included on the sound track to the 1997
John Cusack film
Grosse Pointe Blank during a scene at the Grosse Pointe High School 10 year reunion of the class of 1986.
Collaborations
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"). They also have collaborations with
German industrial metal band
Rammstein on two occasions (both on b-sides).
Legacy
Faith No More became underground, metal and alternative superstars and have also been covered on many occasions.
- Helloween covered "From Out of Nowhere" on their covers album Metal Jukebox
.
- Apocalyptica covered "From Out of Nowhere" on Inquisition Symphony
.
- Raunchy included their cover of "From Out of Nowhere" as a bonus track on Velvet Noise Extended
.
- Catamenia covered "From Out of Nowhere" on VIII - The Time Unchained
.
- Between the Buried and Me covered "Malpractice" on The Anatomy Of
.
- The Automatic covered "Epic" for the Kerrang! High Voltage Album
- Atreyu covered "Epic" in 2008, as a bonus track on Lead Sails Paper Anchor
.
- The band Ludo has also covered "Epic" during concerts.
- Disturbed covered "Midlife Crisis" and the track was originally going to be put on a Faith No More tribute album, but it was eventually released on the internet instead. They also re-recorded the song as a B-side track to their album Indestructible
, but it will instead be released on Covered, A Revolution in Sound
[32].
- Ill Niño, featuring vocals from Chino Moreno, covered "Zombie Eaters" on their The Under Cover Sessions
EP.
- Tub Ring covered "Mouth to Mouth" for their Book of Water
album.
- "Naked in Front of the Computer" was covered by Papa Roach as a bonus track on their album lovehatetragedy
.
- Machine Head covered "Jizzlobber" as part of an online vote on their official forum for a cover song to be recorded and released as a download only track.
The band has also been credited for influencing many of the
nu metal bands of the '90s
[33] (such as
Limp Bizkit,
Korn,
Linkin Park,
Mushroomhead,
Incubus, among others) primarily due to "
Epic"'s popularity and other early material to feature rap and rock crossovers. Bands rising at their prime, such as
Metallica,
Alice in Chains,
Anthrax [34] and
Guns N' Roses,
[35] have picked Faith No More as one of their favorite bands. They were voted #52 on
VH1's "100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock".
[36] July of 2009 saw "Epic" come in at #46 in Australian radio station
Triple J's
Hottest 100 Of All Time, as voted by the Australian public.
[37]
Concert tours
- 1982–1984: Early Days
- 1985–1986: We Care a Lot Tour
- 1987–1988: Introduce Yourself Tour
- 1989–1991: The Real Thing Tour
- 1992–1993: Angel Dust Tour
- 1995: King for a Day Tour
- 1997–1998: Album of the Year Tour
- 2009–2010: The Second Coming Tour
Band members
- 1988–1998, 2009–present: Mike Patton – lead vocals
- 1981–1998, 2009–present: Billy Gould – bass guitar
- 1981–1998, 2009–present: Mike Bordin – drums and percussion
- 1981–1998, 2009–present: Roddy Bottum – keyboards
- 1996–1998, 2009–present: Jon Hudson – guitar
Discography
- We Care a Lot
(1985)
- Introduce Yourself
(1987)
- The Real Thing
(1989)
- Angel Dust
(1992)
- King for a Day... Fool for a Lifetime
(1995)
- Album of the Year
(1997)
References
- Metal: The Definitive Guide
- Faith No More Biography on Yahoo! Music
- Faith No More - Music on FoxyTunes Planet
- Adams, Jason. "Faith No More reunion update: 'We Care a Lot' because this is 'Epic'!". ''Entertainment Weekly''. February 23, 2009.
- For more tour dates and information, see The Second Coming Tour.
- Metal: The Definitive Guide
- Faith No More: Inside the insatiable Mike Patton
- Inventory: 9 Music Videos Featuring Animals In Prominent Roles
- Faith No More: The Real Thing Review
- Faith No More Biography
- Faith No More Biography
- http://www.metalhammer.co.uk/news/story-behind-the-album-faith-no-more/
- Conspiracy of Two Kerrang magazine, 12 April 2003
- Faith No More Biography
- Metal: The Definitive Guide
- [1]
- Reuters article about reforming
- Download Festival 2009
- Hurricane Festival 2009
- Greenfield festival 2009
- Faith No More To Play Hove
- Twitter / Billy Gould: Reading and Leeds: I'm get ...
- [1]
- Barrowlands, Glasgow, 1992.12.03
- Faith No More: 'The Very Best' Greatest-Hits Collection Due In June
- Faith No More to record new album?
- Faith No More Planning New Studio Album?
- Faith No More, Jane's Addiction, HIM Confirmed For Australia's Soundwave Festival
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/readingandleeds/2009/artists/faithnomore/index.shtml#emp
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/readingandleeds/2009/artists/faithnomore/index.shtml#emp
- GC 2007: More Rock Band Track List Revealed
- http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=112377
- Essi Berelian (2005), ''The Rough Guide to Heavy Metal'', p. 259, "Faith No More must be counted among the pioneers nu metal"
- The Kerrang! Podcast - 06 September 2007
- Faith No More's finger to the world
- 100 greatest artists of hard rock (60 - 41)
- Hottest 100 Of All Time