VH Corner

 Album of the Year

 Album of the Year
Released: June 3, 1997
Best songs: Stripsearch, Last Cup of Sorrow, Helpless, She Loves Me Not

There were signs that the band was over. Almost all band members had side projects going on: Mike “Puffy” Bordin (drummer) was touring with Ozzy Osbourne, Mike Patton was touring with Mr. Bungle (his first band), and Roddy Bottom (keyboardist) had started his own band, Imperial Teen. They went back into the studio to make another album though. They got rid of Dean though since he was better as a touring guitarist rather than part of the songwriting process. They hired Jon Hudson. The album was released in 1997 and less than a year later, Bill Gould released a press release that the band had decided to break up with the following funny email:

“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 than all of those fans and associates that have stuck with and supported the band throughout its history.”

For thinking that King For a Day was filled with slow songs, this one had even more. The band had really ventured far from their rock image that they had when I first heard of them. They still had the harder songs, but they also had more and more slower songs. I liked them. They were catchy, but I didn’t love them as much as I did previous albums. It was a good album and a nice one to end with. I also loved that they did the entire tour in tuxes and black suits acting like they were all Dean Martin. It was a fabulous tour and very much a nice goodbye.

The album began with Collision, which is a pretty standard rock song.

Song: Stripsearch
I must include this song since it was our wedding song. Such a lovely wedding ditty that includes the lyrics, “F for fake”. We chose it because Angela and Dan played it at their wedding and it was the only song I could convince Jer to dance to, so it had to be our wedding song. It is at least slow!

Song: Last Cup of Sorrow
This was the first single of the album and has an excellent video. It is an homage to the movie, Vertigo, with Mike Patton playing Jimmy Stewart’s character and Jennifer Jason Leigh playing Kim Novak’s character. It also has nice lyrics of “This is getting old and so are you.”

The next song is Naked In Front of the Computer, which is what you might think it would be about. It has the potential to be funny, but it is pretty standard-sounding song with a funny title.

Song: Helpless
It is a nice and pretty song, but what makes me like this song is the ending. I love him yelling in so much pain, “Help!”

What follows are the songs with similar titles Mouth to Mouth and Ashes to Ashes. They song fairly similar too, even though I do like Ashes to Ashes more.

Song: She Loves Me Not
My favorite song on the album. It would have been a nice, slow song to dance to at the wedding, but the title didn’t really fit. Of course, Stripsearch, didn’t fit either, but there’s my lovely logic.

The rest of the songs are more rock-type songs but don’t really stand out too much for me: Got That Feeling, Paths of Glory, Home Sick Home, and Pristina. Actually the last two are slower, but they still don’t stand out too much for me.

Song: This Guy’s in Love With You
This was not on an album or on a b-side, but was performed live many times. It finally came out on a best-of compilation called Who Cares A Lot? This song is the only reason to own the CD. It’s Burt Bacharach

Tags: album of the year, faith no more

King For a Day…Fool For a Lifetime

King for a Day…Fool for a Lifetime
Released: March 28, 1995
Best songs: Ricochet, The Gentle Art of Making Enemies, Just a Man

 Jim Martin was fired from the band between the last album and this one. He didn’t like the direction the band was moving. Judging by the song that he had the most influence with on Angel Dust, which was Jizzlobber, he wanted the band to keep the heavy metal feel while the rest of the band was heading towards a more softer, melodic side with the harder rock songs getting more twisted. Trey Spruance from Mike Patton’s other band, Mr. Bungle joined the band, recorded this album with them, and then left before touring began. The band said he couldn’t commit to a long tour, but Trey has always said the band didn’t want him anymore. Dean Menta joined the band as their guitarist.

I expected this album to be like Angel Dust and it was not. I did not like it right away. I loved the first song I heard from the album, The Gentle Art of Making Enemies, but when I heard the entire album, I thought it was too slow over all. I put it away and ignored it for many months. I don’t remember what made me start listening to it again, but I ended up loving it. I still liked Angel Dust best, but there are some really good songs on the album and I love the lyrics.

The first song, Get Out, is a pretty standard rock song and doesn’t make much of an impression on me.

Song: Ricochet
The second song on the album has great lyrics: “And I’d rather be shot in the face, than hear what you’re going to say” and “It’s always funny until someone gets hurt, and then it’s just hilarious.” Violence and humor make a smashing combo.

The third song, Evidence, is a very pretty song since Mike Patton is actually singing instead of yelling or screaming on it. It’s a slow song that took me a while to like.

Song: The Gentle Art of Making Enemies
This was never released as a single, and I can tell why from the lyrics, but the awesome indie radio station that used to exist in Phoenix, KUKQ, used to just put their favorite song on an album on the radio instead of the “single” so this was the first song I ever heard from the album. I agreed with their choice, since it is awesome and I love the lyrics. There is much cussing, which the station never edited since it wasn’t like anyone was complaining to the FCC about an little indie AM radio station. It’s all about corporate whore-ism and my favorite line is, “I deserve a reward ’cause I’m the best fuck that you ever had.”

The next few songs on the album are okay, but not my favorites, Star A.D., Carahlo Voador and Digging The Grave. They are more along the generic rock song style. There are some songs in between those that are better. Cuckoo For Caca does have some funny lines, “Being good gets you stuff, being stuff gets you good, good stuff gets you being.” Ugly in the Morning does have the line that is screamed, “Don’t look at me I’m ugly in the morning.” Take This Bottle and King For a Day are pretty similar sounding slow songs. They are nice, but not outstanding.

Song: What a Day
More good lyrics! This song has a line from Hunter S. Thompson’s book Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, “Kill the body and the head will die.” Yeah good references! I am also a fan of the chorus, “What a day, what a day. If you can look it in the face and hold you’re vomit.”

Song: Just A Man
It is the last song on the album and great singing from Mike Patton. I played this song the most when I was finally getting into the album. I used to play it while I was getting ready to go out. I’m sure my neighbors in my apartment loved me blaring it all the time.

Song: I Started a Joke
This was a b-side and another fabulous cover. It is a Bee Gees song! Faith No More loves the cheesy cover songs.

Tags: faith no more, fool for a lifetime, king for a day

Angel Dust

Angel Dust
Released: June 16, 1992
Best songs: Land of Sunshine, Midlife Crisis, RV, Be Aggressive

This is the first album that I bought from Faith No More. I had heard Epic and Falling To Pieces, but I didn’t buy The Real Thing until after I bought Angel Dust. I loved Midlife Crisis. After falling in love with the entire album, I went back and bought The Real Thing used on cassette tape. I never upgraded it to CD. I did play Angel Dust over and over again so that the CD case is completely broken, yet I still haven’t ever put it in a new jewel case.

Angel Dust is still my favorite Faith No More album. It is really hard to narrow it down to just a few good songs since the entire album is quite varied and messed up in its own way. I think Mike Patton brings out the freaks in everyone around him. This entire album brings me back to freshman year in college when I played it over and over again in the dorm. I’m sure all those around me appreciated it.

Song: Midlife Crisis
The first single was Midlife Crisis and it has my favorite line in the song, “My head is like lettuce, go on, dig your thumbs in.” It also talks about his “menstruating heart”. Fabulous imagery! You can also start to hear Mike Patton actually using his good singing voice. He’s all over the place with screaming, growling and actually singing melodically.

Song: Land of Sunshine
There were other songs that were follow-up singles, and they were good, but I liked other songs on the album better, including Land of Sunshine. What makes this song so awesome are the lyrics. The first half of the song is fortune cookie fortunes and the chorus/second half of the song are actual questions from the Scientology personality test. That’s the entire song!

I have actually received four of the fortunes before and was very excited when I saw them. I tried to explain my excitement to my boss at the time that had taken me out to lunch, but I just confused him.

Song: Be Aggressive
Aimi should love this song. It takes the cheerleader chant “Be Aggressive” and makes it into a dirty, dirty song. It’s for that reason that I love it. It’s also awesome to see frat guys in concert singing along at the top of their lungs “I swallow, I swallow!”

Song: RV
When I first heard, RV, I didn’t know what to think of it. It didn’t seem to fit into the rest of the album or the “hard rock” category that Faith No More was classified as. Then it became one of my favorites on the album. It’s a swinging tune with great vocals and lyrics about a depressed trailer trash guy. I love it when the music doesn’t match the lyrics and this is a good example.

Song: Easy
Easy wasn’t on Angel Dust, but was a B-Side for the album so I might as well throw it in here. It is a cover of The Commodores song and so much better. You might have heard it recently in a Levi’s 501 commercial.

I used to play this song for my mom to prove to her that Mike Patton could actually sing. When The Real Thing came out, I was in high school and had MTV on in the background in the living room while I did my homework so she would see the news reports where they stated that they kicked out Chuck, and Mike Patton was a much better singer. Then she heard Epic and Falling to Pieces and said “That’s better?” I used to play Easy to prove that he could sing much better!

Tags: angel dust, faith no more

Faith No More

In 1981, Faith No More was formed under another name–Faith No Man, but after a few musician changes, Faith No More became Mike “Puffy” Bordin, Billy Gould, Roddy Bottum, Jim Martin and Chuck Mosely. After two early albums with Chuck, We Care A Lot (1984) and Introduce Yourself (1987), the band decided to kick Chuck out of the band due to his drinking problem and suck-ass singing. I like to ignore that the albums or the band ever existed before Mike Patton joined.

Band Members
Mike Patton
Mike “Puffy” Bordin
Billy Gould
Roddy Bottum
Jim Martin
Chuck Mosely
Trey Spruance
Jon Hudson

Website: Faith No More
Formed: Bay Area, CA 1981
Label: Slash Records

Random Fact: Courtney Love was one of the first singers in the band before Chuck Mosley.

The Real Thing

Mike Patton was recruited to join in 1989. The band had written most of the music for their third album, The Real Thing, and Mike Patton just wrote the lyrics. I think this is why it is my least-favorite FNM album with Mike Patton. It is pretty good, but I think whatever weirdness he added to the band came later on.

Now, Mike Patton has an awesome voice. You can’t really tell from this album though. He was in his whiny singing phase. I’m not including their one really big, hit song, Epic, because you should all know it already. It was the reason that I started to like the band, but I’m not too thrilled about the song now. It didn’t wear well with time.

Here are three other songs from the album, with the first one being the second single off of it, so you might have seen the crazy video on MTV.

Song: Falling to Pieces
Song: From Out of Nowhere
Song: Edge of the World

Tags: faith no more, real thing