(no subject)
Why Faith No More?
It's a fair question, and one I've gotten from a few people recently. Why *am* I rabidly excited about this band that you may or mostly likely may not have ever heard of? What is it about them? I can tell you it's got nothing to do with producing music that helped me navigate the tumultuous seas of adolescence; this band did not soothe my angsty collegiate soul. No, it's nothing quite so melodramatic. Allow me to asplain:
• They're prolific: This is a band whose songs that I dislike I can count on a single hand. Whose music has been nearly as influential on modern alternative rock and metal as Nirvana (seriously, you should see the list of bands who list FNM as an influence). They've been covered by several of these bands, both on record and in concert, and several of these same bands have approached members of FNM for collaborations over the years. Despite that fact that this was largely a made-for-radio band (with the exception of singer Mike Patton, none of these guys are really what you'd traditionally consider handsome), they pulled off a string of successful MTV hits and generated more commercial interested than they probably had any right to.
• They're diverse: A two-step hillbilly anthem and the soundtrack to Midnight Cowboy should not work on an album filled with gritty, grinding, alt metal freakouts. For that matter, neither should a song about oral sex where the chorus is chanted by a high school cheer squad. A metal band should not be able to record a faithful rendition of a Commodores ballad, set it to a video filled with drag queens, and watch it become the biggest single of the summer in Europe. That same band shouldn't be able to ape the Chili Peppers on one song and cover Black Sabbath on another, or cover Burt Bacharach and follow it with trashing noise. Well, they can.
• They're consistently entertaining: These guys take their performances seriously, and then spend the entire time on stage making it look effortless and unplanned. There's a professionalism and a craft to what they do, and they do it well. There's also a spontaneity to their performances that's rare these days. They engage the crowd, taunt it, reward it, antagonize it, commune with it. You get the sense that anything could happen during a performance, even though it's been planned to a tee. They're performing for you, not at you.
I've been following this band for 20 years now, and have only seen them performance once, in 1995 in San Diego in a sweaty, overly-crowded pit at Soma, when it used to be located on Napa Street near Old Town. Shows came and went, and for various reasons (too young, played in Tijuana before I was 18, away at college), I missed them all. That's not to say I haven't seen them perform several times. I own bootlegs both on CD and on video. I've actually seen them play a lot. But as anyone who appreciates live music will tell you, it's nothing like the real thing.
It's a fair question, and one I've gotten from a few people recently. Why *am* I rabidly excited about this band that you may or mostly likely may not have ever heard of? What is it about them? I can tell you it's got nothing to do with producing music that helped me navigate the tumultuous seas of adolescence; this band did not soothe my angsty collegiate soul. No, it's nothing quite so melodramatic. Allow me to asplain:
• They're prolific: This is a band whose songs that I dislike I can count on a single hand. Whose music has been nearly as influential on modern alternative rock and metal as Nirvana (seriously, you should see the list of bands who list FNM as an influence). They've been covered by several of these bands, both on record and in concert, and several of these same bands have approached members of FNM for collaborations over the years. Despite that fact that this was largely a made-for-radio band (with the exception of singer Mike Patton, none of these guys are really what you'd traditionally consider handsome), they pulled off a string of successful MTV hits and generated more commercial interested than they probably had any right to.
• They're diverse: A two-step hillbilly anthem and the soundtrack to Midnight Cowboy should not work on an album filled with gritty, grinding, alt metal freakouts. For that matter, neither should a song about oral sex where the chorus is chanted by a high school cheer squad. A metal band should not be able to record a faithful rendition of a Commodores ballad, set it to a video filled with drag queens, and watch it become the biggest single of the summer in Europe. That same band shouldn't be able to ape the Chili Peppers on one song and cover Black Sabbath on another, or cover Burt Bacharach and follow it with trashing noise. Well, they can.
• They're consistently entertaining: These guys take their performances seriously, and then spend the entire time on stage making it look effortless and unplanned. There's a professionalism and a craft to what they do, and they do it well. There's also a spontaneity to their performances that's rare these days. They engage the crowd, taunt it, reward it, antagonize it, commune with it. You get the sense that anything could happen during a performance, even though it's been planned to a tee. They're performing for you, not at you.
I've been following this band for 20 years now, and have only seen them performance once, in 1995 in San Diego in a sweaty, overly-crowded pit at Soma, when it used to be located on Napa Street near Old Town. Shows came and went, and for various reasons (too young, played in Tijuana before I was 18, away at college), I missed them all. That's not to say I haven't seen them perform several times. I own bootlegs both on CD and on video. I've actually seen them play a lot. But as anyone who appreciates live music will tell you, it's nothing like the real thing.