#MetalMonday: An Epic Faith No More Playlist

Faith No More. L-R: Bill Gould, Jim Martin, Mike Bordin, Roddy Bottum, Mike Patton
Photo Credit
Mick Hutson/Redferns

If it’s a Monday, then it’s a #MetalMonday, which gives us an opportunity to shine a spotlight on the career of a top-shelf metal band. Today, we’re showing some love to Faith No More: we've gone through the band’s major label catalog and selected one single and one album track that we consider to be a must-hear, and we also gave the band’s 2015 reunion album Sol Invictus the same treatment. In the end, you get a solid Faith No More playlist and a dozen great songs. Enjoy!

“We Care a Lot” (1987)

Taken from the band’s Slash Records debut, Introduce Yourself, back when Chuck Mosley was still fronting the band, this tends to be the only song that most casual fans know from that era, but to be fair, if you’re only going to know one, this is a real doozy.

“Faster Disco” (1987)

Conversely to “We Care a Lot,” anyone who discovered Faith No More with “Epic” and never bothered to take a step back to investigate Introduce Yourself has almost certainly never heard this song, which opens the album. It’s reportedly the song on the LP that’s been played the least since Mosely’s departure...like, to the point where there’s literally only one known occasion when it’s been sung by Mike Patton, and that was back in 1990. It’s too bad, too, because it’s a great track.

“Epic” (1989)

If you know any Faith No More song, then you know this one, since it provided the band with the only Top 10 hit of their career. Some folks got tired of it because it was played so freaking much, but it’s been long enough now that if you’re one of those folks, it’s about time you remembered how much you used to love it.

“War Pigs” (1989)

For the record, Ozzy Osbourne was enough of a fan of the band and their cover to team up with them for a live version, which – if you’ve never heard it – you can check out right here, but for the primary spotlight, we’re going with the studio version from The Real Thing.

“Midlife Crisis” (1992)

Face it, Faith No More fans, if you were listening to the band’s Angel Dust album when it was first release, then this song is now officially relevant to you. But, hey, talk about having a great theme song when you go through yours!

“Be Aggressive” (1992)

This track rocks hard and rocks well, but even if it didn’t, the story behind the song is so funny that it’d be worth including it here. It was penned by Roddy Bottum, and he has said more than once in interviews - including one with The Advocate - that it’s about, uh, swallowing...and we’ll leave it at that, except to say that Bottum basically wrote it to amuse himself, saying, “It was a pretty fun thing to write, knowing that Mike was going to have to put himself on the line and go up onstage and sing these vocals.”

“Digging the Grave” (1995)

Not a lot of artists can claim to have had one of their songs featured on Beavis & Butt-head and included in an episode of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, but this tune achieved both. As the first single from King for a Day...Fool for a Lifetime, their first release after the departure of guitarist Jim Martin, fans weren’t sure what to expect, but the write-up on the track on the fan site FaithNoMoreFollowers.com says it all: “In true Faith No More style, it's different, unexpected and spectacular.”

“Take This Bottle” (1995)

Faith No More is not a band that made its reputation on ballads, but this country-influenced track is a real beauty, and there are more than a few fans who rank it among the all-time best by the band.

“Last Cup of Sorrow” (1997)

Once again, the band delivered a first single - this time, from the humorously-titled Album of the Year - that blew its fans' minds. As melodic as it is hard-rocking, it was named the second-best Faith No More song ever by Consequence of Sound in 2015.

“She Loves Me Not” (1997)

Given that Faith No More found success with a mostly straightforward cover of the Commodores’ “Easy,” it’s not as surprising as it otherwise might be to find this R&B-influenced track on the band’s final major-label LP. Sure, it’s a little lounge-y, too, but dig Mike Patton’s falsetto!

“Superhero” (2015)

Just when you think they’re out, Faith No More drags you back into the record store to buy a brand new album, 2015's Sol Invictus! Taking advantage of the song’s title, the band actually debuted the tune on Marvel.com, where bassist Bill Gould explained cryptically, “We kind of make movie scenes for movies that don’t exist. ‘Superhero’ was one of those where it was definitely a superhero comic. That was just the vibe of the song, and when Mike came to me writing words about it, we were already calling it ‘Superhero.’ So it’s kind of like in the DNA; it’s a comic strip.”

LISTEN: Mike Patton of Faith No More Covers 'Ninja Turtles' Theme

“Rise of the Fall” (2015)

This was the final song from Sol Invictus to be played live, presumably because it wasn’t all that easy to reproduce in a concert setting, but the studio version is just fine and dandy!

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