31 DAYS OF FAITH NO MORE: “FALLING TO PIECES”
Spurred by an lazy crossword clue in The Onion (36 down, four letters: “Faith No More’s only hit”), MetalSucks contributor Anso DF dedicates every single day in August to celebration and exploration of the San Francisco alt-metal greats. Here we prove that history’s greatest band landed more than one commercial hit (crossword answer: “Epic” natch), we revel in FNM’s embarrassing wealth of winning album tracks (themselves often fit for chart topping), and we dip into the staggering best of the b-sides (ditto). Along the way, we survey the context of FNM’s big break (amid similarly seminal acts Jane’s Addiction, Nine Inch Nails, and Ween) to post-Nevermind, panic-based music commerce in which the brilliantly versatile, fearless powerhouse band operated until their 1998 demise. It’s a dirty job, but someone’s gotta do it.
Song “Falling To Pieces”
Written by Patton (L); Gould, Bottum, Martin (M)
Released 1989
Appears on The Real Thing album
Produced by Matt Wallace
Guitars by Jim Martin
Key lyric “Because the plot thickens everyday/And the pieces of my puzzle keep crumblin’ away/But I know there’s a picture beneath”
Single? Yes, The Real Thing’s third and final (preceded by “From Out Of Nowhere” and “Epic”)
The climate Faith No More landed a top-10 single with “Epic,” and followed with another brightly melodic, bouncy, rappy jam. It was around this time that unofficial accusations of imitation began to emit from the Red Hot Chili Peppers camp. Lulz.
Awesome song elevated to supra-awesomeness by Mike Patton, boredom-buster: Over three closing choruses (at 3:31) — industry standard for a single — he tweaks the by-then familiar refrain and then just face-rapes it via awesome ad-libs. That final “whoa-ooh-whoa-oooh-whoa-oh-ohhhhhhh-hohhhh-ooh” sent RHCP singer Anthony Kiedis under a bridge to draw some blood.
Didja know? Stupid jerks Faith No More retired “Falling” from live sets by 1993. Okay fine, it must be annoying for bassist Billy Gould to do that one-finger intro riff a billion times but cmonnn. Play the jam.
-ADF
METALSUCKS’ 31 DAYS OF FAITH NO MORE
4 “Falling To Pieces”
3 “Stripsearch” (read)
2 ”Ricochet” (read)
1 ”Land Of Sunshine” (read)
