31 DAYS OF FAITH NO MORE: “COLLISION”
Spurred by a 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 “Collision”
Written by Patton (L); Hudson, Patton (M)
Released 1997
Appears on Album Of The Year album
Produced by Roli Mosimann (Swans, Wiseblood), Billy Gould
Guitars by Jon Hudson
Key lyric “All the day’s plans/All the shaking hands/Beepers and suntans.”
Single? No. “Collision” starts FNM’s final album (as of this writing).
The climate Two years and three months after King For A Day, Fool For A Lifetime, Faith No More released their most recent album, 1997’s Album Of The Year. To me, the short interval between records was a good sign about FNM. (This was pre-internet as we know it, I was in college and had heard jack fucking shit about the band s2s.) It’d been a neat couple of years too: Mr. Bungle went full Zorn with their second album Disco Volante, Roddy Bottum stepped to the front in his band Imperial Teen, and FNM had to get a new guitar player again. Anyway I went to a midnight sale and there was a mass of dudes in line for Wu-Tang Forever I think. I wasn’t even seeing copies of AotY and was shown that the FNM spot had been blocked by a Foo Fighters CD. I remember bitching to the room in general about that. I went to my then-gf’s place and pulled a Slash, listening while facing her stereo and not paying attention to anything else. It was great cuz I loved “Collision” so it was cool from then on. FNM ruled again. “Collision” rules!
Awesome song elevated to supra-awesomeness by its display of a kinda classy, noirish, unvulgar Faith No More. It’s a great start.
Didja know? There are only 11 words per verse in “Collision.” Compare to similarly structured songs “Caffeine” (24-26 wpv) and “Underwater Love” (at least 30 wpv).
–ADF
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METALSUCKS’ 31 DAYS OF FAITH NO MORE
17 “Collision”
Intermission “Das Schutzenfest” (read)
16 “The Last To Know” (read)
15 “The Real Thing” (read)
14 “Malpractice” (read)
13 ”Ugly In The Morning” (read)
12 “The Cowboy Song” (read)
11 “Helpless” (read)
10 “Smaller And Smaller” (read)
9 “Digging The Grave” (read)
8 “From Out Of Nowhere” (read)
7 “Last Cup Of Sorrow” (read)
6 “The Gentle Art Of Making Enemies” (read)
5 “Caffeine” (read)
4 “Falling To Pieces” (read)
3 “Stripsearch” (read)
2 ”Ricochet” (read)
1 ”Land Of Sunshine” (read)
