Faith No More – Live At Phoenix Festival – July 17, 1993 – Gordon Skene Sound Collection –
Blistering music from the Bay Area for a Thursday night. Faith No More, recorded live at the Phoenix Festival on July 17, 1993.
Faith No More (sometimes abbreviated as FNM) is an American rock band from San Francisco, California, formed in 1979. Before settling on their current name in 1982, the band performed under the names Sharp Young Men and later Faith No Man. Bassist Billy Gould and drummer Mike Bordin are the longest-remaining members of the band, having been involved with Faith No More since its inception. The band underwent several lineup changes early in their career, along with some major changes later on. The current lineup of Faith No More consists of Gould, Bordin, keyboardist/rhythm guitarist Roddy Bottum, lead guitarist Jon Hudson and vocalist/lyricist Mike Patton.
After releasing six studio albums, including their best-selling records The Real Thing (1989) and Angel Dust (1992), Faith No More officially announced their breakup on April 20, 1998. They have since reunited, embarked on The Second Coming Tour from 2009 to 2012, and released their seventh studio album, Sol Invictus, in May 2015.
Faith No More displayed an even more experimental effort on their next album, Angel Dust, which was released in 1992. One critic writes that the album is “one of the more complex and simply confounding records ever released by a major label” and another writes that the single “‘A Small Victory’, which seems to run Madame Butterfly through Metallica and Nile Rodgers reveals a developing facility for combining unlikely elements into startlingly original concoctions.”
Aside from “A Small Victory” (which received a nomination for Best Art Direction at the MTV Video Music Awards), the tracks “Midlife Crisis” and “Everything’s Ruined” were also released as singles. The album included a re-recording of the theme to the film Midnight Cowboy, and later pressings included a cover of The Commodores “Easy”, which in some parts of the world became the band’s biggest hit. Angel Dust, though not as successful as The Real Thing in the US, sold 665,000 copies there, and managed to outsell The Real Thing in many other countries. In Germany, the record was certified Gold for sales of more than 250,000 copies. The album also matched the sales of The Real Thing in Canada (Platinum), Australia (Gold), and surpassed it in the Netherlands, France, Russia, and the UK. Worldwide sales are around 3.1 million copies.
After touring to support Angel Dust in the summer of 1993, long-time guitarist Jim Martin left the band due to internal conflicts. He was reportedly unhappy with the band’s change in musical direction on Angel Dust, describing it as “gay disco”. According to Roddy Bottum, Martin was fired via fax. However, Martin himself states it was his decision to leave. Both Godflesh guitarist Justin Broadrick and Killing Joke guitarist Geordie Walker were reportedly offered to join Faith No More after Martin’s departure, but declined to join. The position was filled by Mike Patton’s bandmate from Mr. Bungle, Trey Spruance, who left soon after recording 1995’s King for a Day… Fool for a Lifetime and just before the band was to begin their world tour. Spruance was replaced by Dean Menta, the band’s keyboard tech.
In case you missed them during this period of their development – kindly put whatever you’re doing down, click on the Play button and jump in. 1993 was a pretty good year, I think you’ll agree.
