"Faith No More's" fifth album "King For A Day...Fool For A Lifetime", was released on March 28, 1995. It involves a departure, a car accident and death.
It looks like the album's name describes what the band members felt after "Angel Dust", but indeed the album title "King For A Day...Foo For A Lifetime" make you wonder...
The car accident...
The album was recorded at "Bearsville Studios" located in the middle of the woods in a remote cabin in "Woodstock". The trip to the studio was through a dirt road of more than three kilometers, most of which were fragments of trees, rocks and stones. During one of the trips to the studio, while Mike Patton was driving the car with Mike Bordin and Trey Spruance, they had a serious car accident. During the trip, the tires of the car exploded And the members found themselves rolling and overturning with the vehicle among the rocks and trees in the forest. None of the members were seriously injured but Mike Patton said that they all felt "they saw God" and it was an experience that greatly affected each of them, let's just say that afterwards they were reluctant to leave the studio, even though they had too much to do around.
The Departure... Already while working on "Angel Dust" the cracks between guitarist Jim Martin and the other members of the band started to show. The musical direction the band was going to seemed too "soft" for him. During the recordings for "Angel Dust", he began to avoid rehearsals for a long time and hardly contributed to the writing process. Immediately after the end of the tour for the album, in 1993, Jim left the band, there are rumors that he was fired by a fax keyboardist Roddy Bottum sent him
The recording of the album took nine months, during four of which they were looking for a new guitarist and trying to get him involved. In the end, guitarist Trey Spruance who plays with Mike Patton in the crazy "Mr. Bungle" replaced Jim. Although he playes almost all the guitar roles, he co-wrote only four out of the 14 songs in the album. The writing was mainly done by Mike Patton, Mike Bordin and bassist Billy Gould. The collaboration did not last long and immediately after the recordings Trey left the band. He was replaced by Dean Menta during the tour to promote the album. Dean was the band's keyboard technician on the previous tours.
Death...
The period in which the album was recorded was the most terrible period in the life of keyboardist Roddy Bottum. His father died that year and Kurt Cobain's death also affected him badly, especially when he was a very close friend of Courtney Love (who was the singer of the band at the beginning of its career. At that time Rudy was addicted to heroin and when his father died he had a nervous breakdown. In one of the interviews, Rudy said that he hardly participated in the creation process, because this whole period was "black" for him, he was completely disconnected.
(Photo: Eddie Mullak)
As in every album of the band, the eclecticism and the variety are expressed in a significant way. But unlike the previous album, in this album it was received with less enthusiasm, and since there were some hits missing, the album did not receive the recognition it deserved. Even though, it's a great album! The band is here at its best and at it's peak...
The change in style between the songs takes you to places you didn't expect. The guitars and drums sound is so special that you feel every note in your veins, while the words and voice of Mike Patton give you chills all over.
The album opens strong with "Get Out". Mike Bordin's snare and Billy's bass playing throw us forward like the mallet hitting the ball in a pinball game.
From there the band change their style and move on to "Ricochet", which was the second single released from the album. Without having anything to do with the lyrics of the song, it was written on the day of Kurt Cobain's death and during the recordings even before it was given a name it was called "Nirvana". It is one of our favorite songs from the album, with an amazing writing by Mike Patton.
Immediately afterwards, we move to another change of direction with one of the biggest songs on the album, "Evidence", which also has an amazing music video. The jazz style of the song and the mesmerizing voice of Mike Patton take you to some underground and dark club, where you share your sadness with a glass of whiskey. The song Released as the third single from the album and also recorded in three other languages: Italian, Portuguese and Spanish. Mike tried to sing it in the local language whenever the band performs in another country.
After we finished our drink, it was time to get up from the table and get a blast from Mike and learn a thing or two from him, "The Gentle Art of Making Enemies". A strong song, very dynamic just like the oxymoron in its title between "gentle" and "enemy". Wow... what an opening riff, powerful drumming, great rhythm and then... a fall, everything rests on Billy Gold's pulsating bass and Mike Patton's caressing vocals, but then everything changes again and Mike's voice becomes distorted just like the riff that accompanies it (and us) to the crazy chorus that rests On the legendary opening riff.
It is not clear how the trumpets and the structure of the "musical" of "Star A.D." is related, but Mike Patton with his extraordinary talent manages to put all this mess together with a kind of "comic" ending of a song that is all about two verses and trumpets, just because of a joke that was not properly understood...
We return to the typical frantic atmosphere with "Cuckoo for Caca", a whole orchestra of insanity that causes great and abundant pleasure and we shout along wiMike "You Can't Kill It". A song that cannot be put into any genre or given a definition!
Where were we Oh yes... we remind you that you are listening to the album of the rock band "Faith No More" because while listening to "Caralho Voador" you have to remember that. Moving to the bossa nova style with a song whose Portuguese translation is "flying dick". Mike said the song is about an old guy who drives his car around town, just like an old cock with wings...
Continuing with the insane "Ugly in the Morning" and we just have to mention that we just love Mike Bordin so much...you know he was also the drummer for "Black Sabbath" and Ozzy Osbourne. There is no doubt that Trey also does an amazing job here, with his guitar while Mike loses his mind with the lyrics.
The first single released from the album and also the most prominent song on the album "Digging the Grave" puts you in an attack mode! Pure rock n' roll, what a beauty of pure guitars, bass and drums. The break in the song with Bourdin's snare and bass drum just explodes in the middle!
The album slows down again with "Take This Bottle", a kind of classic ballad that is accompanied by keyboards and tells the story of a hero who broke up with his partner and hopes for better days. Now she has to go and let him feel the pain and maybe in the future they will be together in better times.
With its acoustic touches "King for a Day" which bears the album title is also Mike Patton's playground, vocally, while it feels more dominant than the other songs. The structure of the song with the acoustic that connects with the electric guitar powering up during the chorus is just mesmerizing. It is one of our favorite songs on the album.
"What a Day" is there so you can take everything you've accumulated that day, week and unload it in the most grotesque way possible. Why? Because you are heroes who went through everything you went through and suffered and yet you keep yourselves from going wild and losing your temper.
The two songs that close the album "The Last to Know" and "Just a Man" are two pleasant and embracing ballads that caress and close this wild album.
They give the signature of a band that cannot be defined, cannot be restrained and cannot be characterized, and this is the greatest and most glamorous and shining thing about this amazing and much-loved band.
So let's sing together... And every night I shut my eyes" So I don't have to see the light Shining so bright "I'll dream about a cloudy sky, a cloudy sky
Listen on: Spotify, Apple Music.
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