bad music for bad people

[wickedflea]

Fishbone's Truth and Soul has entered my top five of the moment. I've been listening to that album for a good 11-12 years, and it never ceases to amaze me. Incredible songwriting, playing, and RANGE. It's all over the map, but in a totally good way--there's never any doubt it's Fishbone. For some reason, though, I've never gotten into much other Fishbone. The Reality of My Surroundings was good too, but the other is my favorite. And those are the only ones I've had. *shamed* What others should I get? The first one, I guess. The reviews I heard of the post-Reality discs weren't too great. Not that that necessarily means anything.

Now I'm listening to Faith No More. Jim Martin is a god. In fact they were almost a perfect band there for a while. Every bass, guitar, drum, and vocal part on The Real Thing and Angel Dust is just so tasty. I wonder what ever happened to Jim Martin. The only thing I've heard of him doing since he left FNM is a guest thing on one song from Primus's last album.

I remember watching Faith No More get really popular, and it was so weird. We were into The Real Thing many months before "Epic" started hitting. And all of a sudden MTV started playing it like crazy, and people loved it. And before ya know it, FNM's on Saturday Night Live. It was just weird to watch, because at the time that music sounded so fucked up to me, and I couldn't imagine it finding mainstream success. And I guess it is a little out there to some people, but of course I've been listening to it for so long that I've lost the perspective I had when it was new. I particularly remember being at a Skeleton Crew show (local band I mentioned some time back) and hearing FNM's cover of "War Pigs" come on. And all the teenaged Starkville chicks were singing along to it because they knew it from The Real Thing! And this was at a time when Black Sabbath was just DEAD as far as having any hipster value. For a metalhead in 1990 Starkville, that was just wild to see--especially from the chicks who looked at me and my friends as freaks for some of the other shit we listened to.

Of course, it was downhill for FNM after that, at least in terms of record sales and all that. Angel Dust was a commercial failure, at least next to The Real Thing. But it's a great album. It has the cohesion that I've mentioned before--start to finish, a great collection of songs that complement each other, not just a bunch of random tracks.

I really should start reading Circus and Hit Parader again. No I shouldn't--they're probably writing about Korn and Limp Bizkit, and that ain't gonna work, my friend. Oh, and Rip! Anyone remember that magazine? It ruled when it first came out. I remember reading about Jane's Addiction for the first time in Rip. And they had articles on the Cramps and the Misfits and the Circle Jerks, along with metal stuff like Slayer and Metallica and whatever. They ended up going in too much of a hair-metal direction (as did the world), and I guess they probably fizzled out altogether when that all became passe.

This has been your handy-dandy rock and roll update from WFLE. Send me your requests, kids, and I'll try to get 'em on. And don't forget to stay in school.

Comments

I love Faith No More...

[asleeponsunbeam.livejournal.com]

The Real Thing is an awesome CD...I got to seem them open for Billy Idol when I was in high school hehe I used to have such a crush on Mike Patton *blush*

xoxo
J

[dangerpest.livejournal.com]

The Reality of My Surroundings. sunless saturday = rock... 'nuff said

[buscemi.livejournal.com]

Yeah, you nailed it:

http://www.circusmagazine.com

http://www.hitparader.com

[ferretsofglory.livejournal.com]

Seems like the last thing Martin did was Conflict in 99 or so....

I miss The Four Horsemen too.

[notmyworld.livejournal.com]

I remember buying the very first issue of Rip when it hit newstands. I was twelve or so. It had Alice Cooper on the cover! That was pure badness. That was my favorite metal magazine. I never could stand Hit Parader, and Circus was getting way lame as time wore on (how many articles about Motley Crue can one guy read?)Yet it was still metal then. Now it's just trash. If I even see that shit in the newstands I just walk on by and get a copy of Stuff or Plane and Pilot or Car Craft or something equally manly.

Metal isn't dead, not by a long shot. Some might say it's better. It's evolved, and gone mostly underground.

As far as FNM goes, I hated "We Care A Lot" when it came out. I mean, it seemed so sophmoric to me. Once they ditched that one guy and got Mike Patton in the group it was a whole new dynamic. And yes, "Epic" and "Angel Dust" are about as close to perfect as albums get... Ah, you always take me back to a faraway and long ago place, Chris. Thanks.

[dkt2.livejournal.com]

So, who drops out of the top-five to make way for Fishbone?

[wickedflea.livejournal.com]

Thanks, man. Do you remember that time as I do--as though something good was happening? Lots of non-shitty music, lots of interesting ideas being thrown around, Republicans finally being out of office? Maybe a lot of it was youthful idealism, but I still think there was something happening in, say, '89-'93 that ended up fizzling out, and it's too bad.

[wickedflea.livejournal.com]

Forgot what I had in there. I guess S.O.D. for the time being. :)

[wickedflea.livejournal.com]

The Four Horsemen somehow I missed but always heard good things about. They were on one of the Rick Rubin/Def labels, right?

Re: I love Faith No More...

[wickedflea.livejournal.com]

I'd do Mike Patton if I were a chick--which I am most decidedly not. ;)

Yeah, I had friends who saw the Atlanta stop of that tour! Somehow I missed that one--probably didn't have the funds or something. And I had a couple of friends who saw FNM in a club (in Memphis, I think) right after they started taking off but before they became huge. That's one of the bands I most regret not seeing, along w/ Fishbone and Jane's Addiction in their prime. (Saw Jane's two years ago, but it wasn't quite the same.)

[wickedflea.livejournal.com]

Indeed. Still bummed that I've never seen them. I think they were just around here, as a matter of fact. You saw that Lollapalooza, right?

[wickedflea.livejournal.com]

Ugh, I thought so. Have you ever seen a worse eyesore than the Circus site? God, that thing's ugly.

[buscemi.livejournal.com]

Ha! Yeah, it's like they tried to save money by designing the site themselves.

[skeeter138.livejournal.com]

Angel Dust is an amazing album. I picked it up after it was first released and thought to myself "WOW, it's like a 5 piece orchestra in there!" So..sooo good! I still try to find bootlegs from 93', when FNM was peaking and still had Jim. Check out King for a Day..it's a great album in it's own right, and really lets Billy Gloud shine. It's just different than Angel Dust, so it can be a rough transision for previous fans of the band. Jim Martin released a solo album in Japan of mostly a bunch of crap songs right after leaving FNM, I can't say what became of him after.

Check out Fishbone's "Give a Monkey a Brain" for a few really good songs and a few so-so ones. Their first album is classic too.

I don't know if I've ever heard Fishbone..

[asleeponsunbeam.livejournal.com]

I agree about Jane's Addiction. I am still bitter that I missed the first Lollapalooza in high school because of an asshole ex :(

I am not impressed with their new song at all!

xoxo
J

[wickedflea.livejournal.com]

Dude! I listened to King for a Day last night and was blown away. They slide from style to style with such ease, and none of it sounds forced or unnatural at all. I don't know why I'd hardly ever listened to the album before. Funny how that shit works. Will check out that other Fishbone too--thanks!

Do you trade CDRs? Maybe we could work out some trades sometime--I'd love to get ahold of some more live FNM stuff. (Do I have any at all? Can't remember. I know I have some Bungle.) I don't have a lot of "alternative" type stuff (God, I hate that term, but for lack of a better one I'll go with it), but I do have some. I gotta update my list, but it's at http://chrisheller.net/trading" if ya want to take a look.

[skeeter138.livejournal.com]

Sure, I'd love to do some trades! Most of the live CDR and VHS stuff I have involves Faith No More, Primus, Turbonegro, Jack Johnson, 3 Mile Pilot, Tomahawk, Bargain Music, and Sublime. I do have A LOT of CDs after working at the Virgin Megastore though, so if there's something you are looking for I might have it. I will email you a list w/ dates when I can locate all the stuff. The only problem I have is that I accidently left about 200 CDs back home (Doh!)so I'm missing alot of good ones.