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[S2025E01] 2025-01-06

RIFF032 - Faith No More - The Real Thing

DATE: January 06, 2025
DURATION: 69 minutes
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Show Notes

When Bay Area thrash met hip-hop and created an epic that shouldn't work

Hosts: Neil & Chris
Duration: ~69 minutes
Release: 6 January 2025

Episode Description

Welcome to another episode of Riffology - the podcast where two mates dissect the albums that shaped music history. This week, Neil and Chris tackle Faith No More's shape-shifting 1989 breakthrough, an album that crash-landed into the Bay Area thrash scene and somehow fused funk, metal and alternative rock into something totally its own.

What You'll Hear:

  • Band Origins: How Sharp Young Men and Faith No Man morphed into Faith No More right in the middle of the San Francisco Bay Area metal scene, crossing paths with Metallica, Exodus and the rest of the thrash family tree.
  • Producer's Journey: Matt Wallace's story from recording in his parents' garage on an eight-track to shaping a major-label classic while quietly doubting his own abilities and nearly quitting.
  • Patton Arrives: Mike Patton swooping in from Mr. Bungle, writing all the lyrics and melodies in two weeks and squeezing them into music that was already locked.
  • Musical Melting Pot: How each member pulled in a different direction – metal, pop, African rhythms and melodic keys – creating that spider-web tension that makes the record sound timeless.
  • Album As A Whole: Why the opening run of "From Out Of Nowhere", "Epic" and "Falling To Pieces" feels like a rocket launch, yet the deeper cuts and late-album gems like "Underwater Love" keep revealing new favourites.

Featured Tracks & Analysis:

From the thrash-leaning chaos of "Surprise! You're Dead!" to the long, atmospheric title track "The Real Thing" and the overlooked sleeper "Underwater Love", the hosts dig into how the riffs, grooves and hooks fit together. They break down the way Roddy Bottum's keyboards often carry the main hooks, the strange piano blend at the end of "Epic", and why the album's mix of short bursts and sprawling epics still feels fresh rather than dated.

Tangential Gold:

True to Riffology form, expect delightful detours into:

  • MTV memories of the "Epic" video blaring from pub TVs in the 90s.
  • Cliff Burton and Jim Martin's high school band and the Bay Area thrash family tree.
  • Neil's evolving relationship with long songs, from Metallica epics to three-tracks-per-album fantasies.
  • Counting Crows, Damien Rice and the perils of vinyl New Year's resolutions derailed by rare Goo Goo Dolls box sets.

Why This Matters:

"The Real Thing" is the moment Faith No More stopped sounding like anyone else and became the band other people would spend decades trying to copy. The hosts argue that its genre-smashing mix, oddball hooks and push-pull band chemistry make it feel strangely unplaceable in time, more like a force of nature than a period piece, and they pull out lessons about creativity, self-doubt and trusting the weird ideas that should not work but somehow do.

Perfect for: Fans who grew up with "Epic" on MTV, listeners obsessed with the Bay Area metal and alt-rock crossover years, and anyone who loves albums that reward repeat listens with new favourite tracks hiding on side two.

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