I’m pretty sure most of us are well acquainted with one of Faith No More’s most controversial moments—the 1989 video for “Epic” directed by video visionary Ralph Ziman. The cringey, surreal video got animal rights activists riled up as it features a fish flailing around on the floor of the set seemingly in the throes of death as the song dramatically plays out. Historically, FNM’s reputation for fucking with their fans, bands they’ve toured with, and random people are well documented. They danced in the nude around Billy Idol in Seattle in 1990, and Mike Patton has told countless, wildly gross stories about the things he does with poop. Although not all the yarns were always factual, such as the rumor he took a shit in Axl Rose’s orange juice while Faith was touring with Guns N’ Roses in 1991. Now that we’ve established how members of FNM have enjoyed fabricating some of their antics let’s break down one of their greatest pranks and the video for “Epic” which started it all. 

After parting ways with original Faith No More vocalist Chuck Mosley, the band joined forces with 21-year-old Mike Patton for their third album, The Real Thing. Armed with Patton’s aggressive vocals and innovative musical arrangements “Epic” would become FNM’s first top ten hit and, with respect to Mr. Mosely, put the band on the map. The video was a massive hit with MTV viewers and FNM performed it live and unhinged at the MTV Video Music Awards show in September of 1990 and on Saturday Night Live in December of the same year. Living up to their rep as tall-tale tellers, and likely to help quell some of the negativity surrounding the fish in the video gasping for air from its gills, a story began to circulate that the fish in question was named Linear Soul Child and was formerly a pet of Icelandic chanteuse Björk. The part about Björk owning a fish called Linear Soul Child isn’t that hard to buy, but the rest of the tale is slightly fishy, and it goes like this; Björk was given the fish as a gift from a fan after her poetry reading in San Francisco. She then traveled to FNM keyboardist Roddy Bottum’s home in Berkley, California where he was throwing a party. Sometime during the evening, the fish disappeared. In another unlikely move, it was alleged during an interview with CNN (?) Björk would make the following statement about her beloved Linear Soul Child and what, if anything, the members of Faith No More had to do with its possible demise after appearing in the video:   

“I know those guys, I know they wouldn’t do anything to harm [him]. But I know, if I had gone home with MY fish, which was given to ME, none of this would have ever happened.”

 

The fish from the “Epic” video.
 
While I’m sure we’d all love to believe the fish in “Epic” belonged to Björk, it’s simply not true. Sure, it’s not hard to conceive Björk was traveling with a fish she got as a gift from a random fan in San Francisco, but it sadly never happened much like the shitty Axl Rose orange juice caper. As far as the idea for the fish to be used in the video and where it came from, there are two accounts—one from director Ralph Ziman and the other from FNM bassist Billy Gould. Gould claimed the idea to use the fish in the video was his, inspired by the ethos of director John Waters, and in Gould’s words, how to get “maximum attention for minimum money.” In an interview from 2010, Zimon debunked the Björk rumor (which he had never heard until then) and gave his version of how the fish ended up in the video: 

“It wasn’t Björk’s goldfish. But yes, I am responsible for that. And it wasn’t even a goldfish, interestingly enough. I was talking with someone about this yesterday. We made that video in 1987. I remember the band had one day off from tour, and they were in London. The record company had phoned us on very short notice and asked us to do a music video. They made it sound like a really low priority. I think it was being done for Warner Bros. at the time. I just made a list of a bunch of things I thought we could do. Exploding a piano. A fish flopping around. We literally had one day to pre-produce it. So we handed the fish off to the art department. I can’t remember what it was. If it was a carp? It was a freshwater fish. We shot that in London in some studios next to the tour venue. And we wound up letting that fish go in the river when we were finished. We had a couple of them. We would let them flop around, and then we’d swap it over, and we’d shoot another one. I don’t remember what kind of fish they were, but the animal handler had brought them in because they were so feisty.”

First of all, Zimon must have meant to say the video was made in 1989, not 1987 as that would pre-date Patton’s formal affiliation with FNM. Anyway, now that we know the fish in “Epic” was some sort of British freshwater fish, Mike Patton has also gone on the record saying the song is about sex, or more accurately, the frustration associated with not getting it on enough. Later in 2005, Patton would say his unique vocal stylings in “Epic” was his attempt to cultivate his sound to be in line with Debbie Harry’s performance on “Rapture,” a song Patton often covered in live performance during his time with Mr. Bungle. 
 

Faith No More performing “Epic” in London, 1990.

Previously on Dangerous Minds:
Courtney Love, then just 20, fronting Faith No More in 1984
Faith No More danced naked around Billy Idol during a Halloween gig in Seattle, 1990
Mike Patton performs in his pajamas with Faith No More on MTV’s ‘Da Show’
Patton is GOD: Faith No More channel Black Sabbath with their crushing cover of ‘War Pigs’

A vintage concert shirt from Billy Idol’s Charmed Life Tour featuring Faith No More.
 
When Billy Idol asked Faith No More to join his Charmed Life Tour, he was still recovering from a near-fatal motorcycle accident which almost cost him his life and one of his legs. Idol’s extensive injuries are also the reason you only see the rocker from the torso up in the video for “Cradle of Love” as the wreck left him temporarily paralyzed. Before hooking up with Idol, FNM had been on the road with Soundgarden and Voivod. The would officially join Idol in early September for a run of approximately 30 shows with their final gig scheduled for Seattle on October 31st, 1990. Reviews from this leg of Idol’s tour with Faith No More are full of all kinds of stories including FNM pissing off crowds by pissing on them while opening for Idol at the Cow Palace in California. However, nothing on this tour would live up to the debauchery witnessed by the 18,000 in attendance at Seattle Center Arena (now Key Arena) on Halloween night in 1990.

Based on a review of the show published in Seattle publication City Heat by writer Michael Edward Browning, Mike Patton walked out on stage in a pair of gorilla pants and, according to Browning, a “Doris Day” wig. However, with a little more digging, it appears Patton’s intention was not to look like Doris Day, but, most likely, Nirvana vocalist Kurt Cobain. Take a look:
 

Mike Patton on stage at Seattle Center Arena on October 31st, 1990.
 
Patton would then devolve into his signature manic arm waving/drunken sailor trudging/octave-smashing self, which Browning overheard a fellow audience member (who he referred to as a “mother”) describe as someone doing a good imitation of a “retarded person.” Yeesh, this chick. As Faith continued thundering through their set, they launched into their single “Epic.” During the song, Idol’s road crew rolled out a huge pile of smelt on a lightning rig and dumped it on the stage floor. After the initial shock of having 40 pounds of dead fish suddenly appear on stage, Patton started stuffing them in his gorilla pants. The rest of the band proceeded to lob the smelt into the crowd before returning to the stage to perform their cover of the Commodore’s soulful classic, “Easy.”

Now it was time for Idol to take the stage and for Faith No More to get a bit of revenge for Idol’s fish fuckery. And they didn’t waste any time.

While Idol was strutting around during “Cradle of Love” a member of FNM (likely Mike Patton) appeared on stage dressed in a gorilla costume and started coordinating dance moves with Idol’s backup singers. The rest of Idol’s set would go on without any other antics until his encore. While Billy was crooning out the moody jam “Eyes Without a Face” Faith No More would return to the stage in the nude with their heads and faces covered by masks, towels, and bags. Patton, Roddy Bottum, James Martin, Bill Gould and, Mike Bordin formed a naked dancing prayer circle around Idol until Billy joined them. There has been some question in the past as to the identities of the nude marauders but in a Tweet from 2013 Idol confirmed it was Faith No More on stage that night au naturel. On an even weirder note, Idol would end up having the last hee-haw by letting five miniature pigs and a fucking goat loose in FNM’s dressing room. After returning from their heroic naked hijinks, it looked more like a barnyard than a backstage party as the piggies and their goat friend chowed down on trays of leftover food in their dressing room.

Footage or photographs from the show (with the exception of the one in this post), do not appear to exist. To try to make up for this, check out this “performance” by FNM from Top of the Pops. As you may know, bands on Top of the Pops were required to lipsynch and at around 1:24 you can see Mike Patton not giving a single fuck about TOTP’s rules.
 

Faith No More on ‘Top of the Pops’ in 1990.
 
HT: Michael Edward Browning

Previously on Dangerous Minds:
The horror film that inspired Billy Idol’s ‘Eyes Without a Face’ & how he almost lost his eyeballs
Goofy young Trent Reznor plays a Billy Idol song in his early 80s ‘New Wave’ cover band
Billy Idol and Dr. Timothy Leary jamming in the studio
Mike Patton performs in his pajamas with Faith No More on MTV’s ‘Da Show’
Patton is GOD: Faith No More channel Black Sabbath with their crushing cover of ‘War Pigs’

Faith No More, early 1990s.
 
Da Show was a blink-and-you-missed-it program on MTV hosted by Doctor Dré (not to be confused with Dr. Dre of N.W.A) and Ed Lover of Yo! MTV Raps fame. It was best described as a kind of variety show that would welcome timely guests and musical acts including a rather epic appearance by Faith No More on December 26th, 1990. 

It’s been said that Faith No More was the only metal band to ever appear on the short-lived show and man, did they ever fucking bring it and then some to the studio’s tiny stage and live audience. After the band spits out a blistering version of “Epic,” Dré and Ed Lover crash the stage so Ed can do his famous(?) “Ed Lover Dance.” Following that Dré and Ed stick around on stage while Faith performs “Edge of the World,” a downtempo number from their 1989 album The Real Thing. This is yet another bizarro time capsule from the 90s that I had no idea even existed until today and the nine-plus minute video is well worth watching as the then 22-year-old Patton delivers a more than solid performance on this long-forgotten show. Patton in pajamas for the WIN!
 

Faith No More performing “Epic” and “Edge of the World” on the ‘Da Show.’
 
More after the jump…

 
Like many of you, I’m still trying to process the sudden death of Soundgarden vocalist Chris Cornell last week. Here in Seattle, where Cornell was born, there were several memorials held around the city including one at the site that inspired the band’s name—A Sound Garden—a musical sculpture park where twelve 20+ foot structures outfitted with organ pipes emanate with sound whenever the wind blows. After Cornell passed, Soundgarden, Temple of the Dog and Pearl Jam drummer Matt Cameron posted a heart-wrenching comment on his Facebook page saying “My dark knight is gone,” a sentiment that hit entirely too close to home for those who knew Cornell as well as those who often suffer in silence—forever searching for ways to deal with their own depression and anxiety.

At an impromptu memorial held at the radio station KEXP on the day of Cornell’s death, 400 people showed up to collectively grieve at the station’s gathering space. While addressing the crowd, long-time DJ John Richards said that “part of the city (of Seattle) had died” that day. Often, music is something that can be hugely helpful and cathartic when you’re trying to make sense of unfathomable events such as Cornell’s impossibly sad, untimely passing. And that is exactly the purpose of my post today—to share Soundgarden’s legacy by way of their sonic, ear-smashing music.

Though I know your social media feeds have likely been filled with news about the legendary vocalist, I really wanted to support as well as spread the idea of celebrating Cornell’s life and his work with Soundgarden, who are/were without question one of the greatest rock bands of the last 30 years. A large part of their appeal was, of course, the animal magnetism of Chris Cornell’s stage presence and his immaculate four-octave vocal range. Cornell was also the primary lyricist for Soundgarden, which helped solidify his deep connection to their fan base.

More after the jump…