"Another Body Murdered" is a 1993 single by
Faith No More
Faith No More is an American rock band from San Francisco, California, formed in 1979. Before settling on the current name in July 1983, the band performed under the names Sharp Young Men and later Faith No Man. Bassist Billy Gould, keyboardist/r ...
and
Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E.
Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E. is an American hip hop band from Carson, California, consisting of the American Samoa Devoux brothers Paul (died 2020), Ted (died 2018), Donald, Roscoe, Danny (died 2022), David and Vincent. It is noted for its use of a live ...
, taken from the
soundtrack album
A soundtrack album is any album that incorporates music directly recorded from the soundtrack of a particular feature film or television show. The first such album to be commercially released was Walt Disney's ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'' ...
for the film ''
Judgment Night''. The brainchild of
Cypress Hill
Cypress Hill is an American hip hop group from South Gate, California. They have sold over 20 million albums worldwide and have multi-platinum and platinum albums. They are considered to be among the main progenitors of West Coast and 1990 ...
's manager,
Happy Walters, the soundtrack paired rock and hip-hop acts on each of its songs; Faith No More sought out the American-Samoan Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E. after becoming interested in
Samoan a capella singing.
Charting in several countries, including Ireland, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom, "Another Body Murdered" has received mixed reactions from music critics, with some seeing it as a harbinger of later acts such as
Korn
Korn (stylized as KoЯn, or occasionally KoRn) is an American nu metal band from Bakersfield, California, formed in 1993. The band is notable for pioneering the nu metal genre and bringing it into the mainstream.
Originally formed in 1993 ...
or
Limp Bizkit
Limp Bizkit is an American rap rock band from Jacksonville, Florida. Its lineup consists of lead vocalist Fred Durst, drummer John Otto, guitarist Wes Borland, turntablist DJ Lethal and bassist Sam Rivers. The band's music is marked by D ...
, and others comparing it unfavourably to
Public Enemy
"Public enemy" is a term which was first widely used in the United States in the 1930s to describe individuals whose activities were seen as criminal and extremely damaging to society, though the phrase had been used for centuries to describe p ...
and
Anthrax
Anthrax is an infection caused by the bacterium ''Bacillus anthracis''. It can occur in four forms: skin, lungs, intestinal, and injection. Symptom onset occurs between one day and more than two months after the infection is contracted. The sk ...
's earlier crossover single "
Bring the Noise".
Production
The 1993 film ''
Judgment Night'' featured a
soundtrack album
A soundtrack album is any album that incorporates music directly recorded from the soundtrack of a particular feature film or television show. The first such album to be commercially released was Walt Disney's ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'' ...
composed entirely of collaborations between hip-hop and rock acts; the soundtrack was the brainchild of
Cypress Hill
Cypress Hill is an American hip hop group from South Gate, California. They have sold over 20 million albums worldwide and have multi-platinum and platinum albums. They are considered to be among the main progenitors of West Coast and 1990 ...
manager
Happy Walters. He was inspired to create the pairings based on several influences in the early 1990s―the emergence of
Rage Against the Machine
Rage Against the Machine (often abbreviated as RATM or shortened to simply Rage) is an American rock band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1991, the group consists of vocalist Zack de la Rocha, bassist and backing vocalist Tim Commerfor ...
's rap-influenced rock sound, and the success of Cypress Hill opening for a
Pearl Jam
Pearl Jam is an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1990. The band's lineup consists of founding members Jeff Ament (bass guitar), Stone Gossard (rhythm guitar), Mike McCready (lead guitar), and Eddie Vedder (lead vocals, guita ...
concert in Seattle.
Following the release of their 1992 album ''
Angel Dust'', Faith No More received several offers to appear on compilation albums, with bass player
Billy Gould
William David Gould (born April 24, 1963 in Los Angeles, California) is an American musician and producer. He is best known as the bassist of Faith No More.
Biography Early years
Billy said he is of Hungarian descent from his father's side.
F ...
feeling that the ''Judgment Night'' offer sounded unique, described it as "something that we could do that’s kind of cool".
Gould and singer
Mike Patton
Michael Allan Patton (born January 27, 1968) is an American singer, producer, film composer and voice actor, best known as the lead vocalist of the alternative metal band Faith No More. Noted for his vocal proficiency, diverse singing techni ...
requested to work with the
American Samoa
American Samoa ( sm, Amerika Sāmoa, ; also ' or ') is an unincorporated territory of the United States located in the South Pacific Ocean, southeast of the island country of Samoa. Its location is centered on . It is east of the International ...
n group
Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E.
Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E. is an American hip hop band from Carson, California, consisting of the American Samoa Devoux brothers Paul (died 2020), Ted (died 2018), Donald, Roscoe, Danny (died 2022), David and Vincent. It is noted for its use of a live ...
after becoming interested in Samoan a capella music, and were impressed by the latter group's instrumentation. Faith No More's guitar player at the time,
Jim Martin, did not wish to participate, so Gould provided the guitar parts for the single, with Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E. providing bass guitar.
During the music video shoot for the single, the band staged an
intervention for keyboard player
Roddy Bottum
Roswell Christopher Bottum (born July 1, 1963) is an American musician, best known as the keyboardist for the San Francisco alternative metal band Faith No More. He is also guitarist and co-lead vocalist for the pop group Imperial Teen, best kno ...
, who had been dealing with a heroin addiction at the time; Bottum successfully quit the drug after attending rehab as a result.
Release
"Another Body Murdered" was released as a single in September 1993.
It subsequently charted in several countries, including Ireland, where it spent four weeks in the
Irish Singles Chart
The Irish Singles Chart is the Republic of Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA) and compiled on their behalf by the Official Charts Company. Chart rankings are bas ...
, reaching a peak position of 13;
New Zealand, where it reached number 41 during a two-week chart run;
and the United Kingdom, reaching a high point of number 26 during its three weeks in the
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
.
Reception
"Another Body Murdered" has been described by Jeremy Allen of ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' as a "grim dog-eat-dog tale of foul play" that serves to showcase Mike Patton's versatile vocal range.
Writing for ''
The A.V. Club
''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...
'', Sean O'Neal described the song as having "a chest-puffing, smack-talking energy that’s undeniable".
O'Neal cited it as an influence on later bands such as
Korn
Korn (stylized as KoЯn, or occasionally KoRn) is an American nu metal band from Bakersfield, California, formed in 1993. The band is notable for pioneering the nu metal genre and bringing it into the mainstream.
Originally formed in 1993 ...
or
Limp Bizkit
Limp Bizkit is an American rap rock band from Jacksonville, Florida. Its lineup consists of lead vocalist Fred Durst, drummer John Otto, guitarist Wes Borland, turntablist DJ Lethal and bassist Sam Rivers. The band's music is marked by D ...
, stating "you can definitely hear the ground being laid for the scores of bands who would strip Faith No More of all its oddball eccentricity, then regurgitate only its meatiest chunks".
A contemporary review in ''
Spin
Spin or spinning most often refers to:
* Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thread by twisting fibers together, traditionally by hand spinning
* Spin, the rotation of an object around a central axis
* Spin (propaganda), an intentionally b ...
'' magazine by Mark Blackwell was unfavourable towards the release, finding it to be overly derivative of the earlier
Anthrax
Anthrax is an infection caused by the bacterium ''Bacillus anthracis''. It can occur in four forms: skin, lungs, intestinal, and injection. Symptom onset occurs between one day and more than two months after the infection is contracted. The sk ...
and
Public Enemy
"Public enemy" is a term which was first widely used in the United States in the 1930s to describe individuals whose activities were seen as criminal and extremely damaging to society, though the phrase had been used for centuries to describe p ...
collaboration "
Bring the Noise", writing that "it's a concept that wears thin fast".
Track list
All songs written by Billy Gould, Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E., Mike Bordin, Mike Patton and Roddy Bottum, except where specified
Charts
Footnotes
References
*
*
{{authority control
1993 songs
Faith No More songs
Songs written by Billy Gould
Songs written by Roddy Bottum
Songs written by Mike Patton
Songs written by Mike Bordin