"Falling to Pieces" is the third single on
Faith No More's first studio album with
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 ...
on vocals, ''
The Real Thing The Real Thing or Real Thing may refer to:
Film and television
* The Real Thing (film), ''The Real Thing'' (film) or ''Livers Ain't Cheap'', a 1996 American film
* ''The Real Thing'', a 1980 television documentary by James Burke (science historian) ...
''. The song was released as a single on July 2, 1990. The song peaked at number 92 on the ''
Billboard''
Hot 100 and number 40 on the ''Billboard''
Album Rock Tracks chart. The song has rarely been performed live due to the band's disdain for it.
Live performances
Despite its success, the song did not go on to be a live staple, appearing very rarely in concerts after their appearance at the 1993 Phoenix Festival, where
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.
...
announced, "This is the last time we'll ever play this song again" right before the song. During
Second Coming Tour, the band picked up the song again and performed it at least once at a concert in Rio de Janeiro in 2009. The song was performed at the Open'er Festival in 2014 for the first time since 2009. In a 2016 interview, Gould stated, "That song sucks, let's face it. I don't know, we don't groove on that one. Also, when you play it live, it just kind of gets boring".
Music video
The bass-driven song spawned a video directed by Ralph Ziman (who also directed the video for "Epic"), in which lead singer Mike Patton wears a series of different outfits, including one resembling
Alex from the
Stanley Kubrick film ''
A Clockwork Orange''. Billy Gould wears various
death metal band shirts during the video including
Carcass
Carcass or Carcase (both pronounced ) may refer to:
*Dressed carcass, the body of a livestock animal ready for butchery, after removal of skin, visceral organs, head, feet etc.
*Carrion, the decaying dead body of an animal or human being
*The str ...
and, at the time,
Sepultura
Sepultura (, "grave")Barcinski & Gomes 1999, page 17. is a Brazilian heavy metal band from Belo Horizonte. Formed in 1984 by brothers Max and Igor Cavalera,Barcinski & Gomes 1999, page 16. the band was a major force in the groove metal, thra ...
. The video is also notable for using a different mix of the song featuring more prominent background vocals, keyboards, and a guitar solo during the fade out.
There is also another lesser known music video which uses clips from the Brixton Academy performance, played with the album version of the song.
Track listings
Disc one
# "Falling to Pieces" – 3:39
# "
We Care a Lot
''We Care a Lot'' is the debut studio album by American rock band Faith No More, originally released in 1985 and distributed through Mordam Records. On the original vinyl release, the band is credited as Faith. No More. on the album's liner no ...
" (live at Brixton) – 3:59
# "Underwater Love" (live at Brixton) – 3:32
# "
From Out of Nowhere" (live at Brixton) – 3:47
Disc two
# "Falling to Pieces" (re-mix)
# "Zombie Eaters"
# "The Real Thing" (live)
* "The Real Thing" was recorded live at the Wireless on July 30, 1990 also, features ad-lib from Public Enemy's "
911 Is a Joke
"911 Is a Joke" is a 1990 song by American hip hop group Public Enemy, from their third album, ''Fear of a Black Planet''. The song is solely performed by Flavor Flav. It was released as a single and became a hit in April 1990, reaching number ...
".
The Brixton Academy live tracks are different mixes to those found on the
LP of the concert, most notably including the line "About the smack and crack and whack that hits the streets" on "We Care a Lot", which is mostly muted on the LP mix.
fnm.com discography
/ref>
Charts
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Falling To Pieces
Faith No More songs
1990 singles
Songs written by Billy Gould
Songs written by Roddy Bottum
Songs written by Mike Patton
Songs written by Jim Martin (musician)
1989 songs
Slash Records singles