''The Real Thing'' is the third studio album by American rock band

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 ...

, released on June 20, 1989 by

Slash Slash may refer to: * Slash (punctuation), the "/" character Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Slash (Marvel Comics) * Slash (''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'') Music * Harry Slash & The Slashtones, an American rock band * Nash th ...

and

Reprise Records Reprise Records is an American record label founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra. It is owned by Warner Music Group, and operates through Warner Records, one of its flagship labels. Artists currently signed to Reprise Records include Enya, Michael ...

. It was the first album by the band not to feature vocalist Chuck Mosley, instead, the album featured Mike Patton from the experimental/

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...

band Mr. Bungle. On this album, Faith No More continued to advance their sound range, combining funk metal, rap metal and alternative rock.

Background

Faith No More underwent several line-up changes before releasing their first album, '' We Care a Lot'', released in 1985 and distributed through San Francisco-based label Mordam Records. On the original vinyl release, the band is credited as "Faith. No More" on the album's liner notes, back cover, and on the record itself. Within a year the band signed up with Slash Records. The debut album's title track " We Care a Lot" was later re-recorded, for their follow-up album '' Introduce Yourself'' in 1987, and released as their first single. Membership remained stable until vocalist Chuck Mosley was replaced by Mike Patton in 1988.

Production

The writing for the majority of the music for ''The Real Thing'' took place after the tour for '' Introduce Yourself''. A demo version of "The Morning After", under the moniker "New Improved Song", with alternate lyrics written and sung by Chuck Mosley was released on the ''Sounds·Waves 2'' extended play with the '' Sounds'' magazine. "Surprise! You're Dead!" was composed by Jim Martin in the 1970s, while he was guitarist for Agents of Misfortune; Agents of Misfortune also featured Cliff Burton in their line up. The recording of the song took place in December 1988 after Chuck Mosley was fired from the band, and was completed prior to the hiring of Mike Patton, who then wrote all the lyrics for the songs, and recorded them the following month over the music. Producer

Matt Wallace Matt Wallace is an American record producer. He is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley, The recording sessions yielded several songs that did not appear on the album. Two of them, "The Grade" and "The Cowboy Song", later appeared on the singles and on the UK edition of ''Live at the Brixton Academy''. A third song, "Sweet Emotion", was later re-recorded with different lyrics as "The Perfect Crime" for the soundtrack to the film that also starred a cameo appearance from guitarist Jim Martin, ''

Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey ''Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey'' is a 1991 American science fiction comedy film, and the feature directorial debut of Pete Hewitt. It is the second film in the ''Bill & Ted'' franchise, and a sequel to ''Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure'' (1989). ...

''. The original version was released on ''Flexible Fiend 3'' with '' Kerrang!'' magazine issue 258 and, more recently '' The Very Best Definitive Ultimate Greatest Hits Collection'', the greatest hits compilation released to coincide with the band's

reunion tour A concert tour (or simply tour) is a series of concerts by an artist or group of artists in different cities, countries or locations. Often concert tours are named to differentiate different tours by the same artist and to associate a specific to ...

Controversy

After the release of the album, Faith No More developed somewhat of a rivalry with fellow Californian group Red Hot Chili Peppers, whom they had previously played with on The Uplift Mofo Party Tour. Singer

Anthony Kiedis Anthony Kiedis ( ; born November 1, 1962) is an American singer and songwriter. He is a founding member and lead vocalist of the rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers. Kiedis and his fellow band members were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fa ...

accused Mike Patton of stealing his "style" in the "

Epic Epic commonly refers to: * Epic poetry, a long narrative poem celebrating heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation * Epic film, a genre of film with heroic elements Epic or EPIC may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and medi ...

" music video. He told '' Kerrang!'' magazine "My

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one mem ...

says he's gonna kidnap

atton Atton () is a commune in the Meurthe-et-Moselle department in northeastern France. Population See also *Communes of the Meurthe-et-Moselle department The following is a list of the 591 Communes of France, communes of the Meurthe-et-Moselle Dep ...

shave his hair off and cut off one of his feet, just so he'll be forced to find a style of his own". In a separate interview, he clarified his comment, remarking "I love ''The Real Thing'', and I liked his vocals on that record. I mean, when I heard the record I noticed subtle similarities, but when I saw that video it was like, 'Wait a second here, what the fuck?. Roddy Bottum responded by saying:

To me, our band sounds nothing like Red Hot Chili Peppers. If you're talking about long hair, rapping with his shirt off, then yeah, I can see similarities. But beyond that, I can't see any. I haven't talked to them since this whole thing started. We're really good friends with that band and I'd like to think they're doing it ... like as a favour".

Mike Patton finally addressed the allegations from Kiedis in 1990, commenting that "It just kind of came out of the blue. It doesn't bother me a bit. I got a real big kick out of it to tell you the truth. I mean, if he's gonna talk about me in interviews, that's fine - it's free press! Either he's feeling inadequate or old or I don't know, but I have no reason to talk shit about him." Later in 2001, Patton also theorized that "I think Anthony, deep down, feels like I'm a better dancer than he is. I think I shake my booty just a little bit fresher than he does. And if he would stop doing drugs I think he could outdance me. Maybe one day we'll have a breakoff, just breakdance."

Touring and support

Tours

The tour in support of ''The Real Thing'' was the first Faith No More tour conducted with Mike Patton. The band had begun to be marketed as metal by the media after the album's release, and they were now primarily playing with other bands from the heavy metal genre. Notable artists Faith No More performed with during the touring cycle include

Metallica Metallica is an American heavy metal band. The band was formed in 1981 in Los Angeles by vocalist/guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...

, Billy Idol, Soundgarden, Voivod,

Sacred Reich Sacred Reich is an American thrash metal band based in Phoenix, Arizona, that was formed in 1985. The band split in 2000, but reunited in 2006. Sacred Reich has been credited, along with Testament, Destruction, Death Angel and Dark Angel, for ...

, Forbidden, Primus, Babes in Toyland and

Poison Poison is a chemical substance that has a detrimental effect to life. The term is used in a wide range of scientific fields and industries, where it is often specifically defined. It may also be applied colloquially or figuratively, with a broa ...

. They managed to attract controversy for mocking the party/sex-filled lifestyles of glam metal tourmates such as Poison at several shows in Europe during 1990. The second show of the tour was filmed for the music video to " From out of Nowhere" in the I-Beam nightclub. During the show, Patton had a beer bottle smashed over his right hand, causing lacerations to some tendons. He regained use of his hand after it healed, but he no longer has feeling in it. The band's August, 28 1990 concert at Burgherrenhalle in

Kaiserslautern Kaiserslautern (; Palatinate German: ''Lautre'') is a city in southwest Germany, located in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate at the edge of the Palatinate Forest. The historic centre dates to the 9th century. It is from Paris, from Frankfur ...

, Germany is notable for featuring the only ever performance of the song "Faster Disco" with Patton on vocals. The concert also featured several other Chuck Mosley-era songs which have almost never been performed live with Patton, including "Blood", "Greed" and "The Jungle". At that time, the band's first independent album '' We Care a Lot'' was not in circulation. "As the Worm Turns" and "Why Do You Bother" were the only songs from the album to be regularly worked into the band's setlists on the tour (aside from the title track, which was re-recorded for their major label debut '' Introduce Yourself''). Regarding the decision to still perform material from ''We Care a Lot'', Gould said to '' Metal Hammer'' in May 1990 that, "we'd feel weird cutting that part of ourselves off. We'd be ignoring a root of the tree, if you will." Touring in support of the album lasted from 1989 to 1991. Due to their small catalog at the time, the band eventually grew tired of playing songs from ''The Real Thing'' towards the end of the tour. This has been cited as one of the reasons for the change in sound on their next album ''

Angel Dust Angel dust may refer to: Common uses * A common name for the drug phencyclidine (PCP) * Angel dusting, a misleading marketing practice Comics and videos * Angel Dust (comics), a fictional mutant * ''Angel Dust'', a manga by Kouta Hirano * '' ...

''.

Singles

The first single to be released from the album was "From Out of Nowhere" on August 30, 1989 which failed to make the UK Singles Chart. It was re-released on April 2, 1990 and made number twenty-three on the UK Singles Chart. In between these releases was "Epic" on January 30, 1990, the music video for which received extensive airplay on

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

throughout the year, despite provoking anger from animal rights activists for a slow motion shot of a fish flopping out of water. "Falling to Pieces" then saw release on July 2, 1990 and made it to number 92 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 before the reissue of "Epic", which became the band's first number one hit single, on the ARIA Charts, as well their only top ten single on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, where it reached ninth position. "Surprise! You're Dead!" had a music video produced for it, directed by bassist Billy Gould, featuring footage shot in Chile during a South American tour in 1991. However, the song never saw release as an official single, and the video was not released until its appearance on Video Croissant. "Edge of the World" saw limited release as a two track promo single in Brazil on CD and 12" vinyl, with the album version as track one and the Brixton Academy live version as the second track, in a yellow slipcase with basic black text.

Critical reception

''The Real Thing'' is one of Faith No More's most successful albums to date. It is now considered a classic metal album by fans and critics alike. Although released in mid-1989, ''The Real Thing'' did not enter the ''Billboard'' 200 until February 1990, after the release of the second single from the album, "

". The album eventually peaked at number eleven on the chart in October 1990, following the reissue of "Epic" almost a year and half after the initial release of the album. It was eventually certified platinum in U.S. and Canada as well as being certified Silver in the United Kingdom. Jonathan Gold, for the '' Los Angeles Times'', referred to Faith No More as "the kings of neo metal" in 1990, while ''The Real Thing'' had "been on the sales charts for eight months", writing:

Faith No More is a band with a punk-rock bassist, a classically trained keyboardist, a punk-funk singer and a drummer who would probably rather be playing Ghanaian tribal music, which goes a long way toward explaining the band's diversity. And, of course, there's heavy-metal Jim. Call what they do neo-metal.

The genre of ''The Real Thing'' has been variously described as having a predominant "funk-metal groove" by Chris Morris for ''Billboard'' magazine in 1992 and containing "funk, metal, traditional rock, instrumental, and even a little 'easy listening by Travis Lowell for ''Toxic Universe'' in 2001. Tom Breihan wrote for ''

Stereogum ''Stereogum'' is a daily Internet publication that focuses on music news, reviews, interviews, and commentary. The site was created in January 2002 by Scott Lapatine. ''Stereogum'' was one of the first MP3 blogs and has received several award ...

'' in 2012 that the album

gets a ton of credit and blame for helping to popularize rap-metal, but it was a lot more than that ... veered from quasi-Middle-Eastern orchestral churn ("Woodpecker From Mars") to dementedly creepy lounge-singer irony ("Edge Of The World") to all-out blitzkrieg ("Surprise! You're Dead"), but the whole thing felt cohesive because the band remained in a thunderous groove throughout and because they always tossed in triumphant hooks like the synth-line on "Falling To Pieces."

Following the 2015 remastered re-release of the album, several sources retrospectively reviewed it; Brandon Geist for '' Rolling Stone'' wrote that it was then "considered to be an alterna-metal classic", and Joseph Schafer for ''

'' ranked it as the second best Faith No More album, commenting that it was "more cohesive ndlovable" than ''Angel Dust''. They called it "sublime funk metal" and wrote that "the amount of diversity Faith No More crammed into 1989's The Real Thing seemed to be a middle finger to arena rock". Stuart Berman for '' Pitchfork'' wrote that it had a "reputation as an alt-rock trailblazer" and "connection to a long-past funk-metal zeitgeist" continuing to state that the album track "Epic" "was perfectly timed to satiate the then-burgeoning appetite for rap-rock". Chris Conaton for '' PopMatters'' wrote in 2015 that the album "made a minor splash in the alternative metal community" and featured "a fascinating and entertaining smorgasbord of styles", and Ian Gittins wrote in their book ''The Periodic Table of Heavy Rock'':

when Mike Patton replaced
huck Mosley Huck may refer to: Characters * Huckleberry Finn, a character in four novels by Mark Twain * Huckleberry Hound, a cartoon character created by animation studio Hanna-Barbera * Huck, a character on ''Scandal'' * Huck, a character in the eponymous ...
... FNM had all the standard hard-rock assault weapons of seizure-like rhythms, chugging guitar detonations and seismic drumming in their arsenal, but accessorized them with wildly eclectic influences from hip hop to synth pop and a brutally sarcastic sense of black humour.

Legacy

The Dillinger Escape Plan frontman Greg Puciato named ''The Real Thing'' one of the albums that changed his life and, on the month of the album's 30th anniversary, he wrote an article for ''Faith No More Followers'' about the impact that it had on him and

alternative music Alternative music may refer to the following types of music: *Alternative rock *Alternative pop *Alternative R&B *Neo soul, sometimes known as alternative soul *Alternative reggaeton *Alternative hip hop *Alternative dance *Alternative metal *Chris ...

. In 2015,

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 ...

vocalist Jonathan Davis stated:

My favorite Faith No More record is ''The Real Thing''. That's when Mike Patton took over. That's the one. lthoughI do like '' We Care a Lot''. We got a lot of our influences from ''The Real Thing''. It showed everybody you could do heavy music and not be "metal". It was something completely different.

In a January 1997 interview with ''

Guitar World ''Guitar World'' is a monthly music magazine for guitarists – and fans of guitar-based music and trends – that has been published since July 1980. ''Guitar World'', the best-selling guitar magazine in the United States, contains original art ...

'', Korn's guitarist Brian "Head" Welch listed it as an album that changed his life, recalling:

I was about 17 when I first heard it, and listening to a lot of Metallica,
24-7 Spyz 24-7 Spyz (pronounced "twenty-four-seven spies") are an American rock band from the South Bronx, New York, formed in 1986, originally consisting of Jimi Hazel (born Wayne K. Richardson) (guitars), Rick Skatore (born Kenneth D. Lucas) (bass), Ki ...
, Living Colour and Fishbone. I dug them all, but Faith No More moved me in a different way, a way more than anything else. It totally changed my direction. It said to me that you didn't have to follow a certain path, that you could just create anything, go out and mess around with anything, that there were no rules. I remember seeing them open up for Metallica, and everyone started booing them going "Rap sucks!" I was so bummed. I felt like screaming at everyone, "Quit fucking booing them and listen." They all just heard the rap beat and didn't give them a chance. Then, six months later, they were all over MTV and the same fuckers who were booing were probably lining up to see them.

James "Munky" Shaffer James Christian Shaffer (born June 6, 1970), also known by his stage name "Munky", is an American musician best known as co-founder and guitarist of the nu metal band Korn. He has cited Steve Vai, Eddie Van Halen, and Randy Rhoads as some of h ...

, another of Korn's guitarists, also praised the album, recalling:

Fieldy and I were big Faith No More fans. In the late 80s they were playing a kind of funk rock; so were the Red Hot Chili Peppers, but we tended to lean more towards the minor progressions. When Patton joined in '89 they dropped a single called "From Out of Nowhere" and we were sold all the way. At that point we became real fanatics – started researching the guy and going up to San Francisco to see them play. Every song on this record was super inspiring to us. The song structures and Patton's sense of melody – it was alternative metal at its best.

"Epic" was ranked number thirty on

VH1 VH1 (originally an initialism of Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network based in New York City and owned by Paramount Global. It was created by Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment, at the time a division of Warner Commun ...

's 40 Greatest Metal Songs, and number sixty-seven on their 100 Greatest One-hit Wonders list.

Cover versions

* "From Out of Nowhere" has been covered by Canadian new wave/electronic rock band The Birthday Massacre on their compilation album '' Imagica'', Finnish band Apocalyptica on their second album, '' Inquisition Symphony'', German power metal band Helloween covered the song on their cover album '' Metal Jukebox'' and the Danish metal band, Raunchy covered the song on their album ''

Velvet Noise Extended Raunchy is a Danish metal band, formed in 1992. They have released six studio albums, and are currently signed to Massacre Records. History Raunchy was founded in 1992 by Jesper Tilsted, Jesper Kvist, and Morten Toft Hansen, who started pla ...

''. It has also been covered by the band Five Finger Death Punch, and is featured on the UK version of their album '' The Way of the Fist'' as well as the soundtrack for ''

The Avengers Avenger, Avengers, The Avenger, or The Avengers may refer to: Arts and entertainment In the Marvel Comics universe * Avengers (comics), a team of superheroes ** Avengers (Marvel Cinematic Universe), a central team of protagonist superheroes o ...

''. * "The Real Thing" was covered by American progressive metal band

Redemption Redemption may refer to: Religion * Redemption (theology), an element of salvation to express deliverance from sin * Redemptive suffering, a Roman Catholic belief that suffering can partially remit punishment for sins if offered to Jesus * Pi ...

on the album '' The Fullness of Time'' as a bonus track. * "Epic" has been covered both in concerts and on the '' Kerrang! Higher Voltage'' CD, a compilation of artists covering other songs. Such artists include the Welsh rock band The Automatic; the CD was released June 20, 2007. The

metalcore Metalcore (also known as metallic hardcore) is a fusion music genre that combines elements of extreme metal and hardcore punk. As with other styles blending metal and hardcore, such as crust punk and grindcore, metalcore is noted for its use of ...

band Atreyu also covered the song on their album '' Lead Sails Paper Anchor'', and the Swedish indie band

Love Is All Love Is All may refer to: Bands *Love Is All (band), Swedish indie rock band Films * ''Love is All'' (2007 film), Dutch film * ''Love Is All'' (2014 film), a documentary film by Kim Longinotto Songs *"Love Is All", a song by The Action *"Love Is ...

covered it on their 2008 tour. * "Surprise! You're Dead!" has been covered by Jim Martin following his departure from the band, on his solo release '' Milk and Blood'', and by Humans Being for the '' Tribute of the Year'' album. It was also covered by Belgian

death metal Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep growling vocals; aggressive, powerful drumming, feat ...

band Aborted on their album '' Slaughter & Apparatus: A Methodical Overture'', by American technical death metal band Revocation as a bonus track on their album ''

Chaos of Forms ''Chaos of Forms'' is the third studio album by American technical death metal band Revocation, released on August 16, 2011 by Relapse Records. The song "Cradle Robber" was released and streamed on their Facebook page on May 10, 2011. This album ...

'', and by American deathcore band All Shall Perish as a bonus track on their album '' This Is Where It Ends''. * "Zombie Eaters" was covered by Ill Niño with Chino Moreno for their extended play '' The Under Cover Sessions''. * "Edge of the World" is covered twice on the ''Tribute of the Year'' album by both

Hate Dept. Hate Dept. is an American industrial/ punk rock band, formed in 1991 by Steven Seibold. Seibold is a multi-instrumentalist who writes, records and releases Hate Dept. albums with minimal outside help. He formed Hate Dept. in 1991 in reaction to fi ...

and Combine Heathen.

Awards

''The Real Thing'' was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance category in 1989 and "

" was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance in 1991.

Accolades

Track listing

Personnel

* Mike Bordin – drums * Roddy Bottum – keyboards * Bill Gould – bass * James Martin – guitars * Mike Patton – vocals

Production

Matt Wallace Matt Wallace is an American record producer. He is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley,

Charts

Weekly charts

Year end charts

Certifications

References

Bibliography * {{DEFAULTSORT:Real Thing, The 1989 albums Albums produced by Matt Wallace Faith No More albums Slash Records albums