10 Classic Albums That Celebrated Their 20th Anniversary In 2015

Faith No More – King For a Day… Fool For a Lifetime

Source // the monolith.com

With this, their fifth album, Faith No More released what is possibly their most versatile and wilfully perverse collection of songs. Whereas previous albums relied on Roddy Bottums keyboards to add pop hooks to their assault, King For a Day… Fool For a Lifetime was pretty much bereft of them….and all the better for it!

Whatever aspect of this schizophrenic band you enjoy the most, this album had it all. From the straight ahead rock of “Ricochet” and the almost Offspring-ish “Digging The Grave”, to the outright comical belligerence of “The Gentle Art of Making Enemies” and the lounge cool of “Coralho Voador”; all bases were covered.

Perhaps the departure of Jim Martin eased the pressure on his ex band members as there’s an experimental looseness and ease about each and every performance as they traverse through their myriad of genre changes. Drummer Mike Bordin is his usual unfussy self, while his rhythmn section partner Billy Gould underpins the music with numerous elastic and funky bass lines and replacement guitarist, Trey Spruance, marks his only recorded appearance with the band with an understated – yet forceful when needed –  showing. However, the star of the show, as always, is the uniformly excellent and multi-voiced Mike Patton. From the psychotic “Ugly in the Morning” to the heartbreaking “Take This Bottle”, a performance as exemplary as this is exactly why Mike Patton is considered one of the finest vocalist in rock/metal.

Lacking any notable ‘hit’ singles, King For a Day…Fool For a Lifetime is the sound of a band making music for themselves and not giving a shit about anyone else. Nevermind one of the best albums of 1995, with this album, Faith No More created what is quite possibly the finest album of their stellar career.