Faith No More released their fifth studio album King for a Day…Fool for a Lifetime 15 years ago this week in March 1995. It is fair to say that the initial reaction was muted, with a lot of critics and fans somewhat underwhelmed after the splendour of Angel Dust. However, KFAD is now regarded as a minor classic, showcasing as it does the band’s genre-hopping at its most extreme and featuring such crucial cuts as Ricochet, Evidence, Digging the Grave and the title track.
Album details
(via old.fnm.com)
King for A Day…Fool for a Lifetime
Mike Bordin – Drums
Roddy Bottum – Keyboards
Billy Gould – Bass Guitar
Mike Patton – Vocals
Guitars by Trey Spruance
1. Get Out
2. Ricochet
3. Evidence
4. The Gentle Art of Making Enemies
5. Star A.D.
6. Cuckoo for Caca
7. Caralho Voador
8. Ugly in the Morning
9. Digging the Grave
10. Take this Bottle
11. King For A Day
12. What A Day
13. The Last to Know
14. Just a Man
15. Absolute Zero/I Started a Joke/Evidence (Spanish Version)
*Album artwork by Eric Drooker.
Track 15 “I Started a Joke” is a Bee Gees song.
* – Track 15 “Absolute Zero” on Japanese release (POCD-1165).
* – Track 15 “I Started a Joke” on Brazilian release (828 655-2).
* – Track 15 “Evidence (Spanish Version)” on Argentinean release (828 671-2).
Possible writing credits – Bordin, Gould, Patton, Spruance: 3, 6, 7, 10 & 11.
Bordin, Gould, Patton: 1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 12, 13, 14 & 15. (Roddy receives no
writing credits on this record.) It had been previously speculated that Trey
Spruance wrote on 3, 6, 8, 12, & 13. When asked directly, Trey denied nvolvement
on “Get Out”, “Star A.D.”, “Caralho Voador”, and “Last to Know”. His account is
as follows:
“On ‘Ricochet’, a little help on vocal harmonies and inversions,
nothing big…The guitar parts for ‘Evidence’, keyboard parts
(chords, and minor chord part in the middle) for ‘Cuckoo for Caca’,
some of ‘What A Day’. ‘Ugly in the Morning’, the ending guitar riff.
On ‘Digging’ I just spiced up the chords. [For ‘King for a Day’], the
climax Em D C part was mine, that’s it. ‘Just A Man’, a few
suggestions here and there. Maybe a chord turnaround or two, but
nothing major.”
“Evidence” was recorded in Spanish, Italian and Portuguese
Guitars on “I Started a Joke” by Dean Menta.
“Evidence (Spanish Version)” re-vocaled at Battery Studios London with Engineer
Steve Bush.
All standard album tracks produced by Andy Wallace and Faith No More.
Track 15 “I Started A Joke” produced by Billy Gould and Dean Menta.
King for a Day…Fool for a Lifetime was nominated for a Bay Area Music Award (Bammie) in the category of Best Hard Rock Album of 1995.
B Sides and Alternate Versions
1. The Morning After
2. Das Schutzenfest
3. Malpractice
4. RV (Live)
5. A Small Victory (Youth Remix)
6. Absolute Zero
3 contains a sample from Dmitri Shostakovich’s “Quartet No. 8” as performed by
the Kronos Quartet.
4 from Dekalb, Illinois, 20.8.92
5 is the “R-evolution 23 Full Moon Mix” by Youth of Killing Joke.
1 & 3 produced by Matt Wallace and Faith No More.
2 produced by Faith No More.
6 produced by Andy Wallace and Faith No More.
Promotional disc given away in a limited edition with early copies of the
Australian pressings of King for a Day…Fool for a Lifetime [TVD93421
(RMD53421)].
Reviews
Rolling Stone
Sample quote: “Among the best cuts are “Ricochet,” a portentous anthem reminiscent of “Epic”; “Digging the Grave,” which has a grungy feel that isn’t completely ruined by Patton’s histrionic screaming; “Take This Bottle,” a country alchy ballad worthy of George Jones; and “King for a Day,” a haunting reverie anchored by Roddy Bottum’s atmospheric keyboards.”
All Music Guide
Sample quote: “King for a Day, Fool for a Lifetime remains one of Faith No More’s underrated releases.”
Entertainment Weekly
Sample quote: “Archaic progressive-rock fusion, oddly out of step with the times.”
Ultimate Guitar
Sample quote: “Although it could never live up to the intensity of “Angel Dust”, this album is a lot more approachable and doesn’t disappoint.”
Addicted to Noise
Sample quote: “For the most part, Faith No More’s sound has failed to evolve. Like the great dinosaurs of the past who are now extinct, metal bands must change and adapt to new surroundings or they will eventually atrophy and die. Not choosing the humility of death by breaking up, Faith No More has essentially devolved and crawled back to the anonymity and safety of the great Primordial Lake, home to many of rock’s reluctant dinosaurs, where they will eventually, thankfully, be eaten by a shark or large snake.”
Spin
Sample quote: “Patton has finally abandoned his adenoidal Dickies whine for a more nuanced Jello Biafra-as-Tom Jones thing, which works better than you might think. Though the music still careens from genre to genre as casually as most bands go from chord to chord–there’s a song here for every radio format, and you may grow to despise the “Sukiyaki”-flavored blue-eyed-soul song “Just a Man”–King for a Day is never less than coherent, which is more than you can say for Primus.”
Band quotes
As previously mentioned on the blog, Metal Hammer’s Story Behind the Album feature on the release is a must-read for any FNM fan detailing as it does the circumstances of Jim Martin’s departure, Roddy’s problems at the time of recording and the band’s quest for musical freedom. I’ve pick-pocketed a few choice quotes from that seminal piece and a few from elsewhere below:
“What I remember most about the recording of ‘King For A Day’ was that everything was different than it had been before. In the two years before we’d done a lot of growing up but we were… we weren’t exactly in a coherent mental state when we made that album – we were all fucked up in some way. And the studio was out in the middle of a fucking forest. It was on this dirt road with nothing but the studio and the cabin for two miles. It was like sensory deprivation. But the good thing about it was we had nothing else to do but record.”
Bill Gould
“Things for me personally were going to hell. I came out. I saw some friends die. I was with Courtney Love throughout Kurt’s final months ‘cos she was a close friend and at the same time my own father died. I just holed up and had a nervous breakdown basically. I just realised I had to chose my priorities very carefully. Things like honesty and passion and art. But whilst the album was being recorded, all of that is a real blur for me ‘cos of the shit I was going through at the time. And my heroin addiction didn’t help. And the suicide of two of my friends didn’t help. Nothing helped. Things had to reach a low before I could help myself. My first impulse was to leave. But I couldn’t just let it go, it was something I helped start, it’s very important to me.”
Roddy Bottum
“It was tough with a lot of unknowns, a lot of problems in the band, a lot of insecurity and wondering if we were going to make this record. We weren’t a band for a while. Of course we wanted to continue, but there are other circumstances that play a part. We’re felt like we were getting old. You can only put up a facade for so long. You get a new guy after new guy, and it’s like, how many facelifts can you get? We’re not going to have guys drop off and get new ones, and then have Faith No More reunite. Fuck that.”
Mike Patton
“I think it’s us being us, more than anything. I think we finally had the resources to be us on this record.”
Mike Patton CMJ New Music Monthly
“We’re just trying to write in different ways. I think you just get as much power in a melody as you can out of just straight ahead discordant chord-bashing rock. There’s a different kind of tension. If there is a something I can be critical about our past records is, there isn’t as much dynamics and there isn’t a lot of slow, subtle tension. I really do want to learn how to do that as an artist and be able to develop that ability. We all do.”
Bill Gould, Faces magazine
Chart performance
Although retrospectively viewed as a flop, mainly due to us chart performance, KFAD actually peaked in the top ten of the album charts in nine major countries, scoring a number two in Australia and a number three in New Zealand.
In the US, however, the album spent only eight weeks in the Billboard Top 200 and peaked at number 31 on 14 April 1995.
The album spawned three singles Digging the Grave, Ricochet and Evidence. Digging the Grave reached number 12 in Australia and numbers 16 in the UK and New Zealand.
Videos
Digging the Grave
Ricochet (with intro by Roddy and Mike P)
Evidence
Buy it
iTunes
Thanks to Patton Archivo for the date reminder
My list:
1. KFAD
2. The Real Thing
3. Album of the Year
4. Angel Dust
5. Introduce Yourself
6. We Care a lot
For me King for a day is the greatest album ever recorded.
I guess:
1.KFAD
2. Angel Dust/Album of the Year
3. The Real Thing
4. Introduce Yourself
5. We Care A Lot
But it also depends on my mood.
@ Broken Throat I just love Riccochet 🙂
Can’t pick a top 5. It changes depending on my mood.
Thanks 3d-alex…
Yes, I Wanna Fuck Myself is a good song. I realised recently who was GG Allin (what a surprise!), I first thought Patton wrote it. I’ll be glad to read what you got about Green Field.
Here’s my list…
1. KFAD
2. Angel Dust
3. Album of the Year
4. The Real Thing
5. Introduce Yourself
6. We Care A Lot
That being said, I fucking love EVERY FNM album.
“I chuckle a little when I read the Entertainment Weekly review.”
And how about Rolling Stone’s review of Album Of The Year when it originally came out. They gave it one and a half stars out of five. That magazine pretty much lost all credibility to me then.
And if I were to rank Faith No More’s albums, I think Real Thing would be number one (probably just because it’s a sentimental favorite), but I don’t know about after that. I’m of the rare breed who truly enjoys the first two Chuck albums as much as the Patton ones. They’re worlds different, but I still enjoy them all the same.
Going with ti mort’s idea, if I had to list my favorite albums in order…
1. KFAD
2. Album of the Year
3. Angel Dust
4. The Real Thing
5. Introduce Yourself
6. We Care A Lot
The first two are sort of tied, though.
I chuckle a little when I read the Entertainment Weekly review. I remember reading it when the album came out. I’ve always thought FNM were about 5 years ahead of the then current musical scene, especially the last 3 albums, and particularly KFAD. So I agree with the review of the album being “out of step with the times.” There are a lot of simularities between this album and what System of a Down were doing years later and getting praise, airplay, and album sales for.
Hi All,
Remember buying the album and my inital reaction was “shit it’s not Angel Dust” but gave it a couple of goes and it grew on me to becom my favorite album. The whole KFAD album was bitter sweet for me, as coming from dublin when it was first announced FNM were to play The Point and was well up for it by that time (November 24th 1995).
The gig never happened (bloddy David Bowie instead that night). I remember writting a letter to London Records at the time complaining (tennager, crap hand writting, jesus i cringe thinking of it). so two years later when no Dublin date was announced t went to Brixton for the Album Of The Year tour. some of the best £ 300 i spent at the time as i went with the attitude “i’ll never see them again”. God bless last year Brixton, Berlin and Dublin :-).
Gettting off the point but i wanted to check with others……
(i know this is each persons own opinion) but am i missing something with Richoet always thought it was just a good song but i know alot of fans are nuts about it.
and have always said when the day comes i would have Evidence played as i’m lowered into the ground or burnt to ashes any others doing this (FNM tracks) have to admit thought this has been joined by Weezer’s Island In The Sun.
Ti Mort your list of albums is the same as mine. As far as Star A.D. I think that is the only unchecked FNM song on my Ipod, I hate it. Some people seem to really like it though so it may be a good song just not my style.
I would love to see FNM tour occasionally, and when Mike P and Mike B work on their other projects Billy and Roddy could work on new material. I think a semi active band is the most us fans can hope for. Even though I dream of #1 albums and a superbowl halftime show.
In reply to Ti Mort:
1°) KFAD =>Because if someone decided to do a biopic upon my high school years, this record would be the perfect OST… even though I’ve been graduated 12 years after his release 😉
2°) Angel Dust => Because it was the 1st album I’ve bought circa 2005 (yeah, I know it’s pretty late but I became addicted very very fast)
3°) Album Of The Year => Because I really love the songs and the experimentations they did on this record EX-AEQUO With The Real Thing => Because it was released in France the week of my birth (June 27th and I was born 5 days after) and because my dad likes Epic
4°) Introduce Yourself => Because Chuck’s songs were pretty good but gets a bit old years after years.
5°) We Care A Lot => Because it’s the record I know the less but I still love to headbang on it 😀
Oh, and before I forget, I created a “FNM French Community” on Facebook called “Faith No More French Community and it’s open to all the French-Speakers people from France, Belgium, Switzerland, Luxemburg and so on 😉
Alksyntrs:
An extract of an interview with Roddy:
# ZB- b-sides – have you ever thought about doing a smashing pumpkins type thing and putting your b-sides all together, because a lot of my personal favorites are b-sides.
# RB- yeah, we put out one thing that i think just came out in europe called songs to make love to.
# ZB- is that the same thing that came out in america?
# RB- i don’t think it came out in america.
# ZB- no, songs to make love to came out in america.
# RB- oh, it did?
# ZB- yeah, like two years ago.
# RB- well, that was kind of along that line. it seems like most of our b-sides are very sort of quiet.
# ZB- yeah, i know that “spanish eyes” is one i haven’t heard you play yet.
# RB- nnno.
# ZB- well, that part after “prettiest eyes in all of mexico,” – i just piss myself every time i hear that.
# RB- it’s pretty funny.
# ZB- i know that the b-sides from this album, like “absolute zero” a lot of people are surprised that they didn’t get on the album and what not. i was really impressed with “i wanna fuck myself” i thought you really stayed true to the g.g. allin d.i.y. ethic.
# RB- that was pretty good, wasn’t it?
# ZB- did you play guitar on that?
# RB- i played bass on that.
# ZB- coming from g.g.’s hometown, that really meant a lot.
# RB- (laughing) did it?
# ZB- it really did.
# RB- it’s cool, it’s such a classic song, you know, it’s really good.
# ZB- yeah, when he was in jail, one of his many times, there’s this local paper called jam rag, it’s a music paper, and he put personal ads in jam rag for pen pals in jail!
# RB- really?
# ZB- yeah, it’d say, “join g.g. and fight oppression,” and yadda yadda yadda, and they’d be personal ads, like any other ad. it was so funny.
# RB- what a nut that guy was!
# ZB- yeah, the murder junkies are actually still playing around detroit.
# RB- are they?
# ZB- they played sunday but i didn’t find out until yesterday.
# RB- who sang?
# ZB- i have no idea. it said g.g. allin on the flyer, but i think that must’ve been a joke.
# RB- but yeah, i would like to put out a b-side thing. it would be cool. i mean, the low-tech stuff we’ve done i really like. i mean, everything that we’ve recorded by ourselves. anything low-tech i think is great. i like pushing that boundary. faith no more now spends a lot of money when we record. but the fact that it can be done with not a lot of money is such a universally appealing theme. everyone should know that, that you can make really great songs and record them for really cheap. a great song is a great song.
I think I have another one with Billy saying something about the story behind choosing “I started a Joke”…I’ll try to find it later…
NoneOfThemKnew: I find that a little hard to believe. The backup singers on Just A Man sound a lot like women to me. =P