It's a dirty job but someone's gotta do it: the redemption of Faith No More

The fucking enemy, circa 1989

I’ll tell you one thing right now; in 1989 I hated mowing my parent’s huge suburban lawn. It was always a “But I was going to Tosche Station to pick up some power converters!” Uncle Owen v. Luke Skywalker type of conversation between my father and I. To power through it, I had two cassettes of choice for my Walkman: Carnivore’s Retaliation and Faith No More’s We Care A Lot. Different approaches to underground music but both had pummeling and effective Drums that pushed me through the hour and a half it took to mow that fucking lawn.

This post isn’t about Carnivore though, but, as you has already guessed, Faith No More. I REALLY like We Care A Lot, to this very day. Mark Bowen, As the Worms Turn, New Beginnings and the title track have literally been stuck in my head for 27 years. The rhythmic drums and bass, subtle and effective metal crunching guitar and Chuck Mosley’s sincere vocal performance strikes a chord with me in a way very few can. People like to bag on Chuck’s voice, but, especially on We Care A Lot, he sells you his imperfect voice taking it to the limit of his ability and beyond. Plus, I think the lyrics are fucking Incredible.  The bombast of the recording is just there, it all works for me. I like the follow up Introduce Yourself (The Crab Song, Death March, COME ON!) and the first LP after Chuck’s departure, The Real Thing, but the band lost me after that, their sound changed too drastically and the vibe was lost on me.  To make matters even worse, when I went to see them in October of 1992, they weren’t very good. It was probably an off night for them, but I’m not huge into Mike Patton or Angel Dust, so I’m sure that had something to do with it. To make FNM even less compelling, Helmet, who opened the show, literally JUST STOOD THERE, and smoked Mike and company right off stage.

I moved to Northern California a year ago, away from the gray and white frigid winters of Buffalo, NY and into the green lushness that is the Napa Valley. Being an hour north of San Francisco allowed me the opportunity to see a gig I’d never thought I’d see: Faith No More, fronted by Chuck Mosley, performing only songs from the first two records, including We Care A Lot in its entirety.  They announced it on a Tuesday, with the show being two days later on a Thursday. I had to go and bought a ticket within minutes of the announcement. Solid.

Oddly enough, the show was on August 18^th, exactly (to the day, even) 25 years after the only time I met Chuck Mosley, who was then fronting the classic hardcore punk band, Bad Brains (who were surprisingly VERY good with him as a front man). That day, in August 1991, I had no idea he was their singer at the time, and I happened to be wearing an Introduce Yourself shirt at the show. Before the Bad Brains set, Chuck came up to me put his arm around me, pointed to the shirt and said “Every little bit helps.”  I thought it was so fucking awesome, I remember it like it was yesterday.

Flyer borrowed from my friend Larry's abandoned Buffalo hardcore history page 

25 years later, I was out front of the Great American Music Hall with one of my few friends I’ve made up here, Matt, and who walks by but Chuck Mosley, smoking a cigarette and looking lost and burnt out. Matt commented that he wanted to take Chuck’s picture, but was reluctant to disturb him, as diehard FNM fans were crowding around him for selfies and handshakes. I shared my Bad Brains story and told Matt I’d take action; I walked up to Chuck and showed him a jpeg of the flyer from 1991 and gave him a big hug, letting him know that taking the time to acknowledge the 17 year old me 25 years ago meant a lot. He chatted for a few moments talking about how bummed he was that “Doc” (Dr. Know, the Brain’s guitar player) was sick. He also told a story about how the day after Buffalo, in Ithaca, HR (or “Paul” as he called him) the original singer of the Bad Brains, had come on stage and done a few of the songs, free-styling a vocal melody over one of their reggae jams. He was so into the story, trying to sing the melody to us and saying he’s ripped it off; using in every band he’s been in ever since, because it was so epic.  I was just so shocked at how really burnt out he was as he flipped through his phone to add to his stories. I then turned and said, “This is my friend Matt, he’d like to take your picture.” Click. Done.

The portrait of the failed artist as a young man

Inside, the crowd was a mixture of punk, metal and middle aged people. Roddy Bottom, who I think is dating this guy Jon who used to occasionally hang out at my old apartment in Amherst, was just mingling in the crowd with obvious longtime friends. Having been in a band, I guess the hometown show is kind of the same for everyone; a place to run into friends and family who have supported you from the beginning and don’t get to see as much. The opener was a terrible performance artist who rolled around the stage wearing a shroud making Godzilla and chicken sounds. Then, Chuck did an acoustic set which, in all honesty, wasn’t very good. It was obvious he was nervous, but the crowd’s reaction to his solo rendition of Death March warmed him up a bit and by the time his acoustic act became the actual full on Faith No More show, he seemed more relaxed.  The set list was fucking amazing with the energy building and releasing then building and exploding, lather, rinse, repeat:

The Crab Song

Introduce Yourself

The Jungle

As the Worm Turns

Greed

Spirit

New Beginnings

Arabian Disco

Mark Bowen

We Care a Lot

Why Do You Bother?

Pills for Breakfast

Anne's Song

look at that beautiful banner

I bought the 30^th anniversary reissue of We Care A Lot and a shirt, which being soft spun, hugs my lumpy body strangely, but I’ve worn it every few weeks since. The best thing is, I got to hear some of the greatest songs ever written live and I didn’t even have to touch a lawnmower to do it. All Photos by matthewkadi.com