My Ass is on Fire

Mr. Bungle was the eponymous debut album released by the band in 1991, one year before FNM's Angel Dust, and two years after the release of The Real Thing.  It was produced by avant-garde jazz composer John Zorn, who to this day still shares the stage with Patton for various projects.  This album was considered "funk metal", but many other sounds are prominent (jazz, ska, metal, even carnival music).  The band was also a huge fan of David Lynch's 1986 thriller, Blue Velvet, and sampled quotes from the movie throughout the album.  "My Ass is on Fire" is no exception.

The schizophrenic and twisted style of this song represents the entire album's crazy mix of genres and overall against-the-grain sound.  As far as what this song is about, some have said betrayal, others point out the obvious nod to Dennis Hopper's character, Frank Booth, in the movie, and even more think it's all just nonsense (in typical Patton fashion), and means nothing at all.  Whatever it may be, it was well beyond it's time, and is still difficult to be listened to by those who prefer "traditional" music tempos.

The later live versions were done differently than the original, and even cut a few minutes short (the great "Redundant" part was absent from live performances in the latter years), so make sure you listen to the original first.  I'm a sucker for a quality pro-shot, so yet AGAIN we return to Bizarre Fest 2000 in Germany for this one.  If you've seen enough of Bizarre Fest, check out this version from Astoria in London, England, that same year, done in the same abridged, not-as-crazy, format (fan-shot, but still decent).  I would've been happy to hear either version live!

We Care a Lot

Released as a single in early 1988, this Chuck Mosley-era song was actually recorded twice.  It was produced for the first Faith No More album of the same name in 1985 (then still "Faith. No More", under an independent label), and again on their follow-up album (and what many consider their true debut album), Introduce Yourself, in 1987.  Now under the label Slash, some of the lyrics were changed during the second recording to keep up-to-date with pop culture at that time.  Keyboardist Roddy Bottum wrote the sarcastic lyrics to mock celebrities that fake their charitable, save-the-world attitude (with help from Mosley in the updated version).  Patton then inherited this song, which would be the most played song from this era played on tour, and ad-libbed even more current events as the years went by.

In April of 2010, FNM returned to San Francisco during their reunion tour with a surprise for the audience.  Towards the end of the concert, Patton left the stage, and to the delight of old Faith No More fans, Mosley appeared and performed "As the Worm Turns", "Death March", "We Care A Lot", and "Mark Bowen" with his original band from 22 years prior (minus Jim Martin), and was then joined by Patton during "Introduce Yourself" for a duet encore.  However you feel about Mosley's style, you have to admit that this would've been pretty impressive to witness live! 

Mosley has his own band now, playing with Vanduls Ugainst Alliteracy (simply known as VUA), and even released an album in 2009 called Will Rap Over Hard Rock For Food, but he won't be forgotten as FNM's original front-man.

A Patton blog this may be, but here is Chuck's appearance on stage as he does "We Care a Lot".  Patton is off-stage at this point, watching, along with everyone else, what could've been Mosley's band all along.  

Stroker Ace

End of the week calls for something sexy, so Lovage's 2001 album, Music to Make Love to Your Old Lady By, is an appropriate place to revisit.  This video for "Stroker Ace" is another official release from the band, and has the sultry voice of Jennifer Charles front and center. 

This sleazy little number starts after Charles runs into Merriweather's club (Dan the Automator's pseudonym on this album, who can be spotted sitting at one of the tables), and begins singing on stage.  Patton isn't visible here, but is heard during the chorus, along with the howl found in abundance on Tomahawk's Oddfellows, as well as other projects.  "Stroker Ace" might be tongue-in-cheek, like most of the album, but it doesn't take away from the implied threesome Charles is asking for.  Definitely a sexy tune, and one I would've loved to have seen performed live as a duet between these two!


   

One of my favorite reviews can be found in the comments section on YouTube:

 

Commenter 1: "This song is almost dirty enough to masturbate to."

Commenter 2: "What do you mean, 'almost'?"