Saturday Single: Faith No More-"Motherfucker"

Reclamation Recordings
2014

"Motherfucker" is a single from everyone's favorite rap rock band Faith No More. Serving as the first single from the band's upcoming/as yet untitled(?) new album (one which bassist Billy Gould says should be released this April), "Motherfucker" has a run-time of three minutes and thirty three seconds and it is the first new studio recorded material to be had from these San Francisco natives since 1997's "Album of the Year"! Produced by band member/multi-talented individual Billy Gould himself this vulgar new single was first released on vinyl on Record Store Day's Black Friday (November 28, 2014) before it saw a digital release on December 5, 2014. No strangers to controversy (read up on the video for "Epic" to see what really bothered people back in the day!) and most certainly not ones to settled for one particular style (see the strange differences between 1989's "The Real Thing" and 1992's "Angel Dust") "Motherfucker" is beyond rude and totally reckless. In other words it's prime-time/Grad A Faith No More! "Motherfucker," which is a song about accountability according to skilled keyboardist Roddy Bottum, almost feels as if it could have kicked off the post-"The Real Thing" Faith No More instead of what emerged thanks to "Angel Dust". Kicking up lots of political dust while it drags itself along by its stubby arms on a landmine-riddled dirt road, "Motherfucker" is all at once creepy/weird and (in somewhat typical Faith No More fashion) grandiose! This new single is a kindred spirit to Radiohead's "Creep" and Beck's "Loser" while it also feels as if it could be doom only without all the long, drawn-out passages. Harrowing images of Jello Biafra flash by as Mike Patton is at his absolute best here! As he confidently spits out this track's title over and over again one can't help but draw a parallel line between the one-time Dead Kenndys frontman and Mike Patton as they are both cut from the same anti-establishment piece of clothing and they both march to the beat of their own drummers (which in Mike's case would be the amazing Mike Bordin!). While it's way too early to wager a guess as to whether or not Faith No More's new album will have been worth the long wait at least this new single offers some slight hope that the band will return to their actual rock roots instead of the wall to wall craziness that has defined some of their later work. Well, there is that and then there are comments made by Billy Gould that the new album will feature blues rock material as well as numbers influenced by the likes of The Cramps, Link Wray and Siouxsie and the Banshees. All of which sounds rather lovely on paper so we shall see!