Faith No More is an American rock band from San Francisco, California, formed in 1979. The band's lineup associated with its early commercial success consisted of bassist Billy Gould, drummer Mike Bordin, keyboardist and rhythm guitarist Roddy Bottum, guitarist Jim Martin and vocalist Mike Patton. Gould, Bordin, Bottum and Martin all performed on the band's debut album, while Patton joined in 1988.
Before September 1983, the band performed under the names Sharp Young Men and later Faith. No Man. The band's first two albums, "We Care a Lot" (1985) and "Introduce Yourself" (1987), featured vocalist Chuck Mosley. Following Patton's addition, Faith No More achieved commercial success with "The Real Thing" (1989) and "Angel Dust" (1992). Singles included "Epic", which reached number 9 in the United States, and a cover of the Commodores' "Easy", which became an international hit, particularly in Australia and Europe. Martin left the band in 1993. Trey Spruance and Dean Menta subsequently performed with the band before Jon Hudson became its guitarist in 1996.
Faith No More disbanded in 1998 after releasing six studio albums. The band reunited in 2009 for The Second Coming Tour and subsequently released "Sol Invictus" in 2015, its first studio album in 18 years. The band attempted to resume touring in 2020, but the planned performances were postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic and later cancelled following Patton's decision to withdraw from the shows for mental health reasons. The band subsequently entered another hiatus. In June 2026, Gould confirmed that Faith No More planned to tour in 2027.
The genesis of Faith No More was the group Sharp Young Men, formed in 1979 by vocalist and guitarist Mike Morris and keyboardist Wade Worthington. Worthington was a trained pianist and had first met Morris in 1978. He had been interested in forming a jazz project influenced by organist Jimmy Smith, but Morris persuaded him to participate in a new band inspired by post-punk music.
After hearing about drummer Mike Bordin, who had performed with several local San Francisco bands, Morris and Worthington recruited him. The band later recruited bassist Billy Gould through a newspaper advertisement around 1980. Gould had moved from Los Angeles to attend the University of California, Berkeley.
Between March and August 1982, Sharp Young Men performed 12 shows in the San Francisco Bay Area. The band also released a three-song demo cassette in 1982 containing "Alive", "Decay" and "Life Is Tough for Me". Later in 1983, Morris proposed the name Faith In No Man, but the band eventually adopted Bordin's suggestion, Faith. No Man.
Faith. No Man released the 7-inch single "Quiet in Heaven/Song of Liberty" in 1983 through Ministry of Propaganda Records. The songs were recorded in the garage of producer Matt Wallace's parents, where Wallace had established a recording studio. Worthington subsequently left the band and was replaced on keyboards by Roddy Bottum, who had grown up in Los Angeles with Gould. Bottum, Gould and Bordin soon left Faith. No Man together and formed Faith No More. They adopted the name in September 1983 following a suggestion by a friend, Will Carpmill.
The first Faith No More performance, in October 1983, featured vocalist Joe Callahan and guitarist Jake Smith. The band's first release under the Faith No More name was a self-titled cassette issued in 1983. Side A contained a recording of the group's first live performance under the name, while Side B contained a 20-minute instrumental titled "New Love, Same Neuroses; New Hairstyles, Same Minds". Mark Bowen replaced Smith on guitar by early 1984.
Throughout 1984, Faith No More performed with several vocalists and guitarists, including Paula Frazer and Courtney Love. Love joined the band as vocalist in February 1984 after moving to San Francisco. She was dating Bottum at the time. One of her performances with Faith No More was recorded and broadcast on Viacom Public Access in the spring of 1984. Love and Bowen had both left the band by June.
Chuck Mosley became the band's vocalist around August 1984, with guitarist Jim Martin joining during the same period. Mosley had known Gould since 1977 and had previously performed with him in the Los Angeles new wave band The Animated. Martin had previously played with Bordin in EZ Street during the late 1970s, alongside future Metallica bassist Cliff Burton. Martin and Burton also performed together in the short-lived thrash metal project Vicious Hatred.
Faith No More initially recorded "We Care a Lot" without a record label. After the members pooled their money to record five songs, the project attracted the attention of Ruth Schwartz, who was establishing Mordam Records. With financial support from the label, the band completed the album, which became both Faith No More's first official release and Mordam Records' first release.
In late 1986, Faith No More signed with Los Angeles-based Slash Records. The label had recently been acquired by PolyGram subsidiary London Records, giving the band wider distribution. "Introduce Yourself" was released in April 1987. A new version of the title track "We Care a Lot" received some exposure on MTV.
Mosley's behaviour became increasingly erratic during this period, particularly during the band's European tour in 1988. The band subsequently dismissed him after returning to the United States.
Mike Patton replaced Mosley in 1988. Patton was the vocalist of the high school band Mr. Bungle and was recruited following Martin's recommendation after Martin heard a demo by the group. Patton had first encountered Faith No More at a 1986 concert in Eureka, California. Shortly after joining the band, he wrote the lyrics for the songs that appeared on "The Real Thing", which was released in June 1989.
"Epic" was released as a single in January 1990 and reached the top 10 in the United States. Its music video received extensive MTV airplay. Other singles from "The Real Thing" included "From Out of Nowhere" and "Falling to Pieces". The band also recorded a cover of Black Sabbath's "War Pigs" for non-vinyl releases.
Faith No More toured extensively in North America in 1990, including as a support act for Billy Idol on his Charmed Life tour. The band also performed in Europe, Australia and New Zealand. "The Real Thing" was certified platinum in Canada, the United States and South America and sold more than four million copies worldwide. In 1991, Faith No More toured South America and Japan before beginning work on another studio album.
In February 1991, Faith No More released "Live at the Brixton Academy", its only official live album. The album included the previously unreleased studio recordings "The Grade" and "The Cowboy Song". The band also contributed "The Perfect Crime" to the soundtrack of the film "Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey". Martin appeared briefly in the film as Sir James Martin, the head of the fictional Faith No More Spiritual and Theological Center. Mr. Bungle signed with Slash and Reprise Records' parent company Warner Bros. Records in 1991.
Faith No More released "Angel Dust" in June 1992. The album incorporated elements of several musical styles, including alternative rock, metal, funk, jazz and other genres. Singles included "A Small Victory", "Midlife Crisis" and "Everything's Ruined". The album also contained a recording of the theme from the film "Midnight Cowboy". Later editions included a cover of the Commodores' "Easy", which was released as a single in 1993 and became one of the band's most successful songs in several countries.
"Angel Dust" reached a higher position on the Billboard 200 than "The Real Thing", although its United States sales were lower. It sold more strongly than "The Real Thing" in several other countries and received gold or platinum certifications in a number of territories. Worldwide sales were estimated at approximately 3.1 million copies.
In 1992, Faith No More toured Europe with Guns N' Roses and Soundgarden. The band later replaced Nirvana on a North American tour featuring Guns N' Roses and Metallica. Faith No More also performed at the August 1992 concert in Montreal at which Metallica's James Hetfield was injured by pyrotechnics and Guns N' Roses' late performance was followed by a disturbance among concertgoers. Faith No More were removed from the tour in September 1992 after members of the band made public comments about Guns N' Roses.
The band continued touring through mid-1993, including performances in Europe, North America and the Pacific region.
In 1993, Faith No More collaborated with the American Samoan rap group Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E. on "Another Body Murdered" for the soundtrack of the film "Judgment Night". After completing touring for "Angel Dust", Martin left the band. Accounts of his departure differed, with some reports attributing it to disagreements over the band's musical direction and others describing it as his own decision. Trey Spruance, a member of Mr. Bungle, subsequently joined as guitarist and performed on the band's next album. He left before the associated world tour and was replaced by Dean Menta, the band's keyboard technician.
"King for a Day... Fool for a Lifetime", Faith No More's fifth studio album, was released in March 1995. The album incorporated punk, country, jazz, bossa nova, thrash metal and gospel influences alongside the band's established musical elements. Singles included "Digging the Grave", "Evidence" and "Ricochet". The album featured Spruance on guitar and sold approximately 1.5 million copies worldwide. It received gold certifications in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands and Germany.
"Album of the Year" was released in June 1997 and featured Jon Hudson as guitarist. Hudson was a former roommate of Gould. The album reached number 2 in Germany and remained on the German chart for five months. In Australia, it reached number 1 and was certified platinum. The album also charted in several European countries and sold approximately two million copies worldwide.
Singles from "Album of the Year" included "Ashes to Ashes" and "Last Cup of Sorrow". The latter's music video featured actress Jennifer Jason Leigh and drew inspiration from Alfred Hitchcock's film "Vertigo". "Stripsearch" was released as a single in several countries but not in the United States or United Kingdom.
In early 1998, rumours circulated that Faith No More was preparing to disband. The band played its final concert in Lisbon, Portugal, on April 7, 1998. It subsequently cancelled a planned support tour for Aerosmith. On April 20, Gould announced that the members had mutually agreed to end the band and pursue individual projects.
In early 2002, the band members reportedly received an offer for a reunion tour festival. The proposed event was to include Bush, Deftones, Incubus, Limp Bizkit, Papa Roach and Slipknot, but the festival did not take place and Faith No More remained inactive.
Rumours of a reunion began circulating in late 2008. On February 24, 2009, Faith No More announced that it would reunite with the lineup that had recorded "Album of the Year". The band subsequently embarked on The Second Coming Tour. Rhino released "The Very Best Definitive Ultimate Greatest Hits Collection" in the United Kingdom in June 2009.
Faith No More performed at several European festivals during 2009, including Download Festival in the United Kingdom, Hurricane and Southside festivals in Germany, Greenfield Festival in Switzerland, Hove Festival in Norway and Roskilde Festival in Denmark. The tour continued into 2010 with appearances at Australia's Soundwave Festival. During the tour, the band performed covers including Lady Gaga's "Poker Face", Michael Jackson's "Ben" and Siouxsie and the Banshees' "Switch".
After an eleven-month hiatus, Faith No More performed four concerts in South America in November 2011. At the first of these shows, the band performed an unidentified song, prompting speculation about new material. Later that month, the band performed the entirety of "King for a Day... Fool for a Lifetime" at the Maquinaria Festival in Chile, with Spruance on guitar.
Faith No More performed at Sonisphere France in July 2012 and toured Europe during the year. Their setlists included covers such as "Niggas in Paris" by Jay-Z and Kanye West, "Never Gonna Give You Up" by Rick Astley and "Trololo" by Eduard Khil. The band subsequently became inactive again while its members pursued other projects. In July 2013, Gould stated that the hiatus was not intended to be permanent.
In 2015, Bottum said that the band had initially intended to reunite with Martin for the reunion tour, but this did not occur.
On May 29, 2014, Faith No More announced that it was beginning work on new material. On July 4, the band performed its first concert in two years at Hyde Park in London, supporting Black Sabbath. The concert featured the debut of two new songs, "Motherfucker" and "Superhero". In August, the band announced that its reunion period was ending and that its plans would change in 2015. Gould subsequently confirmed that the band was considering new material, and in September he confirmed that work on a new album had begun.
Faith No More headlined the final edition of Australia's Soundwave Festival in February and March 2015. The band's seventh studio album, "Sol Invictus", was released in May 2015. The album's songs incorporated influences from artists including the Cramps, Link Wray and Siouxsie and the Banshees. "Superhero" was released as the album's second single in March 2015.
In August 2016, Faith No More performed two concerts with former vocalist Chuck Mosley to mark the reissue of "We Care a Lot". The shows were billed as "Chuck Mosley & Friends" and featured Mosley, Bordin, Gould, Hudson and Bottum. Mosley died on November 9, 2017, aged 57.
In February 2018, production began on a documentary about Mosley titled "Thanks. And Sorry: The Chuck Mosley Movie". The film was directed and edited by Drew Fortier and produced by Douglas Esper.
In November 2019, Faith No More announced its first concerts in five years, scheduled to take place in Europe in June 2020. Additional festival appearances were subsequently announced, including a performance at the Mad Cool festival in Madrid. Most of the planned dates were postponed to 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The band was also scheduled to perform two concerts at Banc of California Stadium in Los Angeles with System of a Down, Helmet and Russian Circles. The shows were postponed twice because of the pandemic. In September 2021, Patton cancelled his upcoming performances, citing mental health reasons.
In 2022, Patton said that he had not spoken with the other members of Faith No More since the initial concert cancellations. In October 2024, Bottum described the band as being on a "semi-permanent hiatus". In April 2025, Bordin said that Patton was unwilling to perform with the band, citing his commitments with Mr. Bungle. In October 2025, Bottum again expressed uncertainty about another reunion, stating that the circumstances surrounding the cancelled shows had not been resolved.
On June 16, 2026, Faith No More posted an image of its logo accompanied by the text "2027" and announced a deal with Brazilian concert promoter 30e. The following day, Gould confirmed that the band was planning to tour in 2027. In July 2026, Faith No More announced an Australian and New Zealand tour supporting System of a Down, with concerts scheduled for January and February 2027.
Full Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faith_No_More
Studio albums
We Care a Lot (1985)
Introduce Yourself (1987)
The Real Thing (1989)
Angel Dust (1992)
King for a Day... Fool for a Lifetime (1995)
Album of the Year (1997)
Sol Invictus (2015)
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…shrink me down again