Faith No More’s 1992 seminal album “Angel Dust” has been considered as a milestone for alternative music. It was the first record when frontman Mike Patton showed immense prowess on his art as he joined the band after the music on predecessor “The Real Thing” had already been mostly written and recorded.
The 1989 effort was an international success, carried by the strength of the single “Epic” and Patton’s incredible vocals. However, when “Angel Dust” was released, it ended up becoming the band’s best-selling effort to date, although it also culminated in the departure of guitarist Jim Martin, who didn’t identify himself with the musical path the group was on.
Mike Bordin recalls how it was difficult to perform with Guns N’ Roses and Metallica
Drummer Mike Bordin talked about the making of “Angel Dust” with Metal Hammer and revealed the challenging process of writing a record in which only the band seemed to believe in:
“Angel Dust” cemented Faith No More as a mandatory act to follow, and scored them an opening slot on a massive tour supporting Metallica and Guns N’ Roses, two of the biggest bands on Earth at the time. Bordin showed his gratitude to Axl Rose, and co., who picked them after Kurt Cobain refused to join the road with the rock giants:
“I love Guns N’ Roses, and I’m eternally f**king grateful to them for putting us on their stage, and allowing their audience to get a two-by-four right across the teeth every fucking day.” Fans reportedly threw items at FNM onstage.
The drummer remembered the run as being “difficult”:
“You had Metallica playing ‘The Black Album’, and Guns playing the hits from ‘Appetite [For Destruction]’ and ‘Use Your Illusion’, and we’re out there playing ‘Be Aggressive’ and it didn’t come across. People were like, ‘Get off, I wanna hear ‘Enter Sandman!””
“We were standing between these two massive redwood [and] sequoia trees, and they’re 300 feet tall and 1,000 years old, massive and eternal, and we were a tiny fern on the ground that needed some sunshine… and that may not have been forthcoming.”
“But look, we didn’t expect to be Whitesnake or Bon Jovi, we didn’t go into this band wanting to own 15 houses and three Learjets and have 17 supermodels on speed dial. We knew we were a challenge because we were selling something that people didn’t know. If you’re dealing with unknown quantities, it can be tricky. Maybe 30 million people didn’t buy that record, but it meant something to those who did.”