King for a Day... Fool for a Lifetime

King for a Day... Fool for a Lifetime is the fifth studio album by Faith No More, released in 1995. It was their first album recorded without longtime guitarist Jim Martin. The album showcased a greater variety than the band's usual heavy metal leanings,^[1][2] with Rolling Stone calling the end result a "genre shuffle".^[3] The album contains a number of shifting genres, including jazz-funk in "Evidence", the big band jazz-influenced "Star A.D.", the country rock of "Take This Bottle", or the gospel-influenced "Just a Man".^[1] Overall, though, the album is considerably more straightforward and less experimental than its predecessor, Angel Dust. This is the only Faith No More album to feature guitarist Trey Spruance, also a member of Mr. Bungle with Mike Patton. However, Spruance was credited only as a guest musician, and was replaced on the supporting tour by former roadie Dean Menta. However, Spruance did play live with Faith No More for the first time in November 2011, playing the entire album during a show in Chile.

In the United States, the album debuted at #31 and has sold 223,000 copies as of July 2006, which was well below their previous efforts. The ensuing tour was cut short in the UK and Europe as public interest waned. However, the album did manage to be certified Gold in Europe. The album was also certified Gold in Australia and New Zealand, where the singles "Digging the Grave", "Evidence" and "Ricochet" all charted well. The album sold about 1.5 million copies and overall its figures were much lower than those of Angel Dust or The Real Thing.

The cover art for the album and its associated singles came from the graphic novel Flood! by New York artist Eric Drooker, who received illustration credits for his work.

Production

After releasing 1992's Angel Dust, Faith No More's next project was a collaboration with Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E., contributing the single "Another Body Murdered" to the soundtrack for the 1993 film Judgement Night. This recording would be the first the band released without guitarist Jim Martin, with bassist Billy Gould recording the guitar parts instead.^[4] Martin had already begun skipping practice sessions with the band, having grown dissatisfied with their new musical directions;^[5] he had also reportedly stopped writing new music during the Angel Dust recording session.^[6]

Martin was fired from the band later that year due to musical differences, via a fax from keyboard player Roddy Bottum;^[5] and Mr. Bungle guitarist Trey Spruance was brought in to record their next album. However, Spruance left the band before the subsequent tour, and was replaced by the band's guitar roadie, Dean Menta. Reasons given for the change differ—the band claim Spruance was unwilling to commit to a long touring schedule in support of the album, whilst Spruance claims he was never meant to be a permanent member in the first place.^[7] Roddy Bottum also claims to have been mostly absent during this period, owing to the deaths of his father and Kurt Cobain, whose wife Courtney Love was a close friend of Bottum's.^[5][8] Bottum's absence leading to the album being written largely without keyboards.^[9] According to singer Mike Patton, the band were involved in a car accident during the recording sessions for the album, whilst Patton was driving. Spruance and drummer Mike Bordin were also involved, and Patton claimed to have "had to look at a lot of things in the face" as a result.^[10]

Singles

Before the album's release, the song "Digging the Grave" was released as a single on 28 February 1995. That March, the band appeared on the British television program Top of the Pops to promote the single, later performing it on MTV Europe, Canal+'s Nulle Part Ailleurs and The Jon Stewart Show.^[11] The single reached number 16 on the UK Singles Chart,^[12] and number 12 on the Australian ARIA Charts.^[13] It featured on an episode of Beavis and Butt-head in August 1995,^[14] and was included on the soundtrack of the 1996 Italian film Jack Frusciante è uscito dal gruppo.^[15] A video for the song was recorded, directed by Marcus Raboy, who was credited as Alan Smithee.^[16] The video featured Roddy Bottom, the band's keyboard player, on guitar; and was later included on the collection Who Cares a Lot?: The Greatest Videos.

"Ricochet" was released as the album's second single on 1 May 1995; and was promoted with an appearance on Late Night with Conan O'Brien.^[11] The song peaked at number 27 on the UK charts^[12] and number 58 in Australia.^[13] The song was also included on the soundtrack to the 1996 PlayStation game Fox Hunt.^[15][17] A video for "Ricochet" was filmed, but unlike most of the band's other videos, does not appear on the later collection Who Cares a Lot?: The Greatest Videos.

The album's third and final single was the jazz-funk number "Evidence", released on 8 May 1995. The band made an appearance the previous month on the Australian variety show Hey Hey It's Saturday to perform the song,^[11] which eventually peaked at number 32 in the UK^[12] and number 27 in Australia.^[13] A video was made for the song, directed by Walter A. Stern.^[16] Singles were also planned for the songs "Take This Bottle" and "The Gentle Art of Making Enemies", but these were cancelled due to the poor sales of the previous singles.

Other songs

A total of twenty tracks were recorded for the album, with only fourteen making the final listing.^[5] Cut tracks "I Won't Forget You" and "Hippie Jam Song" both appeared on the later compilations Who Cares a Lot? and The Very Best Definitive Ultimate Greatest Hits Collection; whilst covers of "I Started a Joke" and "Greenfields" were included as B-sides to the single "Digging the Grave"; and covers of "I Wanna Fuck Myself" and "Spanish Eyes" were both included as B-sides to the singles "Ricochet" and "Evidence".

The bossa nova-influenced "Caralho Voador" was known during production as "The Velvet Hammer",^[18] and features lyrics in Portuguese. "The Gentle Art of Making Enemies" is one of the album's heavier songs, and takes its title from James McNeill Whistler's 1890 book The Gentle Art of Making Enemies. A single for the song had been planned but was cancelled due to poor record sales. However, it later appeared on Faith No More's 1998 greatest hits compilation Who Cares a Lot?

"Star A.D." makes an appearance on the 2008 compilation The Works. When asked if the song was a reference to Kurt Cobain, Mike Patton stated:

Reception

Unlike Faith No More's previous albums, initial reception to King for a Day... Fool for a Lifetime was mixed. Entertainment Weekly gave the album a grade of C- and called it an "archaic progressive-rock fusion, oddly out of step with the times".^[20] Al Wiesel of Rolling Stone gave it a rating of two stars out of five, saying "one hopes that that last song's moving chorus – "Don't let me die with this silly look in my eyes" – doesn't prove to be Faith No More's epitaph".^[21] Metal Hammer acknowledges that the album was met with "crushing disappointment", but praised its diversity.^[5] Michael Snyder of the San Francisco Chronicle, however, was more favourable, calling it "an utter triumph", adding that it was "enigmatic, sarcastic, provocative and incisive".^[23] Spin magazine's Jonathan Gold rated the album 6 out of 10, praising its "deftness" and its "burnished, jackhammer-sheathed-in-a-lubricated-condom presence", but feeling that its multiple genres were a distraction.^[22] Writing for Allmusic, Greg Prato gave it a more positive rating of three-and-a-half stars out of five, while calling it one of the band's "underrated releases".^[1] New York magazine described the album as "baroquely, nightmarishly weird", praising Mike Patton's vocals.^[24]

King for a Day... Fool for a Lifetime was nominated for a Bay Area Music Award in 1995, in the category "Hard Music Album or EP". Bassist Billy Gould also received a nomination for Best Bassist at the same event.^[25] However, neither nomination was won.^[26] Also in 1995, Kerrang! magazine named the album 15th in their "Albums of the Year" countdown;^[27] whilst France's Rocksound listed it as number 33 in their version of the list.^[28] In 1996, Italian magazine ViceVersa ranked it 39th in their "100 Rock Albums" countdown.^[29] Poland's Tylko Rock named it number 66 in their list of "100 Albums that Shook Polish Rock"^[30] In 2005, Germany's Visions magazine ranked it 37 in their list of "150 Albums for Eternity".^[31] In 2006, Classic Rock and Metal Hammer included it in their unranked list of "The 200 Greatest Albums of the 90s".^[32]

Release history

King for a Day... Fool for a Lifetime was pre-released as a limited-edition two-record vinyl album, limited to 100,000 copies, two weeks before the album went on general sale.^[33] It was also released as a set of seven 7" vinyl singles, in a black cardboard with a sticker of the cover on the front that also included a cardboard fold-out of album artwork with a review by Phil Alexander and a band picture, as well as the standard CD and cassette versions.

In November 2011, Faith No More reunited with Trey Spruance for a performance at the Maquinaria festival, during which the album was played in its entirety.^[34]

Track listing

Personnel

Chart positions

Album

Singles

References