Falling to Pieces

"Falling to Pieces" is the third single on Faith No More's first studio album with Mike Patton on vocals, The Real Thing. The song was released as a single on July 2, 1990. The song peaked at number 92 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 40 on the Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart. The song has rarely been performed live due to the band's disdain for it.

For other uses, see Falling to Pieces (disambiguation).

"Falling to Pieces"
Artwork for US commercial cassette single
Single by Faith No More
from the album The Real Thing
B-side
ReleasedJuly 2, 1990 (1990-07-02)[1]
StudioStudio D (Sausalito, California)
Genre
Length5:15
LabelSlash
Composer(s)
Lyricist(s)Mike Patton
Producer(s)Matt Wallace
Faith No More singles chronology
"Epic"
(1990)		 "Falling to Pieces"
(1990)		 "Midlife Crisis"
(1992)
The Real Thing track listing
  1. "From out of Nowhere"
  2. "Epic"
  3. "Falling to Pieces"
  4. "Surprise! You're Dead!"
  5. "Zombie Eaters"
  6. "The Real Thing"
  7. "Underwater Love"
  8. "The Morning After"
  9. "Woodpecker from Mars"
  10. "War Pigs"
  11. "Edge of the World"

Live performances

Despite its success, the song did not go on to be a live staple, appearing very rarely in concerts after their appearance at the 1993 Phoenix Festival,[6] where Billy Gould announced, "This is the last time we'll ever play this song again" right before the song.[7] During Second Coming Tour, the band picked up the song again and performed it at least once at a concert in Rio de Janeiro in 2009. The song was performed at the Open'er Festival in 2014 for the first time since 2009. In a 2016 interview, Gould stated, "That song sucks, let's face it. I don't know, we don't groove on that one. Also, when you play it live, it just kind of gets boring".[8]

Music video
A screenshot from the Ralph Ziman-directed 1990 music video.

The bass-driven song spawned a video directed by Ralph Ziman (who also directed the video for "Epic"), in which lead singer Mike Patton wears a series of different outfits, including one resembling Alex from the Stanley Kubrick film A Clockwork Orange. Billy Gould wears various death metal band shirts during the video including Carcass and, at the time, Sepultura. The video is also notable for using a different mix of the song featuring more prominent background vocals, keyboards, and a guitar solo during the fade out.

There is also another lesser known music video which uses clips from the Brixton Academy performance, played with the album version of the song.[9]

Track listings

Disc one

  1. "Falling to Pieces" – 3:39
  2. "We Care a Lot" (live at Brixton) – 3:59
  3. "Underwater Love" (live at Brixton) – 3:32
  4. "From Out of Nowhere" (live at Brixton) – 3:47

Disc two

  1. "Falling to Pieces" (re-mix)
  2. "Zombie Eaters"
  3. "The Real Thing" (live)
  • "The Real Thing" was recorded live at the Wireless on July 30, 1990 also, features ad-lib from Public Enemy's "911 Is a Joke".

The Brixton Academy live tracks are different mixes to those found on the LP of the concert, most notably including the line "About the smack and crack and whack that hits the streets" on "We Care a Lot", which is mostly muted on the LP mix.[10]

Charts
Chart (1990) Peak
position
Australia (ARIA)[11] 26
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[12] 16
UK Singles (OCC)[13] 41
US Billboard Hot 100[14] 92
US Mainstream Rock (Billboard)[15] 40

References
  1. "New Singles". Music Week. June 30, 1990. p. 29.
  2. Alderslade, Merlin; Goodman, Eleanor; Pattillo, Alice; Leivers, Dannii; Hill, Stephen; Edwards, Briony; Lewry, Fraser (March 19, 2020). "The 50 best metal bands of all time". Metal Hammer. Archived from the original on July 9, 2020. Retrieved January 13, 2021.
  3. DF, Anso (July 17, 2015). "Friday 5: What Are Funk Metal's Five Best Moments". Metal Sucks. Retrieved December 4, 2021.
  4. Terich, Jeff (August 26, 2019). "Shadow of the Horns: The Best Metal Albums of 1989". Treble. Retrieved January 13, 2021.
  5. Hart, Ron (June 20, 2019). "Faith No More's 'The Real Thing' at 30: How They Switched Singers & Delivered a Classic". Billboard. Retrieved January 13, 2021.
  6. fnm.com Tape Trading Resources
  7. "Falling To Pieces" at Phoenix Festival 1993
  8. "Faith No More Billy Gould Interview 2016". eonmusic - music is our passion!. Retrieved July 2, 2017.
  9. "Faith No More Frequently Answered Questions".
  10. fnm.com discography
  11. "Faith No More – Falling to Pieces". ARIA Top 50 Singles. Retrieved November 26, 2016.
  12. "Faith No More – Falling to Pieces". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved November 26, 2016.
  13. "Faith No More: Artist Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved March 18, 2022.
  14. "Faith No More Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved November 26, 2016.
  15. "Faith No More Chart History (Mainstream Rock)". Billboard. Retrieved November 26, 2016.
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