Faith No More was a highly influential experimental alternative rock group that formed in San Francisco, California in 1982 and disbanded in 1998. In the beginning of their 16 year career, Faith No More's vocalist changed a few times. However, the band's most prominent and longest-lasting singer was Mike Patton.

Their music combined elements of heavy metal, funk, progressive, soul, hip hop, and jazz, among many others.

Faith No More's influence on the current music scene is vast and evident. They have been credited as one of the innovators of the funk metal genre and one of the first rock bands to incorporate hip hop into their music. They remain an influence on many experimental rock and alternative rock musicians, and numerous modern bands have cited the band as an influence. They are considered by many musicians as one of the most influential bands of the last 20 years.

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Faith No More formed in 1982 out of the ashes of Faith No Man, a band formed and headed by Mike "The Man" Morris. Roddy Bottum, Mike Bordin, and Bill Gould left Faith No Man. They chose the name "Faith No More" at the suggestion of a friend (as "The Man" was no more). After trying out a few guitarists, the members recruited Jim Martin.

A number of singers were tried, including a six-month stint by Courtney Love (confirmed by Mike Bordin in a 1997 interview) .

eventually Chuck Mosely secured the position and appeared on their first two records. A well known song from this era is "We Care a Lot", a satire of the prevalence of charity-related rock efforts such as Live Aid and "We Are the World". The song is also notable as one of the first rock songs to seamlessly blend in hip hop music.

During this period, the band gained a reputation for serious infighting and friction. In a notorious interview in 1987, Mosely claimed that Martin had hit him with a bottle, and there were frequent rumors of physical confrontations between band members. Indeed, in a short history of the band in one issue, the British music newspaper Melody Maker observed that the band's internal relationships had descended into "pathological hatred". Bordin in particular seemed to be very much the "whipping boy" of the band and the butt of numerous cruel pranks and practical jokes. It is doubtful that the band would have stayed together had they not been successful after their second album, Introduce Yourself.

Mosely was fired in 1988, and replaced with singer Mike Patton who was singing with his old high school band Mr. Bungle. Patton dropped out of Humboldt State University to join Faith No More and went on to record the Grammy award nominated album The Real Thing.

The Real Thing has been described as "early Brian Eno joins Led Zeppelin and Funkadelic." The video for "Epic", which featured slow motion footage of a fish flopping out of water, received extensive airplay on MTV in the summer of 1990, despite provoking anger from animal rights activists. That same year, Faith No More gave memorable performances at the 1990 MTV Video Music Awards and on Saturday Night Live.

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Faith No More displayed an even more distinctly experimental bent on their next album, Angel Dust. One critic writes that the album is "one of the more complex and simply confounding records ever released by a major label," and another writes that "'A Small Victory', which seems to run Madame Butterfly through Metallica and Nile Rodgers - reveals a developing facility for combining unlikely elements into startlingly original concoctions." Angel Dust featured the singles "Midlife Crisis" and "A Small Victory", as well as a re-recording of the theme to the film Midnight Cowboy. Later pressings of the album also included their cover of the Commodores classic Easy, which in some parts of the world became the band's biggest hit.

Angel Dust, though not as successful as TRT in the U.S., sold 700,000 copies there, and did manage to outsell TRT in many other world charts. In Germany, for example, the record was certified Gold for sales of more than 270,000 copies. Along with heavy airplay of "Easy" and "Midlife Crisis", the album became a sleeper hit in the UK, South America, Europe and Australia.

After touring to support Angel Dust in the summer of 1992, longtime guitarist Jim Martin left the band during the early stages of recording their follow-up, King for a Day... Fool for a Lifetime in 1995. He was replaced by Mr. Bungle guitarist Trey Spruance, who also left soon after; just before the band was to begin their world tour.

Spruance was replaced by Dean Menta, the band's keyboard roadie.

KFAD/FFAL was an equally experimental album, varying in styles and moods from heavy and slow to spasmodic and jazzy. In the U.S. the album failed to get any sort of attraction or following, slipping out of the charts quickly. Sales (about 1.5 million) were below that of Angel Dust. The band accordingly decided to cut their world tour short by 4 months, cancelled the singles "Gentle Art Of Making Enemies" and "Take This Bottle", and released a 7 x 7-inch box set of singles that included the B-sides and some interviews between the songs. KFAD/FFAL did however sell respectably well in the UK and Germany, and even went to #1 on the album charts in Australia.

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Album of the Year was released in 1997 and featured yet another new guitarist, Jon Hudson, who was a former roommate of Billy Gould. The album debuted much higher than expected in some countries, for example Germany (#2, later going gold) and Australia (#1 again, going platinum). In an additional 12 countries in Europe, it went either gold or platinum. In the U.S. the reaction was slow for the album; however, just as interest was picking up on their tours and album they called it a day. Singles "Ashes To Ashes" and "Last Cup Of Sorrow" had minimal success. Electro-tinged ballad "Stripsearch" was released as a single in various countries (excluding the U.S. and UK).

In early 1998 the new flaring of break-up rumours on the internet began. Starting with a rumor posted to the Faith No More newsgroup alt.music.faith-no-more claiming Mike Patton had quit the band in favour of side projects, this rumor, although denied at the time, proved to be at least partly true. The band cancelled their planned support tour for Aerosmith and on April 19, 1998 Bill Gould began spreading the following by email and fax:

"After 15 long and fruitful years, Faith No More have decided to put an end to speculation regarding their imminent break up... by breaking up. The decision among the members is mutual, and there will be no pointing of fingers, no naming of names, other than stating, for the record, that "Puffy started it". Furthermore, the split will now enable each member to pursue his individual project(s) unhindered. Lastly, and most importantly, the band would like to thank all of those fans and associates that have stuck with and supported the band throughout its history."

Faith No More played their last show in Lisbon, Portugal on April 7.

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