"Epic" is a song by American rock band Faith No More. It was released as the second single from their third album, The Real Thing (1989), in 1990 in United States, the United Kingdom, and Europe. The song was the band's breakthrough hit, peaking at number nine on the US Billboard Hot 100, number two in New Zealand, and number one in Australia for three weeks. It is among the band's most popular songs and a staple in their concerts.
"Epic" was ranked number 30 on VH1's 40 Greatest Metal Songs.[1] In 2009, it was ranked the 54th best hard rock song of all time by VH1 and appeared at number 46 on the Triple J Hottest 100 of All Time, an Australian music poll.[2][3]
Composition and musical style
Bassist Billy Gould said, "It was conceived naturally as a riff in the studio between Roddy, myself and Mike Bordin during rehearsal that later got fleshed out into an entire song." He also said that, after the disappointing performance of the album's first single ("From Out of Nowhere"), the record label had low expectations and let the band pick whatever song they wanted as the next music video (and thus, the next single). "So we picked 'Epic' because it just felt the most natural at the time. We had very little expectations of it becoming a commercial hit," said Gould.[4]
Directed by Ralph Ziman, the music video for "Epic" features surreal images, which are combined with performance footage of the band soaked by an artificial rainstorm on a sound stage. The final shot is of keyboardist Roddy Bottum playing the piano outro on an upright model, which explodes in slow motion after he finishes and walks away from it.
Guitarist Jim Martin was a schoolmate, close friend and fan of the late Metallica bassist Cliff Burton. In the video, he can be seen wearing a T-shirt with a photo of Cliff with the words "A Tribute to Cliff Burton". In addition, Mike Patton can be seen wearing a Mr. Bungle shirt[17] that reads "There's A Tractor In My Balls Again".[18]
Controversy
The video gained controversy due to a scene at the end where a fish is out of water and appears to be dying on camera.[citation needed]
During an interview, the band joked that the fish seen flopping around in the music video belonged to Icelandic singer Björk, who at the time was the singer for the band The Sugarcubes, and they claimed to have stolen it from her at a party. There are also stories of Björk giving the fish to Bottum after a poetry reading in San Francisco.[19] This was confirmed by the singer who defended the group, saying that "I know those guys, I know they wouldn't do anything to harm [him]. But I know, if I had gone home with MY fish, which was given to ME, none of this would have ever happened."[20]
Director, Ralph Ziman, confirmed in 2010, that several fish were used during the filming of the video and none were out of water for very long. The fish were released following the completion of the video.[21]
Reception
"Epic" was the band's most successful single in the US and was generally well received. According to Rolling Stone, it set a standard that Faith No More did not match with its later albums.[22] Both the Philadelphia Daily News and Los Angeles Times praised the song, citing the song as "radio-ready" and "radical", respectively.[23][24] However, The New York Times also cited Faith No More as "style-crunching," using "Epic" as their example.[25]The Village Voice's Pazz & Jop annual year-end critics' poll ranked "Epic" at number five on their poll of the best singles of 1990, tying with Lisa Stansfield's "All Around the World".[26]Anthony Kiedis of the Red Hot Chili Peppers would later accuse Patton of stealing his style in the form of this video and numerous performances.[citation needed]
Legacy
In 2020, Kerrang! ranked it as the fourth best Faith No More song.[27]
This song has been covered by the Welsh rock band The Automatic, the Swedish indie pop band Love Is All and the Californian metal band Atreyu, who included it on the bonus edition of their 2007 album Lead Sails Paper Anchor.[28] In a 2009 MTV interview, American pop singer Lady Gaga said she was a fan of the song, and used it as entrance music when she worked as a burlesque dancer.[29]
Track listings
American release
This version was released in the US as a "Slash sticker" labelled 7-inch and as a cassette with a "Burning Splash" sleeve.[30]
No.
Title
Length
1.
"Epic" (Radio remix)
3:59
2.
"Edge of the World"
4:09
Australian release
The 7-inch and cassette versions of this release only had tracks 1 and 2, unlike the 12-inch which featured all 3.[30]
The initial release of "Epic", released in the UK, Germany, Japan and internationally. The 7-inch editions only had tracks one, two, and occasionally three. Track five was exclusive to Japanese issues.[30]
* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. ‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.
"Epic" has been covered both in concerts and on the Kerrang! Higher Voltage CD, a compilation of artists covering other songs. Such artists include the Welsh rock band The Automatic; the CD was released on June 20, 2007.[54] The metalcore band Atreyu also covered the song on their album Lead Sails Paper Anchor,[55] and the Swedish indie pop band Love Is All covered the song on the B-side to their What's Your Rupture? 7-inch "Wishing Well."[56]Just D and Clawfinger did a cover in Swedish. It was released on a limited edition promo CD in 1992 and on CD maxi single in 1993.[57] On the first release the song was titled (Du vill ha) Allt (Men kan’te få d) and on the later release shortened to Vill ha allt. An arrangement by Mateo Messina was featured in the 2011 film Young Adult. Additionally, Canadian band The Veer Union released a cover of "Epic" in late October 2017. In 2023, The Lucid along with Violent J (Insane Clown Posse) released a re-imagining of "Epic" titled "Sweet Toof"; keeping the music unchanged but re-writing all lyrics and vocal melodies except for a callback to the original chorus during the outro.[58]
Since the mid-1990s, the Penrith Panthers rugby league team in the NRL competition uses a truncated version of "Epic" as the run out song for the second half of the match.
Pro wrestler Alex Colon uses the song as his entrance theme song during his appearance.
"Epic" appeared in the ninth episode of the first season of the television series Twisted Metal.
Notes
^[A] Includes ad-lib from "It Takes Two" by Rob Base and DJ EZ-Rock.
^[B] Recorded in Norwich, 1990. Broadcast by The BBC Radio 1 "Rockshow", March 2, 1990. The profanity is obscured and the songs fade out.
References
^"VH1 40 Greatest Metal Songs", May 1–4, 2006, VH1 Channel, reported by VH1.comArchived June 15, 2013, at the Wayback Machine; last accessed September 10, 2006.
^"about: Linear Soul Child". bjork.com. Note: user has to select 'about : Björk about other people' from the drop down menu and select 'Linear Soul Child' on the menu. Archived from the original on June 20, 2011. Retrieved April 8, 2013.
^Takiff, Jonathan (September 14, 1990). "Whaddya Get When Ya Rap on Metal? Faith No More Crosses Over & Under". Philadelphia Daily News. p. 40.
^Hilburn, Robert (December 31, 1990). "Counting Out Most of the Year's Top Records Pop music: no more than four of 1990's No. 1 songs will be considered significant a decade from now. Here are some that might". Los Angeles Times. p. 12.
^Pareles, Jon (December 30, 1990). "The Best Show? In the Court, not the Concert Hall". The New York Times.
