Chuck Mosley No More

[Benjm]

Former FNM frontman reported dead at 57.

They never topped We Care A Lot for me. He'd had heavy, long term drugs problems by all accounts but toured in the UK last year and seemed in reasonable spirits in interviews.

[Toby Gymshorts]

Well, it's a dirty job but someone had ta do it.

RIP Chuck.

[Ray de Galles]

Always their best frontman and they made their best album (‘Introduce Yourself’) with him, though ‘Angel Dust’ grew on me more and more over time.

Saw him front the band on what I think might have been their UK debut at Dingwalls and he was unhinged but hugely watchable. Another sad, horribly early loss.

[Sean of the Shed]

A sad loss, 57 years old is no age really, but best frontman? Really? He's not even close. It may have been during Mosley's stint as lead singer that the band found mainstream acknowledgement, but he was an extremely limited singer. Mike Patton joining was where the band really evolved, it was the point that the caveman gave the rock a sharp edge and tied it to a stick to make an axe. FNM may have got noticed with Mosley but they wouldn't be where they are now if they hadn't moved on to Patton, he has a great vocal range and imagination that Mosley could never attain and it was then that they really found their unique sound.
Like I said, a sad loss of a man pretty much destroyed by his own addictions, and maybe this is what anyone should reflect on rather than who was best. It shouldn't bother me, but it does.

[Jah Womble]

RIP.

That thread header's giving me a Proclaimers earworm, however...

[Sean of the Shed]

It'll be an even bigger one if Donald Sutherland and Juliette Lewis peg it on the same day.

[Antepli Ejderha]

RIP Chuck. I'm with Sean on this.

[Ray de Galles]

A sad loss, 57 years old is no age really, but best frontman? Really? He's not even close. It may have been during Mosley's stint as lead singer that the band found mainstream acknowledgement, but he was an extremely limited singer. Mike Patton joining was where the band really evolved, it was the point that the caveman gave the rock a sharp edge and tied it to a stick to make an axe. FNM may have got noticed with Mosley but they wouldn't be where they are now if they hadn't moved on to Patton, he has a great vocal range and imagination that Mosley could never attain and it was then that they really found their unique sound.
Like I said, a sad loss of a man pretty much destroyed by his own addictions, and maybe this is what anyone should reflect on rather than who was best. It shouldn't bother me, but it does.

Well, if we must have this debate when it’s a thread about Mosley and his passing - I said he was their best frontman, not best singer - they are two different things.

When Patton joined the band he was like a frat brat aping Anthony Keidis and I was distinctly underwhelmed by ‘The Real Thing’ - the record overall and his vocals particularly seemed very gimmicky. He was also an annoying, far-too-pleased-with-himself live performer who actually distracted from the band for me.

‘Angel Dust’ was far better and Patton’s shtick had settled down a bit by then but artistically they never did anything very interesting again after it and commercially they were already on a significant downturn - the success of ‘The Real Thing’ was a flash in the pan really.

FNM were always a carcrash of styles and personalities and I think the Mosley era was where that produced the best results in terms of records and live performance.

[3 Colours Red]

I generally prefer Patton but I will say that there is one black mark on The Real Thing as it arguably invented nu-metal IMO.

[Satchmo Distel]

I saw FNM at Leicester University in January 1988. I assumed they were doing the goth/metal crossover that The Cult had been doing at that time.

http://www.faithnomorefollowers.com/...t-uk-show.html

Did they ever surpass that Introduce Yourself album?

[Sean of the Shed]

Well, if we must have this debate when it’s a thread about Mosley and his passing - I said he was their best frontman, not best singer - they are two different things.

When Patton joined the band he was like a frat brat aping Anthony Keidis and I was distinctly underwhelmed by ‘The Real Thing’ - the record overall and his vocals particularly seemed very gimmicky. He was also an annoying, far-too-pleased-with-himself live performer who actually distracted from the band for me.

‘Angel Dust’ was far better and Patton’s shtick had settled down a bit by then but artistically they never did anything very interesting again after it and commercially they were already on a significant downturn - the success of ‘The Real Thing’ was a flash in the pan really.

FNM were always a carcrash of styles and personalities and I think the Mosley era was where that produced the best results in terms of records and live performance.

I suppose it depends what you want from a frontman. I prefer Patton's showmanship and frivolity.
The band was never going to continue with Mosley at any rate, had Patton not joined they would have just as likely called it a day.
With regard to The Real Thing being a flash in the pan, surely that would imply that there was never going to be anything better`to follow that, but as you say yourself they improved on that with Angel Dust. I'd agree that they were on a downturn after that, but to be fair they themselves realised that.

[Sean of the Shed]

I generally prefer Patton but I will say that there is one black mark on The Real Thing as it arguably invented nu-metal IMO.

That's like saying it's The Beatles fault that Oasis exist. You can't blame FNM because a bunch of fucktards like Limp Bizkit mimicked their style, and anyway, Rage Against The Machine are equally as culpable if we are playing by those rules.

[3 Colours Red]

These things have to start somewhere...

[Ray de Galles]

With regard to The Real Thing being a flash in the pan, surely that would imply that there was never going to be anything better`to follow that, but as you say yourself they improved on that with Angel Dust.

I said its success was a flash in the pan. Artistically, it was a dip in between ‘Introduce Yourself’ and ‘Angel Dust’.

[Lang Spoon]

I guess it’s just me who has King for a Day.. as their favourite.

[Jah Womble]

It'll be an even bigger one if Donald Sutherland and Juliette Lewis peg it on the same day.

Not to mention my old mate, Brian Lochaber.

Last I heard, he was doing okay though.

[Flynnie]

When I hear Introduce Yourself I hear a band ready to make it big held back by its lead singer. Mosley (I always thought it was Mosely, interesting to see his death clear this up) had heart but the difference between vocal abilities was night and day, like going from Taki Inoue to Michael Schumacher in an F1 car.

I liked all of Faith No More's 90s stuff. Stripsearch is one of my favourite songs ever.

[Various Artist]

Blimey Flynnie, the juxtaposition of "Mosley" and "F1" in your post really threw me for a moment there. I had to read it twice to check that I hadn't just been presented with the stunning revelation that Chuck (RIP) was really Max's son or something.

I guess it’s just me who has King for a Day.. as their favourite.

You should worry LS, I've got a soft spot for Album Of The Year. Ashes To Ashes is a phenomenal song, mostly thanks to Patton's ability to detonate that absolutely killer chorus.

[Snake Plissken]

Huh. When I heard the news, I put We Care A Lot on and then went straight to The Real Thing. I know that musically, artistically and all that Angel Dust is better but give me that slow build-up and then that bass note into Jim Martin's guitar for Zombie Eaters and it is one of my favourite moments in music ever. I'm shallow that way.

Patton has always had that arsehole aura around him for me - I'm one of those who likes to go to a live gig and see the band just play the songs, and quit fucking about. No denying his absolute talent, mind, and sad to say for Mosley, he absolutely is what they needed.

Courtney Love was apparently lead singer for six months in the early 80s.

[Bored Of Education]

Forgot to post in this. Saw FNM at the Marquee at the end of the tour that Ray saw them at the start of. Had seen "We care a lot" on "The CHart Show" and, like the Red Hot Chilli Peppers' "Fight Like A Brave" 3 months earlier, I was absolutely gobsmacked. The gig especially "Chinese Arithmetic" blew me away. There is actually a recording which I will have to listen to. In truth, it was probably overshadowed by the Chilli Peppers' show at the Clarendon the following month which was a touch less chaotic and left me gibbering with disbelief and incredulity. Splitting hairs really as both bands, singles and shows were a brief oasis of brilliance before funk-metal and nu-metal reared their ugly heads in the wake of both bands. Indeed, with Bad Brains at the Clarendon less than a year before and Fishbone a year leter, it was an amazing era for genuinely organic fusions of rock and punk and other styles of music before everyone started having an element of dance/hip-hop/funk/reggae to their music. As for FNM, unlike Ray, I never really warmed to them after Mike Patton joined as I found him a bit of prick. I saw them supporting Guns & Roses at Wembley Stadium - which wasn't an edifying spectacle for any of the bands on the bill really - and they had become completely disjointed and bloated. Talking of Bad Brains, Chuck Mosley did a stint with them which must be interesting and, in retrospect, makes some sort of sense.

[Bored Of Education]

Blimey Flynnie, the juxtaposition of "Mosley" and "F1" in your post really threw me for a moment there. I had to read it twice to check that I hadn't just been presented with the stunning revelation that Chuck (RIP) was really Max's son or something.

Ray and I actually knew Max's son. Went to a couple of his birthday parties where his dad would hire the Marquee or somewhere, book his favourite band (the son not Max's) such as Dr & Medics, as I remember, let us and all his mates in free and put on a load of free food and drink. Max and his cronies would stand at the back wearing dinner suits and looking like the Thule Society. Actually, though he was very much paler than Chuck, his son looked more similar to him than his father at the time.

[Crystal Staples]

A big shame this, I was privileged to see him play in a small pub near my house on his UK tour about a year ago, belated RIP Chuck.

[Bored Of Education]

Bloody hell, I did't even realised he was touring. Might have gone to see him if I had.