On November 28th 2014 Faith No More released their first single since 1998, Motherfucker.
The first new material by FNM in 17 years was released on November 28th on 7" vinyl limited to 5000 copies. The single was produced by Bill Gould, mastered by Moar Applebaum and recorded in their Oakland rehearsal space. It was released through Ipecac on their own imprint Reclamation Recordings, with artwork by Cali Dewit and design by Roddy Bottum. The b-side is a rather cinematic reworking of the song by J G Thirwell simply titled as a remix. The single was later released digitally on December 8th topping charts all over the world including number 1 spots in Finland and Bulgaria.
Metal Hammer | July 2015
Eighteen years after their last outing. Faith No More return with Sol Invictus, an album that stands alongside the very best of their illustrious output. In typically contrary fashion, its most radio friendly song comes saddled with a title that will get it precisely zero airplays anywhere. By god, we've missed 'em.
Trust Faith No More to release their first new material in seventeen years and no matter how radio friendly and catchy a tune, be unplayable on the airwaves because of it's lyrical content. Between them Roddy Bottum and Mike Patton chant the phrase 'mother fucker' approximately twenty five times.
Roddy Bottum | Rolling Stone | November 2014
"It feels apt that the first track we're releasing is 'Motherfucker,' a song about accountability. Basically we've created, recorded and mixed a new body of work by ourselves and we're releasing it on our own label. It's a huge deal for us to only have ourselves to answer to at this point in our career and the song is about that, where the buck stops via the basic imagery of foie gras production, bondage. . .y'know, stuff like that."
Roddy Bottum | Faster Louder | February 2015
The lyrical content was about foie gras. Keeping ducks in a small contained cage and force feeding them and bloating them and then taking advantage of their body parts and selling it as a commodity. It seemed like a good allegorical representation of what music was in the early 90s and 80s.
Roddy Bottum | Noisey | March 2015
"It felt like a really nice statement to put out into the public, to let people know we’re not playing any games. We don’t really care if it’s on the radio. It’s sort of offensive and playful and bold and maybe a little bit antagonistic. Just the word itself was a fun thing to put out there. But yeah, it’s totally different than the rest of the record. It’s me singing on it, which is a little bit different, and it’s really simple and stripped down. Something called “Motherfucker” just felt like a nice place for us to kick off a new chapter for Faith No More."
Mike Bordin | OC Weekly | April 2015
"Motherfucker leaped out at us because Roddy brought it to us, and it was fairly complete, except for the drums. I like what Mike sings in the chorus; it makes me laugh. Whenever he says, "motherfucker," it makes me smile because it sounds as if he's smiling when he's saying it. On "Super Hero," there are a lot more layers. It has a lot of energy; it's driving and forceful. To me, that's what Faith No More should sound like"
Roddy Bottum | NZ Herald | February 2015
"A lot of people were like, 'That's a weird one'. My friends were like, 'What's that all about?' It's different - it's sparse and repetitive, it sounds to me like stuff we did when we were younger. People expect us to surprise them. And when we do, it's like, 'Oh yeah, that sounds like Faith No More'."
Bill Gould | The Stranger | April 2015
"Roddy wrote it. I think it has to do with taking responsibility for people who think they own us. And calling them motherfucker [laughs]. It's accountability. Looking back at us as a band years ago, we were put on this treadmill. We did it to ourselves, too, by not knowing any better. We were 18 and 19 years old when we started, and we didn't question certain things. But we were being manipulated a little bit."
Bill Gould | Vancouver Sun | April 2015
"Everything we’ve ever done was from gut feeling even if it didn’t make a lot of sense at the time. Releasing a song called Motherf---er as your first track after 18 years makes absolutely no conscious sense at all, but I think it was the right thing to do. It worked out great.”
Roddy Bottum | Rock A Rolla | June 2015
"We wanted to put something out there that was clearly us doing something in an uncompromising way, to let people know that we weren't doing this for radio attention or to make money. We were clearly just doing something that felt right to us in an artistic way, and that set that tone. A song called Mother fucker is not going to be on the radio. We wanted to let people know that that's where we were."
"It's a lot like Motown. The music is the property of the artists, right? We all know this, but big industries take advantage and take ownership of these properties that are not theirs. It's really crass and over-the-top. The song is about that, and the consequential reclaiming of what's ours, taking ownership and retaining it."
At the time of release their were mixed reactions about the song from fans and the music press alike. However the reception was generally warm.
Rolling Stone
"Motherfucker" marches forth with the doom-laden raps of their 1989 breakthrough The Real Thing, the triumphant choruses of their 1997 swan-song Album of the Year, the moan-to-screech dynamics of Mike Patton's avant-minded solo career and a merciless snare cadence tip-tapping at the edges of sanity.
Gigwise
It is very rude, very noisy, very political: all the prerequisites that make a Faith No More song awesome.
Stereogum
It’s probably intended as a warmup for the LP, and is thus sort of a throwaway for the band, but sonically and structurally, “Motherfucker” sounds like vintage FNM, owing largely to Mike Patton’s remarkable vocal range and attack. It’s not going to make anyone forget Angel Dust, but it might make some people remember Angel Dust, and it sets a pretty high bar for the new album.
Exclaim
The first song to be released from the group since 1997, “Motherfucker” takes on properties of the FNM of old, whether it be Mike Patton’s The Real Thing rap cadence, or the way the vocalist can easily turn out soaring vocal melodies to gruff and grizzly growls targeting the “motherfucker” that tricked them in their youth. The music is likewise epic, evolving from spacious and sinister piano lines into a grand rock escapade.
Metal Injection
It’s like, y’know, a bajillion times better than that shitty video of the band playing it live. I am now more confident than ever than the new Faith No More album is going to be worthy of the FNM name.
Faster Louder
A typically schizophrenic jumble of genres ‘Motherfucker’ features all those classic FNM hallmarks: Patton’s giddy vocal acrobatics, The Real Thing -era raps, a thunderous rhythm section and those sweeping, theatrical choruses which defined their later work. It also happens to be really, really good.
Triple M
So many bands return after a long hiatus only to disappoint, they’ve changed or they’ve moved on from their sound, it’s just not the same. Not Faith No More. Earlier in the year we heard the first live performance of the first new FNM music in 18 years and now we have an official release of their brand new track “Motherfucker”. And…..the track does not in any way disappoint, it’s the gravelly, dark and epic FNM that we love.
Music Feeds
Motherfucker is as instantly compelling as some of FNM’s ’90s classics. The song is tightly wound, coiled around starched guitar strings and clockwork drum rolls. Motherfucker builds on the “greatest” voice in music, frontman Mike Patton, but refrains from breaking out until its huge outro. Patton shouts “Get the motherfucker on the phone” over a quality guitar solo.
Glide
The implications of this song and its existence are great, and it had a lot of work to do in order to justify itself in my mind. Surprisingly, my jaded cynicism and initial distrust were slowly washed away.
FNM 2.0
The new Faith No More single Motherfucker has been released from captivity into the world, set free as a menacing yet understated, contemporary yet idiosyncratic, fulfilling yet frustrating, low-tempo yet snarling, contemplative yet playful, profane yet beatific statement of intent.