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Faith No More

L

Ltrain

Nov 16, 2006
191
6
Quad Cities, Illinois
#1
OK- This may be too general of a questions. Faith No More is not my typical listening but I always kind of liked that song with the lyrics " You want it all but you can't have it". Anyway, the other night I was listening to my XM radio and there was a song on by Faith No More that had this really cool bass line grinding in the backround. For the life of me I can't recall the name of the song. Was the bass player of this band known for being any good? Are they worth checking out? Anyone have an idea about what song it was I was hearing? Sorry, I don't even recall the lyrics because I was getting off so much on the bass plus I only heard about the last half of the song. Any help would be appreciated!:bassist:
 
#7
Billy Gould is a highly regarded bassist in the rock / alternative genre, and Faith No More is a crictally acclaimed band. They are also one of my favorites! As suggested, Angel Dust is a great record, but the Real Thing (contains Falling to Pieces and Epic) and King for a Day / Fool for a Lifetime are excellent as well. Actually, all of their records are good!

Good luck!
 
#11
He may not be an amazing technique monster, but he comes up with bass parts which sound great in the context of what the rest of the band is doing. And of course all of that is a matter of opinion, but Billy Gould being inspring or favored as a bass player is a pretty widely held one.
 
#12
Graham Monette said:
:eyebrow: you think so? I REALLY dont consider him good at all; dont get me wrong: he DOES THE JOB, but as far as techinique or anything else (at ALL) I fall really short in terms of understanding to how he's "amazing".
:help:
Click to expand...

Philistine.

He is a testament to what rock bass playing should be, something that stands out enough to be worth listening to, but not screaming, "Check out this wanktacular line I wrote." That whole band is a testament to what a rock band should be. Everyone who has ever played in that band has been very talented, yet cared very little about stroking their own ego with uber-technical parts that detract from the song as a whole. His playing is great because he had the chops to do so much more, but he realized any parts other than the one's he played would say so much less. Not to mention that he wrote the vast majority of the later songs.
 
#13
Thanks for the input everyone - I'm definitely going to check out this band some more. I downloaded a couple of songs to check out. I agree with the one statement that mentioned that the bass playing wasn't super technical, but it sure seems right for the music. It just has a cool feel to it, and isn't that what it's really about?
Thanks again!!
 
#14
Billy Gould is my #1 favorite bass player and influence.

He is an excellent bass player. Genius even. Not only that, but a great songwrtiter also.

I know there are a lot of Patton people, but Patton would be Patton had he not been in FNM. Yes, he had Bungle. And while Bungle is good stuff and great musicians, they never had any 'hit' like FNM did.

That said. Billy held that band together. Not to mention had a hand in writing most every song and all the good ones. Ecspecially in the later days; he and Patton both actually.

His lines are tasteful, so easy they're complicated and just plain good.

Personally I don't see how a person couldn't love him.
 
#15
abark000 said:
Philistine.

He is a testament to what rock bass playing should be, something that stands out enough to be worth listening to, but not screaming, "Check out this wanktacular line I wrote." That whole band is a testament to what a rock band should be. Everyone who has ever played in that band has been very talented, yet cared very little about stroking their own ego with uber-technical parts that detract from the song as a whole. His playing is great because he had the chops to do so much more, but he realized any parts other than the one's he played would say so much less. Not to mention that he wrote the vast majority of the later songs.
Click to expand...
This post right here? It's what is known to me as amazing.

Billy Gould rocks, great player, great tone. Faith No More were INCREDIBLE, it took me ages to appreciate anything outside of Angel Dust, but I really dig all their Patton-era stuff now.
 
#16
I prefer the first two albums myself, the pre-Patton material, but I really enjoyed Billy's playing growning up, saw FNM about 4 or 5 times too. Great player. I love his tone, nice, open and noisy, a bit of character to it. He's not a technique demon by any means, but as far as writing unique and imaginative basslines which really compliment and drive the song without being "look at me, I'm trying to impress my bass player mates", there are very few rock players who even come close. He was also one of the first to bring pop and slap into Metal music and although primarily a finger player, he was never above using a plec if it was right for the song. An all round top bass player in my book, the kind of guy you'd want in your band (if you weren't the bass player ;) ) which is about the best compliment I can think of.

Ltrain, I would say pick up the album The Real Thing, it's probably their most accessable. If you like that, work your way backwards towards We Care A Lot and forwards with Angel Dust.
 
#17
Personally, I think Billy is awesome, his lines are amazingly creative and his tone is to die for and very unique. "Kindergarten" off Angel Dust even has a full-blown bass solo. Billy also used a wide array of techniques and sounded great with every single one.
He's also a hell of a nice guy and replies to fan mail really quickly.
 
#18
abark000 said:
That whole band is a testament to what a rock band should be. Everyone who has ever played in that band has been very talented, yet cared very little about stroking their own ego with uber-technical parts that detract from the song as a whole.
Click to expand...

+1 Wasn't Jim Martin (guitarist) chucked out for being a bit on the egotistical side? I'm a big fan of King for a day - probably their most eclectic album (altough i only own that and angel dust).

Billy Gould is without a doubt a fantastic bass player. I'd reccomend checking out anything by Mike Patton, think it's safe to say you'll stumble on some very good bass playing, in the process. That dudes just relentlessly creative and is happy creating music in just about any style - essential listening for any bass player imo.
 
#19
Ltrain said:
OK- This may be too general of a questions. Faith No More is not my typical listening but I always kind of liked that song with the lyrics " You want it all but you can't have it". Anyway, the other night I was listening to my XM radio and there was a song on by Faith No More that had this really cool bass line grinding in the backround. For the life of me I can't recall the name of the song. Was the bass player of this band known for being any good? Are they worth checking out? Anyone have an idea about what song it was I was hearing? Sorry, I don't even recall the lyrics because I was getting off so much on the bass plus I only heard about the last half of the song. Any help would be appreciated!:bassist:
Click to expand...

possibly Epic? It has a thumping bassline cxomprising of double.third. Dum Dum, Da Dum Dum ("Ooooooh Ahhhhh) etc etc ...
 
#20
Billy Gould is a fantastic player. Great variety of tones, but always fitting the song. Good sense of melody, great groove.

Two of my fav bass lines are "Stripsearch" and "From out of nowhere". They`re completely differente in terms of tone and melody, but both are killer.
 

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