King for a Day... Fool for a Lifetime
Encyclopedia
King for a Day... Fool for a Lifetime is the fifth studio album by Faith No More
, released in 1995. It was their first album recorded without longtime guitarist Jim Martin. The album showcased a greater variety than the band's usual heavy metal leanings, with Rolling Stone
calling the end result a "genre shuffle". The album contains a number of shifting genre
s, including jazz-funk
in "Evidence
", the big band jazz
-influenced "Star A.D.", the country rock
of "Take This Bottle", or the gospel
-influenced "Just a Man". Overall, though, the album is considerably more straightforward and less experimental than its predecessor, Angel Dust. This is the only Faith No More album to feature guitarist Trey Spruance
, also a member of Mr. Bungle
with Mike Patton
. However, Spruance was credited only as a guest musician, and was replaced on the supporting tour by former roadie Dean Menta
.
In the United States, the album debuted at #31 and has sold 223,000 copies as of July 2006, which was well below their previous efforts. The ensuing tour was cut short in the UK and Europe as public interest waned. However, the album did manage to be certified Gold in Europe. The album was also certified Gold in Australia and New Zealand, where the singles "Digging the Grave
", "Evidence" and "Ricochet
" all charted well. The album sold about 1.5 million copies and overall its figures were much lower than those of Angel Dust or The Real Thing.
The cover art for the album and its associated singles came from from the graphic novel Flood! by New York
artist Eric Drooker, who received illustration credits for his work.
, contributing the single "Another Body Murdered
" to the soundtrack
for the 1993 film Judgement Night
. This recording would be the first the band released without guitarist Jim Martin, with bassist Billy Gould recording the guitar parts instead. Martin had already begun skipping practice sessions with the band, having grown dissatisfied with their new musical directions; he had also reportedly stopped writing new music during the Angel Dust recording session.
Martin was fired from the band later that year due to musical differences, via a fax from keyboard player Roddy Bottum; and Mr. Bungle
guitarist Trey Spruance
was brought in to record their next album. However, Spruance left the band before the subsequent tour, and was replaced by the band's guitar roadie, Dean Menta
. Reasons given for the change differ — the band claim Spruance was unwilling to commit to a long touring schedule in support of the album, whilst Spruance claims he was never meant to be a permanent member in the first place. Roddy Bottum also claims to have been mostly absent during this period, owing to the deaths of his father and Kurt Cobain
, whose wife Courtney Love
was a close friend of Bottum's. Bottum's absence leading to the album being written largely without keyboards. According to singer Mike Patton, the band were involved in a car accident during the recording sessions for the album, whilst Patton was driving. Spruance and drummer Mike Bordin were also involved, and Patton claimed to have "had to look at a lot of things in the face" as a result.
to promote the single, later performing it on MTV Europe
, Canal+
's Nulle Part Ailleurs and The Jon Stewart Show
. The single reached number 16 on the UK Singles Chart
, and number 12 on the Australian ARIA Charts
. It featured on an episode of Beavis and Butt-head
in August 1995, and was included on the soundtrack of the 1996 Italian film
Jack Frusciante è uscito dal gruppo. A video for the song was recorded, directed by Marcus Raboy
, who was credited as Alan Smithee
. The video featured Roddy Bottom, the band's keyboard player, on guitar; and was later included on the collection Who Cares a Lot?: The Greatest Videos.
"Ricochet" was released as the album's second single on 1 May 1995; and was promoted with an appearance on Late Night with Conan O'Brien
. The song peaked at number 27 on the UK charts and number 58 in Australia. The song was also included on the soundtrack to the 1996 PlayStation game Fox Hunt. A video for "Ricochet" was filmed, but unlike most of the band's other videos, does not appear on the later collection Who Cares a Lot?: The Greatest Videos.
The album's third and final single was the jazz-funk number "Evidence", released on 8 May 1995. The band made an appearance the previous month on the Australian variety show Hey Hey It's Saturday
to perform the song, which eventually peaked at number 32 in the UK and number 27 in Australia. A video was made for the song, directed by Walter A. Stern
. Singles were also planned for the songs "Take This Bottle" and "The Gentle Art of Making Enemies", but these were cancelled due to the poor sales of the previous singles.
; whilst covers of "I Started a Joke
" and "Greenfields" were included as B-sides to the single "Digging the Grave"; and covers of "I Wanna Fuck Myself" and "Spanish Eyes
" were both included as B-sides to the singles "Ricochet" and "Evidence".
The bossa nova
-influenced "Caralho Voador" was known during production as "The Velvet Hammer", and features lyrics in Portuguese. "The Gentle Art of Making Enemies" is one of the album's heavier songs, and takes its title from James McNeill Whistler
's 1890 book The Gentle Art of Making Enemies
. A single for the song had been planned but was cancelled due to poor record sales. However, it later appeared on Faith No More's 1998 greatest hits compilation Who Cares a Lot?
"Star A.D." makes an appearance on the 2008 compilation The Works
. When asked if the song was a reference to Kurt Cobain
, Mike Patton stated:
's previous albums, initial reception to King for a Day... Fool for a Lifetime was mixed. Entertainment Weekly
gave the album a grade of C- and called it an "archaic progressive-rock fusion, oddly out of step with the times". Al Wiesel of Rolling Stone
gave it a rating of two stars out of five, saying "one hopes that that last song's moving chorus – "Don't let me die with this silly look in my eyes" – doesn't prove to be Faith No More's epitaph". Metal Hammer
acknowledges that the album was met with "crushing disappointment", but praised its diversity. Michael Snyder of the San Francisco Chronicle
, however, was more favourable, calling it "an utter triumph", adding that it was "enigmatic, sarcastic, provocative and incisive". Spin
magazine's Jonathan Gold rated the album 6 out of 10, praising its "deftness" and its "burnished, jackhammer-sheathed-in-a-lubricated-condom presence", but feeling that its multiple genres were a distraction. Writing for Allmusic, Greg Prato gave it a more positive rating of three-and-a-half stars out of five, while calling it one of the band's "underrated releases". New York
magazine described the album as "baroquely, nightmarishly weird", praising Mike Patton's vocals.
King for a Day... Fool for a Lifetime was nominated for a Bay Area Music Award
in 1995, in the category "Hard Music Album or EP". Bassist Billy Gould also received a nomination for Best Bassist at the same event. However, neither nomination was won. Also in 1995, Kerrang!
magazine named the album 15th in their "Albums of the Year" countdown; whilst France's Rocksound listed it as number 33 in their version of the list. In 1996, Italian magazine ViceVersa ranked it 39th in their "100 Rock Albums" countdown. Poland's Tylko Rock named it number 66 in their list of "100 Albums that Shook Polish Rock" In 2005, Germany's Visions magazine ranked it 37 in their list of "150 Albums for Eternity". In 2006, Classic Rock
and Metal Hammer included it in their unranked list of "The 200 Greatest Albums of the 90s".
Faith No More
Faith No More is an American rock band from San Francisco, California, formed originally as Faith No Man in 1981 by bassist Billy Gould, keyboardist Wade Worthington, vocalist Michael Morris and drummer Mike Bordin. A year later when Worthington was replaced by keyboardist Roddy Bottum, and Mike...
, released in 1995. It was their first album recorded without longtime guitarist Jim Martin. The album showcased a greater variety than the band's usual heavy metal leanings, with Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
calling the end result a "genre shuffle". The album contains a number of shifting genre
Genre
Genre , Greek: genos, γένος) is the term for any category of literature or other forms of art or culture, e.g. music, and in general, any type of discourse, whether written or spoken, audial or visual, based on some set of stylistic criteria. Genres are formed by conventions that change over time...
s, including jazz-funk
Jazz-funk
Jazz-funk is a sub-genre of jazz music characterized by a strong back beat , electrified sounds, and often, the presence of the first electronic analog synthesizers...
in "Evidence
Evidence (Faith No More song)
"Evidence" is a song by Faith No More, released as the third and final single from their fifth studio album, King for a Day... Fool for a Lifetime. Like the other releases from the album, it failed to chart in the US; however, the song had moderate success in the UK and Australia...
", the big band jazz
Big band
A big band is a type of musical ensemble associated with jazz and the Swing Era typically consisting of rhythm, brass, and woodwind instruments totaling approximately twelve to twenty-five musicians...
-influenced "Star A.D.", the country rock
Country rock
Country rock is sub-genre of popular music, formed from the fusion of rock with country. The term is generally used to refer to the wave of rock musicians who began to record country-flavored records in the late 1960s and early 1970s, beginning with Bob Dylan and The Byrds; reaching its greatest...
of "Take This Bottle", or the gospel
Gospel music
Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....
-influenced "Just a Man". Overall, though, the album is considerably more straightforward and less experimental than its predecessor, Angel Dust. This is the only Faith No More album to feature guitarist Trey Spruance
Trey Spruance
Preston Lea Spruance III or "Trey Spruance" is an American composer, producer, and musician, perhaps best known as the leader of the multi-genre outfit Secret Chiefs 3 and for his work as guitarist and keyboardist with Mr. Bungle...
, also a member of Mr. Bungle
Mr. Bungle
Mr. Bungle was an experimental band from Northern California. The band was formed in 1985 while the members were still in high school and was named after a children's educational film. Mr. Bungle released four demo tapes in the mid to late 1980s before being signed to Warner Bros. Records and...
with Mike Patton
Mike Patton
Michael Allan "Mike" Patton is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and actor, best known as the lead singer of the metal/experimental rock band Faith No More. He has also sung for Mr...
. However, Spruance was credited only as a guest musician, and was replaced on the supporting tour by former roadie Dean Menta
Dean Menta
Dean Menta served as the guitarist for the rock band Faith No More from 1995 to 1996. Menta had been a keyboard tech for the band and was recruited to handle guitar duties after Trey Spruance declined to tour for the album King for a Day... Fool for a Lifetime. He appears in their videos for...
.
In the United States, the album debuted at #31 and has sold 223,000 copies as of July 2006, which was well below their previous efforts. The ensuing tour was cut short in the UK and Europe as public interest waned. However, the album did manage to be certified Gold in Europe. The album was also certified Gold in Australia and New Zealand, where the singles "Digging the Grave
Digging the Grave
"Digging the Grave" is a song by Faith No More, released as the first single from their fifth studio album King for a Day... Fool for a Lifetime. Like the rest of the singles released from the album, it failed to chart in the US...
", "Evidence" and "Ricochet
Ricochet (Faith No More song)
"Ricochet" is a song by Faith No More, released as the second single from their fifth studio album King for a Day... Fool for a Lifetime. It has been stated that it was written the day of Kurt Cobain's death and is sometimes titled "Nirvana" on the band's setlists.-Release:Although the band state...
" all charted well. The album sold about 1.5 million copies and overall its figures were much lower than those of Angel Dust or The Real Thing.
The cover art for the album and its associated singles came from from the graphic novel Flood! by New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
artist Eric Drooker, who received illustration credits for his work.
Production
After releasing 1992's Angel Dust, Faith No More's next project was a collaboration with Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E.Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E.
Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E. are a hip hop group from Carson, California, composed of the Devoux brothers Paul, Ted, Donald, Roscoe, Danny, and David. Their family is from Samoa. They first began playing music in their father's Baptist church. Before anyone else arrived, they would play P-Funk and experiment...
, contributing the single "Another Body Murdered
Another Body Murdered
"Another Body Murdered" is a song created as a collaboration between Faith No More and Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E. for the soundtrack to the 1993 film Judgment Night. It was released as a single in September 1993, one month before the film's première...
" to the soundtrack
Judgment Night (soundtrack)
Judgment Night is the soundtrack to the film of the same name. It was released on September 14, 1993 through Epic Records and was produced by many of the album's performers. Every song on the soundtrack was a collaboration between hip-hop artists and rock / metal artists...
for the 1993 film Judgement Night
Judgment Night (film)
Judgment Night is a 1993 action thriller film directed by Stephen Hopkins and starring Emilio Estévez, Cuba Gooding Jr., Jeremy Piven and Stephen Dorff as a group of friends on the run from a group of drug dealers after they witness a murder...
. This recording would be the first the band released without guitarist Jim Martin, with bassist Billy Gould recording the guitar parts instead. Martin had already begun skipping practice sessions with the band, having grown dissatisfied with their new musical directions; he had also reportedly stopped writing new music during the Angel Dust recording session.
Martin was fired from the band later that year due to musical differences, via a fax from keyboard player Roddy Bottum; and Mr. Bungle
Mr. Bungle
Mr. Bungle was an experimental band from Northern California. The band was formed in 1985 while the members were still in high school and was named after a children's educational film. Mr. Bungle released four demo tapes in the mid to late 1980s before being signed to Warner Bros. Records and...
guitarist Trey Spruance
Trey Spruance
Preston Lea Spruance III or "Trey Spruance" is an American composer, producer, and musician, perhaps best known as the leader of the multi-genre outfit Secret Chiefs 3 and for his work as guitarist and keyboardist with Mr. Bungle...
was brought in to record their next album. However, Spruance left the band before the subsequent tour, and was replaced by the band's guitar roadie, Dean Menta
Dean Menta
Dean Menta served as the guitarist for the rock band Faith No More from 1995 to 1996. Menta had been a keyboard tech for the band and was recruited to handle guitar duties after Trey Spruance declined to tour for the album King for a Day... Fool for a Lifetime. He appears in their videos for...
. Reasons given for the change differ — the band claim Spruance was unwilling to commit to a long touring schedule in support of the album, whilst Spruance claims he was never meant to be a permanent member in the first place. Roddy Bottum also claims to have been mostly absent during this period, owing to the deaths of his father and Kurt Cobain
Kurt Cobain
Kurt Donald Cobain was an American singer-songwriter, musician and artist, best known as the lead singer and guitarist of the grunge band Nirvana...
, whose wife Courtney Love
Courtney Love
Courtney Michelle Love is an American rock musician. Love is the lead vocalist, lyricist, and rhythm guitarist for alternative rock band Hole, which she formed in 1989, and is an actress who has moved from bit parts in Alex Cox films to significant and acclaimed roles in The People vs...
was a close friend of Bottum's. Bottum's absence leading to the album being written largely without keyboards. According to singer Mike Patton, the band were involved in a car accident during the recording sessions for the album, whilst Patton was driving. Spruance and drummer Mike Bordin were also involved, and Patton claimed to have "had to look at a lot of things in the face" as a result.
Singles
Before the album's release, the song "Digging the Grave" was released as a single on 28 February 1995. That March, the band appeared on the British television program Top of the PopsTop of the Pops
Top of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006. After 25 December 2006 it became a radio program, now hosted by Tony Blackburn...
to promote the single, later performing it on MTV Europe
MTV Europe
MTV Europe is a pan-European 24-hour entertainment cable and digital television network launched on August 1, 1987. Initially, the channel served all regions within Europe being one of the very few channels that targeted the entire European continent...
, Canal+
Canal+
Canal+ is a French premium pay television channel launched in 1984. It is 80% owned by the Canal+ Group, which in turn is owned by Vivendi SA. The channel broadcasts several kinds of programming, mostly encrypted...
's Nulle Part Ailleurs and The Jon Stewart Show
The Jon Stewart Show
The Jon Stewart Show was a short-lived talk show hosted by comedian Jon Stewart on MTV. It premiered in 1993 and became the second highest-rated program on the network behind Beavis and Butt-Head....
. The single reached number 16 on the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
, and number 12 on the Australian ARIA Charts
ARIA Charts
The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June...
. It featured on an episode of Beavis and Butt-head
Beavis and Butt-Head
Beavis and Butt-head is an American animated television series created by Mike Judge. The series originated from Frog Baseball, a 1992 short film by Judge. After seeing the short, MTV signed Judge to develop the concept. Beavis and Butt-head originally aired from March 8, 1993 to November 28, 1997...
in August 1995, and was included on the soundtrack of the 1996 Italian film
Cinema of Italy
The history of Italian cinema began just a few months after the Lumière brothers had patented their Cinematographe, when Pope Leo XIII was filmed for a few seconds in the act of blessing the camera.-Early years:...
Jack Frusciante è uscito dal gruppo. A video for the song was recorded, directed by Marcus Raboy
Marcus Raboy
Marcus Raboy is an American film and music video director.Since the early 1990s, Raboy has amassed a large number music video credits directing music videos for Mary J...
, who was credited as Alan Smithee
Alan Smithee
Alan Smithee was an official pseudonym used by film directors who wish to disown a project, coined in 1968. Until its use was formally discontinued in 2000, it was the sole pseudonym used by members of the Directors Guild of America when a director dissatisfied with the final product proved to...
. The video featured Roddy Bottom, the band's keyboard player, on guitar; and was later included on the collection Who Cares a Lot?: The Greatest Videos.
"Ricochet" was released as the album's second single on 1 May 1995; and was promoted with an appearance on Late Night with Conan O'Brien
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
Late Night with Conan O'Brien is an American late-night talk show hosted by Conan O'Brien that aired 2,725 episodes on NBC between 1993 and 2009. The show featured varied comedic material, celebrity interviews, and musical and comedy performances. Late Night aired weeknights at 12:37 am...
. The song peaked at number 27 on the UK charts and number 58 in Australia. The song was also included on the soundtrack to the 1996 PlayStation game Fox Hunt. A video for "Ricochet" was filmed, but unlike most of the band's other videos, does not appear on the later collection Who Cares a Lot?: The Greatest Videos.
The album's third and final single was the jazz-funk number "Evidence", released on 8 May 1995. The band made an appearance the previous month on the Australian variety show Hey Hey It's Saturday
Hey Hey It's Saturday
Hey Hey It's Saturday was a long-running variety television program on Australian television. It initially ran for 27 years , debuting on the Nine Network on 9 October 1971 and broadcasting its last episode on 20 November 1999. Its host throughout its entire run was Daryl Somers, who would later...
to perform the song, which eventually peaked at number 32 in the UK and number 27 in Australia. A video was made for the song, directed by Walter A. Stern
Walter Stern (director)
-Music videos:Stern began his career directing music videos at Control, a small production company based in London.In 1993, he moved to Stigma where he first directed a promo for the band The Prodigy...
. Singles were also planned for the songs "Take This Bottle" and "The Gentle Art of Making Enemies", but these were cancelled due to the poor sales of the previous singles.
Other songs
A total of twenty tracks were recorded for the album, with only fourteen making the final listing. Cut tracks "I Won't Forget You" and "Hippie Jam Song" both appeared on the later compilations Who Cares a Lot? and The Very Best Definitive Ultimate Greatest Hits CollectionThe Very Best Definitive Ultimate Greatest Hits Collection
The Very Best Definitive Ultimate Greatest Hits Collection is a two-disc compilation album by American band Faith No More. It was released on June 8, 2009 in the UK to coincide with the band's reunion tour...
; whilst covers of "I Started a Joke
I Started a Joke
"I Started a Joke" is a 1968 song by the Bee Gees from their album Idea, which was released in September of that year.Curiously, it was not released as a single in the UK, where buyers who could not afford the album had to content themselves with a Polydor version by Heath...
" and "Greenfields" were included as B-sides to the single "Digging the Grave"; and covers of "I Wanna Fuck Myself" and "Spanish Eyes
Moon Over Naples
"Moon Over Naples" is a 1965 instrumental composed and originally performed by German bandleader Bert Kaempfert and was the first track on his album, The Magic Music of Far Away Places for Decca Records....
" were both included as B-sides to the singles "Ricochet" and "Evidence".
The bossa nova
Bossa nova
Bossa nova is a style of Brazilian music. Bossa nova acquired a large following in the 1960s, initially consisting of young musicians and college students...
-influenced "Caralho Voador" was known during production as "The Velvet Hammer", and features lyrics in Portuguese. "The Gentle Art of Making Enemies" is one of the album's heavier songs, and takes its title from James McNeill Whistler
James McNeill Whistler
James Abbott McNeill Whistler was an American-born, British-based artist. Averse to sentimentality and moral allusion in painting, he was a leading proponent of the credo "art for art's sake". His famous signature for his paintings was in the shape of a stylized butterfly possessing a long stinger...
's 1890 book The Gentle Art of Making Enemies
The Gentle Art of Making Enemies
The Gentle Art Of Making Enemies is a book by the painter James McNeill Whistler, published in 1890. The book was in part a response to, in part a transcript of, Whistler's famous libel suit against critic John Ruskin...
. A single for the song had been planned but was cancelled due to poor record sales. However, it later appeared on Faith No More's 1998 greatest hits compilation Who Cares a Lot?
"Star A.D." makes an appearance on the 2008 compilation The Works
The Works (Faith No More album)
The Works is a 3-disc compilation of Faith No More songs ranging from their second album Introduce Yourself to their final album Album of the Year...
. When asked if the song was a reference to Kurt Cobain
Kurt Cobain
Kurt Donald Cobain was an American singer-songwriter, musician and artist, best known as the lead singer and guitarist of the grunge band Nirvana...
, Mike Patton stated:
Reception
Unlike Faith No MoreFaith No More
Faith No More is an American rock band from San Francisco, California, formed originally as Faith No Man in 1981 by bassist Billy Gould, keyboardist Wade Worthington, vocalist Michael Morris and drummer Mike Bordin. A year later when Worthington was replaced by keyboardist Roddy Bottum, and Mike...
's previous albums, initial reception to King for a Day... Fool for a Lifetime was mixed. Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
gave the album a grade of C- and called it an "archaic progressive-rock fusion, oddly out of step with the times". Al Wiesel of Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
gave it a rating of two stars out of five, saying "one hopes that that last song's moving chorus – "Don't let me die with this silly look in my eyes" – doesn't prove to be Faith No More's epitaph". Metal Hammer
Metal Hammer
Metal Hammer is a monthly heavy metal music magazine published in the United Kingdom by Future Publishing, and in several other countries by different publishers. Metal Hammer articles feature both mainstream bands and more unusual acts from the whole spectrum of heavy metal music...
acknowledges that the album was met with "crushing disappointment", but praised its diversity. Michael Snyder of the San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
, however, was more favourable, calling it "an utter triumph", adding that it was "enigmatic, sarcastic, provocative and incisive". Spin
Spin (magazine)
Spin is a music magazine founded in 1985 by publisher Bob Guccione Jr.-History:In its early years, the magazine was noted for its broad music coverage with an emphasis on college-oriented rock music and on the ongoing emergence of hip-hop. The magazine was eclectic and bold, if sometimes haphazard...
magazine's Jonathan Gold rated the album 6 out of 10, praising its "deftness" and its "burnished, jackhammer-sheathed-in-a-lubricated-condom presence", but feeling that its multiple genres were a distraction. Writing for Allmusic, Greg Prato gave it a more positive rating of three-and-a-half stars out of five, while calling it one of the band's "underrated releases". New York
New York (magazine)
New York is a weekly magazine principally concerned with the life, culture, politics, and style of New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to The New Yorker, it was brasher and less polite than that magazine, and established itself as a cradle of New...
magazine described the album as "baroquely, nightmarishly weird", praising Mike Patton's vocals.
King for a Day... Fool for a Lifetime was nominated for a Bay Area Music Award
BAM (magazine)
BAM , was a free bi-weekly music magazine founded and published by Dennis Erokan in the San Francisco Bay Area starting in January 1976 and continuing on for 23 years until 1999...
in 1995, in the category "Hard Music Album or EP". Bassist Billy Gould also received a nomination for Best Bassist at the same event. However, neither nomination was won. Also in 1995, Kerrang!
Kerrang!
Kerrang! is a UK-based magazine devoted to rock music published by Bauer Media Group. It was first published on June 6, 1981 as a one-off supplement in the Sounds newspaper...
magazine named the album 15th in their "Albums of the Year" countdown; whilst France's Rocksound listed it as number 33 in their version of the list. In 1996, Italian magazine ViceVersa ranked it 39th in their "100 Rock Albums" countdown. Poland's Tylko Rock named it number 66 in their list of "100 Albums that Shook Polish Rock" In 2005, Germany's Visions magazine ranked it 37 in their list of "150 Albums for Eternity". In 2006, Classic Rock
Classic Rock (magazine)
Classic Rock is a British magazine dedicated to the radio format of classic rock, published by Future Publishing, who are also responsible for its "sister" publication Metal Hammer. Although firmly focusing on key bands from the 1960s through early 1990s, it also includes articles and reviews of...
and Metal Hammer included it in their unranked list of "The 200 Greatest Albums of the 90s".
Release history
King for a Day... Fool for a Lifetime was pre-released as a limited-edition two-record vinyl album, limited to 100,000 copies, two weeks before the album went on general sale. It was also released as a set of seven 7" vinyl singles, in a black cardboard with a sticker of the cover on the front that also included a cardboard fold-out of album artwork with a review by Phil Alexander and a band picture, as well as the standard CD and cassette versions.Track listing
Personnel
Album
| Chart | Peak | Weeks in chart |
|---|---|---|
| U.S. United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district... Billboard 200 Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
31 | 8 |
| UK Albums Chart UK Albums Chart The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart... |
5 | 3 |
| New Zealand New Zealand New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga... RIANZ |
3 | 20 |
| Australia Australia Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area... ARIA Australian Recording Industry Association The Australian Recording Industry Association is a trade group representing the Australian recording industry which was established in 1983 by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacing the Association of Australian Record Manufacturers which was formed in 1956... |
2 | 26 |
| Germany Germany Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate... |
8 | - |
| Switzerland Switzerland Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition.... |
7 | 16 |
| Austria Austria Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the... |
9 | 16 |
| Netherlands Netherlands The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders... |
8 | 26 |
| Sweden Sweden Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund.... |
5 | 14 |
| Norway Norway Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million... |
6 | 10 |
| Finland Finland Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside... |
22 | 5 |
| Belgium Belgium Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many... |
6 | 17 |
Singles
| Year | Title | Peak chart positions | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ... |
AUS ARIA Charts The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June... |
NZ | FRA | NLD |
SWE |
NOR |
CH | ||
| 1995 | "Digging the Grave Digging the Grave "Digging the Grave" is a song by Faith No More, released as the first single from their fifth studio album King for a Day... Fool for a Lifetime. Like the rest of the singles released from the album, it failed to chart in the US... " |
16 | 12 | 16 | 23 | - | 39 | 11 | 42 |
| "Ricochet Ricochet (Faith No More song) "Ricochet" is a song by Faith No More, released as the second single from their fifth studio album King for a Day... Fool for a Lifetime. It has been stated that it was written the day of Kurt Cobain's death and is sometimes titled "Nirvana" on the band's setlists.-Release:Although the band state... " |
27 | 58 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| "Evidence Evidence (Faith No More song) "Evidence" is a song by Faith No More, released as the third and final single from their fifth studio album, King for a Day... Fool for a Lifetime. Like the other releases from the album, it failed to chart in the US; however, the song had moderate success in the UK and Australia... " |
32 | 27 | 38 | - | 42 | - | - | - |