Faith No More: Epic (1989)

Faith No More performs in the music video "Epic" from the album "The Real Thing" recorded for Slash Records. Mike Patton sings while the band plays in front of a painting of storm clouds. ... See full summary »

Director:

Ralph Ziman

Stars:

Faith No More, Mike Patton, Jim Martin

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview:
Faith No More	...	Faith No More
Mike Patton	...	Mike Patton
Jim Martin	...	Jim Martin
Billy Gould	...	Billy Gould
Roddy Bottum	...	Roddy Bottum
Mike Bordin	...	Mike Bordin

Storyline

Faith No More performs in the music video "Epic" from the album "The Real Thing" recorded for Slash Records. Mike Patton sings while the band plays in front of a painting of storm clouds. The band continues to play even through a downpour of rain. Clips of surreal images play throughout including a hand with eye in the center of its palm.

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Plot Keywords:

1980s music | 80s music | man | music video | 

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Genres:

Short | Music

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Did You Know?

Trivia

The fish that appears in the video belonged to Björk.

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Connections

Featured in Faith No More: Who Cares a Lot? (1999)

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Soundtracks

Epic
Written by Billy Gould, Roddy Bottum, Mike Bordin, Jim Martin and Mike Patton
Performed by Faith No More
Published by Big Thrilling Music/Vomit God Music
Courtesy of Slash/Reprise Records

User Reviews

The song title says it all

This visual delirium by Faith No More is one of the greatest moments in entertainment and also an artistic one which takes its inspiration in the works of Salvador Dalí, who died in the exact same year as this video. The title doesn't lie, it is epic both sound and image right from the beginning with a painting of an ocean background, hand with an eye on the foreground which splashes a green paint all over the place followed by the blasting sound of guitars, bass and drums, later on it's all Mike Patton's magnificent present, singing, dancing, looking mad performing with the band during a rain effect in front a blue background filled with skies.

Surrealism at its best, "Epic" allows viewers and fans to follow different interpretations of the junction between images and sound in whatever possible ways, no wrong and no right. According to Patton, this song is about masturbation (!) and in my combination of certain elements from the clip it actually makes total sense: the eye, the hand and that colorful paint going everywhere. It's like a formula. The eye sees something attractive and exciting; the hand follows into a certain direction to execute a function which follows the ocular attraction; and the load of paint symbolizing the final act, the orgasm, the culmination of a pleasurable act. Weird, huh? Not really. Director Ralph Ziman uses of surreal art to present a real act, turning into something that isn't so on the nose but it's there for everyone to reach a similar conclusion or even more interesting than mine.

However, the most memorable image (and the most cruel as well) comes from a symbolic moment that seems completely out of place, which is the agonizing fish out of water (Björk's fish, by the way) jumping and jumping in between scenes while the final piano notes come to haunt us in the conclusion. Maybe another nod about masturbation and/or sex, with the final act being called as la petite mort (the little death), which reflects a sort of a spiritual waste after the orgasm. Has to be one of the brightest and most interesting clips ever made, and Faith No More was at the top of their game with a power hit that still echoes epicness almost 30 years later. 9/10

Details

Official Sites:

IMVDb entry for the music video mvdbase entry for the music video

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

December 1989 (USA)

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Runtime:

4 min

Color:

Color