Sometimes, writing this series is a dirty job, but someone’s gotta do it.

Faith No More were not at all my thing in 1987. Heck, they weren’t my thing in 1990, when they climbed into the upper ranks of modern rock superstardom with the admittedly awesome “Epic.” I spent the spring of 1987 listening to the Smiths (Louder Than Bombs and Hatful of Hollow, which are pretty much the same album), the Style Council (The Cost of Loving), and Love and Rockets (I drove the guy in the dorm room next to me positively nuts with “Kundalini Express.” Didn’t I, Joe?). Then I went home for a weekend – I probably needed to do laundry, ran out of money, or both – and saw a video on “120 Minutes” for some no-name San Francisco band called Faith No More, and suddenly realized what my life was missing: a chain-gang chorus. I went back to school, perused the 12″ singles at the local record store (SchoolKids, holler), and would you look at that; this group of punkers – there was no hard rock scene within the modern rock movement yet, so for the moment, Faith No More were punkers – made a 12″ mix. Now you’re speaking my language.

Truth be told, the lyrics to “We Care a Lot” are pretty juvenile. They care about Garbage Pail Kids (wow, now there is a dated reference for you) and Transformers, they care about the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines, and lastly they care about “you people / Yeah, you bet we care a lot.” (Funny how that sort of thing passed for rebellion at the time.) Its energy, however, was infectious, as was that one-note bass line in the verse and the aforementioned chain-gang “We care a lot!” vocal. The 12″ mix, which is not credited to anyone, doesn’t mess around too much; a bit of echo added to the kick drum in the opening, a backwards turntable-type bit leading to a drums-only break, and what sounds like an airplane landing on the recording studio during the second verse. It’s the kind of sound that kills speakers, which is likely why I never heard this mix in the clubs. (more…)