7. Faith No MoreAngel Dust
The reason I put these albums together is because they represent what happens when you’re a kid and you don’t know anything about anything. When I was in college and I first heard those records, I didn’t like In Utero because it wasn’t Nevermind and I didn’t like Angel Dust because it wasn’t The Real Thing. I couldn’t have been any more wrong.
The first time you listen to Angel Dust – however old I was, 17 or 18 – it’s just confusing. Why aren’t you doing all the things that I liked which you were doing before? The answer is, in that case, because we’re not a nu-metal band anymore. As a teenager you don’t understand that. To say that The Real Thing ended up being used for evil would probably be the truest statement in the history of rock music.
Their record company must’ve been horrified when they gave them Angel Dust and I love the idea of horrifying record companies. Not only is Angel Dust a remarkable record, when I was 16 I saw them supporting Guns N’ Roses at Gateshead International Stadium. I only stayed for five songs of Guns N’ Roses which was more of a JD Sports commercial because Axl was running around with that gigantic microphone he likes to hold like some kind of libertarian jogger. Soundgarden, who were probably my favourite band at the time, opened. Rest in peace and all that but they were chronic. Faith No More were on in the middle and they were absolutely superb. I remember watching that and thinking this is what live music is. Everybody on that stage is having fun and if they’re not having fun they’re pretending to have fun and I appreciate that.
Angel Dust and In Utero are the same for me. The first time I listened to In Utero, I thought it didn’t have any tunes. I was wrong and not just because world-famous recording engineer Steven Albini recorded it either. It’s because it’s a great record and it’s rough and real in all the ways you’d want it to be. As much of a classic album as it is, Nevermind was a deliberately engineered bit of big bubblegum rock which was just different enough to capture a lot of people who were used to listening to more traditionally successful rock music. ‘Come As You Are’, ‘In Bloom’ and there’s another one as well, they’re pretty much exactly the same song. They’re really quite interchangeable when it goes from part to part. I don’t think there’s any danger of that with In Utero. It’s an absolutely brutal record.
