Mr. Bungle
Mr. Bungle
»
Mr. Bungle
Mr. Bungle
Warner Bros., 1991
RiYL: Faith No More, Frank Zappa, John Zorn |
My guess is that he was bored as hell. Mr. Bungle was the first step to making music more interesting for himself and for the rest of us who could use a good smack in the ass with some well-crafted nonsense.
Legend has it that Patton slummed around with this circus-metal outfit since he was a teenager in Eureka, California. It wasn't until he became a Rock Star with Faith No More that Mr. Bungle got any notice. Wearing a Bungle t-shirt in his band's breakthrough video didn't hurt, either.
Their first big deal release is 73 minutes of big top mayhem, a black market Merry Melodies cartoon set to thrash, ska and metal with just a touch of masturbation and potty humor to complete the sideshow. It's the antithesis of good taste and sense. But they shove it into your ears with enough skillful abandon to convince you this is the way all rock should be: fun, clever and dirty.
Think of Mr. Bungle as the ADD-stricken love child Frank Zappa and Zorn never had. Every track is a rampaging romp, busting at the gut with creativity and mile-a-minute style shifts. In "Slowly Growing Deaf" alone, there are pinches of jangly funk, breathy torch singing, death metal, doo-wop and a little kick of country western, all before minute two. The band swaggers through all the pie throwing with a shit-eating grin, deploying hilarious samples, sound effects and lines like "Colonel Sanders wants to goose Granny's loose caboose / He's gonna give'er a boost with that Kentucky fried juice."
From his gutteral growls on "Love Is A Fist" up to the breathless falsettos in "Dead Goon," Patton switches up effortlessly. While The Real Thing only hinted at his schizo dynamics as a singer before this, Mr. Bungle has him mugging for the microphone, stretching his vocals to superelastic proportions. Check out his hyper food-fuck rap on "Squeeze Me Macaroni," or his multiple personality explosion at the end of "Egg." And you have to laugh when you hear Patton vomit out the word "redundant" over and over for a minute and a half at the end of "My Ass Is On Fire."
GREG PEREZ | Those that know this man -- as friend, NATN designer and/or Asian Millionaire -- love him. You can check out his site or email him and give him thoughts on our site's design.