Falling to Pieces

For other uses, see Falling to Pieces (disambiguation).

"Falling to Pieces" is a song by American rock band Faith No More. The song was released as the third single from the band's third studio album, The Real Thing (1989). It peaked at No. 92 on the Billboard Hot 100 and at No. 40 on Billboard's Album Rock Tracks chart. The song has rarely been performed live due to the band's disdain for it.

"Falling to Pieces"
Artwork for US commercial cassette single
Single by Faith No More
from the album The Real Thing
B-side	"We Care a Lot" (live) "Underwater Love" (live) "From Out of Nowhere" (live)
Released	July 2, 1990 (1990-07-02)
Studio	Studio D (Sausalito, California)
Genre	Funk metal[1][2] alternative metal[3] power pop[4]
Length	5:15
Label	Slash Reprise
Composers	Billy Gould Roddy Bottum "Big" Jim Martin
Lyricist	Mike Patton
Producer	Matt Wallace
Faith No More singles chronology
"Epic" (1990) "Falling to Pieces" (1990) "Edge of the World" (1991)
The Real Thing track listing
"From out of Nowhere" "Epic" "Falling to Pieces" "Surprise! You're Dead!" "Zombie Eaters" "The Real Thing" "Underwater Love" "The Morning After" "Woodpecker from Mars" "War Pigs" "Edge of the World"

Live performances

Despite its success, the song did not go on to be a live staple. The song appeared very rarely in concerts after their appearance at the 1993 Phoenix Festival,^[5] where Billy Gould announced, "This is the last time we'll ever play this song again" right before the song. During Second Coming Tour, the band picked up the song again and performed it at least once at a concert in Rio de Janeiro in 2009. The song was performed at the Open'er Festival in 2014 for the first time since 2009. In a 2016 interview, Gould stated, "That song sucks, let's face it. I don't know, we don't groove on that one. Also, when you play it live, it just kind of gets boring".^[6]

Music video

A screenshot from the Ralph Ziman-directed 1990 music video.

The bass-driven song spawned a video directed by Ralph Ziman (who also directed the video for "Epic"), in which lead singer Mike Patton wears a series of different outfits, including one resembling Alex from the Stanley Kubrick film A Clockwork Orange. Billy Gould wears various death metal band shirts during the video including Carcass and, at the time, Sepultura. The video is also notable for using a different mix of the song featuring more prominent background vocals, keyboards, and a guitar solo during the fade out.

There is also another lesser known music video which uses clips from the Brixton Academy performance, played with the album version of the song.^[7]

Covers and legacy

In 2014, a lullaby version of "Falling to Pieces" was released by music collective Twinkle Twinkle Little Rock Star, as part of an album of lullaby covers for Faith No More.^[8] The song "Rubber Mallet", from Alien Ant Farm's 2003 album Truant, has the line "indecision breaks my vision", which is believed to be a reference to a line from "Falling to Pieces".^[9]

Track listings

Disc one

1. "Falling to Pieces" – 3:39
2. "We Care a Lot" (live at Brixton) – 3:59
3. "Underwater Love" (live at Brixton) – 3:32
4. "From Out of Nowhere" (live at Brixton) – 3:47

Disc two

1. "Falling to Pieces" (re-mix)
2. "Zombie Eaters"
3. "The Real Thing" (live)

Notes

• The Brixton Academy live tracks are different mixes to those found on the LP of the concert, most notably including the line "About the smack and crack and whack that hits the streets" on "We Care a Lot", which is mostly muted on the LP mix.^[10]
• "The Real Thing" was recorded live at the Wireless on July 30, 1990 also, features ad-lib from Public Enemy's "911 Is a Joke".

Charts

Chart (1990)	Peak position
Australia (ARIA)[11]	26
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[12]	16
UK Singles (OCC)[13]	41
US Billboard Hot 100[14]	92
US Mainstream Rock (Billboard)[15]	40

Release history

Region	Date	Format(s)	Label(s)	Ref.
United Kingdom	July 2, 1990	7-inch vinyl 12-inch vinyl	Slash London	[16]
Australia	September 10, 1990	7-inch vinyl 12-inch vinyl cassette	Slash Liberation	[17]
Japan	March 1, 1991	CD	Slash London	[18]