Mike Patton – A Man Who Can Sing it All

I am a huge fan of Mike Patton and almost everything he does, even though there are a couple very strange projects of his that I am not into. Even on the things he does that I do not care for he still does some extraordinary things with his voice. Unfortunately most people only know Patton from Faith No More, who are one of my all time favorite bands but FNM does not show off Mike Pattons amazing range and vocal ability. Another thing that always confused me was that the biggest hit that Faith No More had in the US was one of their worst songs ever, “Epic”. I don’t think it is a bad song, but it does not truly showcase their sound. I skip the song 9 times out of 10 when it comes on in my car nowadays, because it was horribly overplayed for so long. Mike Patton is an amazing vocalist but the rest of the band were also very talented, I do not want to dismiss the musicianship of FNM at all. As with many great bands they became much more popular in Europe than they ever did in the US, which I always found odd. One thing I can say is that European people do seem to know good musicianship more than most US folks, at least from what I have seen pertaining to many great bands I listen to that never quite took off in the states while they excelled in Europe.

These are some videos that actually show what Patton can do on vocals, and if you watch them all you will see that he can literally do any style of music that you can think of. I think he deserves a lot more respect than he gets in the music world, and hopefully more people will see what a talent he truly is. He also did some voicework for Will Smith’s I am Legend, and you can read more about that here, he also discusses the new album he did, which is the soundtrack for a short film called “A Perfect Place”. He also was an actor in a recent and strange movie called Firecracker, so his talents go beyond music. Some other things he has done that many people may have heard and not realized it was him include the Crank: High Voltage Soundtrack, The Darkness videogame, and he will be the voice of Mixmaster in the new Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.

The first vid I will start with is a Faith No More video, but one that many people may not know because the airplay on US tv was not great.
Faith No More – Everythings Ruined

Here is another Faith No More video, this is a cover song by the Bee Gees that most people should know and it shows off a different style of vocals for Patton. I think this cover is awesome too, and blows away the original.
Faith No More – I Started a Joke

This next three are from Peeping Tom, a recent and current project of his, and it is a little different than other things he has done. He says it is his version of pop and he collaborates with many other musicians on the album.
Peeping Tom – Mojo

Peeping Tom – We’re Not Alone (live)

Peeping Tom doing covering an old funk song by Bobby Womack – Across 110th Street

Any Patton fan knows he is a strange and very innovative entertainer, this next vid shows more of that side of him. This is another of his many projects that is also very good.
Tomahawk – God Hates a Coward (live)

Next up everyone can see Mike Patton in a totally different light, and hear a totally different style of singing for him, this is with an orchestra live in Amsterdam and it is not in English.
Mike Patton’s Mondo Cane – Dio Come Ti Amo

Here is another live video of another project Mike Patton did, this was a band he did before, during, and after Faith No More called Mr Bungle. They are another great band and one very cool thing about them is every album was totally different and they also dressed up in costumes. Their first album was by far their best, and this song is from that. This is old so the quality is not the best, but it is sufficient.
Mr Bungle – Stubb a Dubb (live 1991)

This is a very crazy project he does that I love, but I know many people do not care for it too much because it is so off the wall, but it shows off some more of the crazy stuff he can do with his voice. This is live at Montreux Jazz festival in 2005.
Fantomas – Suspended Animation

These next two are montage’s that a fan put together. Mike Patton is singing, but the video is a collection of Patton pics through the many stages of his career. These were done very well and props to the man who made them – Mark Tluecke (there are more on his channel)
Mike Patton – Genius at Work

I had to edit this post because this video is so cool, this FNM version of the 80′s nestle song is too good not to have in here.

Well, there it is and I could go on with so much more that he has done, but if you enjoyed this you can find many more of Mike Patton’s projects and things online. I am going to finish this off with another faith No More video, this one was another amazing cover they did of Lionel Ritchie’s “Easy”, and it is fitting since I am putting this together on Sunday morning. Enjoy!
Faith No More – Easy



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