Fishbone have come a long way since the late ’80s / early ’90s albums that endeared them to most of the people who will be reading this article. I won’t be offended if kids too young to remember Fishbone’s brush with hard rock / metal fame say “WTF is this crap???” and IDGAF if Sergeant D storms into the Vince Division in a fit of IMN rage. For the rest of us, Fishbone are still kicking out the fresh jams and it really doesn’t feel like they’ve lost a step at all despite a number of lineup shifts. They just released a new EP called Crazy Glue (buy here) and a new video to go with the title track. Warning: will get stuck in your head instantly.

Oh, and hey: go see this band live! Fishbone’s set at Download Festival 2006 was an unexpected highlight and I’d go see them again in a second. I JUST missed them at Brooklyn Bowl in November, but they’ve got a few tour dates left if you live in these cities.

-VN

Spurred by a lazy crossword clue in The Onion (36 down, four letters: “Faith No More’s only hit”), MetalSucks contributor Anso DF dedicates every single day in August to celebration and exploration of the San Francisco alt-metal greats. Here we prove that history’s greatest band landed more than one commercial hit (crossword answer: “Epic” natch), we revel in FNM’s embarrassing wealth of winning album tracks (themselves often fit for chart topping), and we dip into the staggering best of the b-sides (ditto). Along the way, we survey the context of FNM’s big break (amid similarly seminal acts Jane’s Addiction, Nine Inch Nails, and Ween) to the post-Nevermind, panic-based recording industry in which the brilliantly versatile, fearless powerhouse band operated until their 1998 demise. It’s a dirty job, but someone’s gotta do it.

Song “The Real Thing”

Written by Patton (L); Gould, Bottum (M)

Released 1989

Appears on The Real Thing album duh

Produced by Matt Wallace

Guitars by Jim Martin

Key lyric ”It’s right there all by itself/And what you are, there is nothing else.”

Single? No.

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If you are heading down to Austin for SXSW, be sure to head out to some of the metal-leaning movies on tap as part of the SXSW Film Festival. In addition to the first round of films I recently spotlighted here, even more titles have been unleashed on the unsuspecting public.

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We all hear how the metal was murdered by grunge, with the newly grave listening public as its willing accomplice. A competing theory is that metal essentially committed suicide, or at any rate fell into disrepair, enabling a transfer of power to guys who moan about their unyielding feelings of injustice and unhappiness. Either way, it’s sad, especially for people who think rock radio should like be fun and shit, instead of being packed with nominally tuneful inventories of jock neuroses.

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Methinx even Mortiis itself would likely crack a lil smile at some point during this tune…any of your hearts too dark for a bit o’sunshine?

FISHBONE – “Everyday Sunshine”, from The Reality of My Surroundings

-KW