095: Mr. Bungle - California (1999)

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“I think California deserves a place in the books, just for the ambition and the scope of what was done, and that it was all done on tape. And it was really the last enormous, multi-channel, tape production done by a major label.”

–Trey Spruance

Things get weird again at Discord and Rhyme as we dig into Mr. Bungle’s 1999 genre-defying opus California. After the demise of his day job with Faith No More, singer Mike Patton returned to his more esoteric side hustle to record a collection of songs that fuse Beach Boys pop, death metal, lounge music, and Eastern-European influences together as if they’re natural bedfellows. Join us as we discuss how the band managed to synthesize all of these disparate influences into what is easily their most cohesive and accessible album. 

Miscellany

• Mike Patton’s musical influences could fill a whole episode, and include but are not limited to Elton John, Sade, Diamanda Galás, Serge Gainsbourg, Frank Sinatra, and ‘80s thrash metal bands like Venom, Possessed and Slayer. He is also heavily influenced by movie soundtracks, to the point where his band Fantomas released a 2001 album called Director’s Cut featuring covers of themes by film score composers including Nino Rota, Henry Mancini, Ennio Morricone, Jerry Goldsmith, and Bernard Herrmann.

• Trey Spruance, on the myth of California: “Californians are the ones who manufacture the mythology in the first place, and oh my God do we labor crazily to maintain the facade. This is the reason you always see Californians scrambling. Competing for the ‘outside-the-box’ rebel consumer crown, sure. More profoundly, though, everyone seems to be desperately trying to place some distance between themselves and the scene of a vast integral crime – a crime against humanity – a monumental, apocalyptic crime that pulses out rhythmically from the heart of darkness.” There’s more where that came from, and the complete interview can be found here.

• The complete Mr. Bungle concert from Halloween 1999 at Clutch Cargo’s in Pontiac, MI, where they impersonated the Red Hot Chili Peppers, is available on YouTube. But be warned, the way they lampoon RHCP’s history with heroin addiction is in pretty poor taste. 

• California’s state fossil is the saber-toothed tiger, so in that sense it can be said to have teeth. It is doubtful, however, that the chorus of “Dani California” is referring to the state’s natural history.

• We previously talked about Faith No More’s early single “We Care a Lot” during our series on the compilation Never Mind the Mainstream: The Best of MTV’s 120 Minutes.

• Former Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett has a song called “The Air-Conditioned Nightmare” on his 1980 album Defector, but as far as we’re aware there’s no connection beyond the title. But given the depth and breadth of Mr. Bungle’s musical knowledge, they’re probably familiar with it. 

Other links 

• The official Mr. Bungle website (mrbungle.com)

• Lunchroom Manners, with Mr. Bungle (YouTube)

• Mike Patton as the Anger Core in Portal (YouTube)

• Mike Patton puts Wolfmother in their place (YouTube)

• "Mike Patton is not God!" (YouTube)

• Discord & Rhyme’s California playlist (Spotify)

• Discord & Rhyme’s Patreon

Discord & Rhyme Roll Call 

• Dan Watkins (host)

• Rich Bunnell (moderator)

• Mike DeFabio

• Phil Maddox 

California tracklist 

1. Sweet Charity

2. None of Them Knew They Were Robots

3. Retrovertigo

4. The Air-Conditioned Nightmare

5. Ars Moriendi

6. Pink Cigarette

7. Golem II: The Bionic Vapour Boy

8. The Holy Filament

9. Vanity Fair

10. Goodbye Sober Day 

Other clips used 

Mr. Bungle:

• Slowly Growing Deaf

• Everyone I Went to High School with Is Dead

• Quote Unquote

• Squeeze Me Macaroni

• Chemical Marriage

• Under the Bridge (cover)

• Carry Stress in the Jaw

• Ma Meeshka Mow Skwoz

• Backstrokin’ 

Others:

• Cyril Watters - Picnic Prattle

• Glenn Miller - In the Mood

• Blue Swede - Hooked on a Feeling

• George Frideric Handel - Water Music Suite No. 2: II. Alla Hornpipe

• Bjork - Where Is the Line?

• Handsome Boy Modeling School - Are You Down with It?

• Mike Patton - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Theme

• Faith No More - Epic

• Cy Coleman, Dorothy Fields & Joseph Gershenson - Big Spender (from Sweet Charity)

• Homer Simpson - Big Spender (from The Simpsons)

• The Beach Boys - Here Today

• Beelzebot - Robot Hell (from Futurama)

• The Flaming Lips - A Spoonful Weighs a Ton

• Bernard Herrmann - Prelude and Rooftop (from Vertigo)

• The Beach Boys - Vega-Tables

• Secret Chiefs 3 - Good Vibrations

• Secret Chiefs 3 - Heroes and Villains

• Secret Chiefs 3 - Horsemen of the Invisible

• Gogol Bordello - Dogs Were Barking

• Beck - Get Real Paid

• Ween - So Many People in the Neighborhood

• Fabio Frizzi - Sequenza Ritmica e Tema

• Goblin - Blind Concert

• Riz Ortolani  - Relaxing in the Savana

• Fred Myrow & Malcolm Seagrave - Phantasmagoria/Silver Sphere Disco

• Godiego - Eat

• Ry Cooder - Paris, Texas

• Ween - Alcan Road

• The Sea Nymphs - Up in Annie's Room

• The Mothers of Invention - The Air

• Kecak of Peliatan Village - Ketjak: The Ramayana Monkey Chant

• Faith No More - Ricochet

• Tomahawk - 101 North

• Mike Patton - Deep Down

• Fred Frith - The Boy Beats the Rams

• Sugar Ray - Fly feat. Super Cat

Band/album personnel 

• Trevor Dunn – bass guitar, artwork concept and production

• Danny Heifetz – percussion, drums, keyboards and production

• Clinton "Bär" McKinnon – saxophone, keyboards, French horn and production

• Mike Patton – vocals, keyboards, artwork concept and production

• Trey Spruance – guitar, engineering, production strategy and production

• Bill Banovetz – English horn

• Sam Bass – cello

• Ben Barnes – violin and viola

• Henri Ducharme – accordion

• Timba Harris – trumpet

• Marika Hughes – cello

• Eyvind Kang – violin, viola

• Carla Kihlstedt – violin, viola

• Michael Peloquin – harmonica

• David Phillips – pedal steel guitar

• Larry Ragent – French horn

• Jay Stebley – cymbalom

• Aaron Seeman – piano

• William Winant – timpani, mallets, tam tam and bass drum

• Billy Anderson – engineering

• Gibbs Chapman – mixing

• Josh Heller – engineering

• George Horn – mastering

• Adam Muñoz – engineering, mixing and editing

• Justin Phelps – engineering

• Rob Worthington – mixing

Credits 

“Discord & Rhyme (theme),” composed by the Other Leading Brand, contains elements of: 

• Duran Duran - Hungry Like the Wolf

• Amon Düül II - Dehypnotized Toothpaste

• The Dukes of Stratosphear - What in the World?? ...

• Faith No More - Midlife Crisis

• Herbie Hancock - Hornets

• Kraftwerk - Autobahn

• Talking Heads - Seen and Not Seen

• Mr. Bungle - Golem II: The Bionic Vapour Boy (this episode only)

You can buy or stream California and other albums by Mr. Bungle at your local record store, or the usual suspects such as Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, and Amazon. Follow Discord & Rhyme on Twitter @DiscordPod for news, updates, and other random stuff. Editing is by Rich Bunnell, and special thanks to our own Mike DeFabio, the Other Leading Brand, for production and original music. See you next album, keep as cool as you can, and don’t be like Mr. Bungle.