Album of the Year

Album of the Year is the sixth and final studio album by Faith No More. It was released on June 3, 1997, and was the only album to feature the band’s final guitarist Jon Hudson.

The album was generally received with moderate praise from both critics and fans. The title of this album displays the band’s sense of irony, as the majority of the members of Faith No More were ultimately unhappy with the outcome of Album of the Year and the direction it had taken them. Vocalist Mike Patton was quoted as saying that Faith No More’s demise could be partially related to a mutual feeling of artistic futility as a group: “We were starting to make bad music.”

During touring in support of Album of the Year, Faith No More frequently wore suits during performances.

The album sleeve did not feature printed lyrics; however, Mike Patton and Billy Gould did submit official lyrics to fnm.com.

As of July 2007, the album had sold 213,000 copies in the U.S. This nearly matched the total for King For A Day, Fool For A Lifetime but was a significantly lower figure than the other two albums featuring Mike Patton on vocals achieved. In other charts it fared much better, peaking at #1 in Australia and New Zealand. It also went Platinum in Australia for sales of more than 70,000 copies. The album only had slight impact in the UK charts but it did go Gold for sales of more than 100,000 copies. The biggest downfall for this album was perhaps in the US where sales were significantly lower than previous efforts, though it still managed to sell a million copies worldwide.