Synopsis

Faith No More perform "Epic" in a surreal studio setting filled with artificial rain, stark lighting, and fast-cut imagery. Mike Patton delivers the song with exaggerated gestures while the band members play against a deliberately theatrical backdrop. Roddy Bottum's piano outro ends with the instrument exploding in slow motion. The video's most memorable image arrives near the conclusion, when a fish flops on the floor in slow motion, creating an unsettling contrast with the band's forceful performance and the song's strange, confrontational energy.

Factoids & Trivia

• The video was released in January 1990, helping turn "Epic" into Faith No More's breakthrough hit after the previous single, "From Out of Nowhere," had performed below expectations.

• MTV placed the clip into heavy rotation, exposing the band to a much wider audience and helping "Epic" become one of the defining crossover rock videos of the early 1990s.

• The fish sequence caused criticism from animal rights activists. Several fish were reportedly used, none remained out of water for very long, and they were released after filming.

• The band joked in interviews that the fish belonged to Bjork and had been taken from one of her parties. The story became part of the video's mythology, although it was not the fish's actual origin.

• The exploding piano was not an accidental studio mishap. It was staged as the dramatic payoff to the instrumental ending.

• Jim Martin wears a shirt honoring Metallica bassist Cliff Burton. Mike Patton also wears a shirt referencing his former band, Mr. Bungle.

• The clip's combination of rap, metal, funk, theatrical performance, and deliberately odd imagery reflected the band's refusal to fit neatly into one genre.