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Cover of The Real Thing by Faith No More
Cover: The Real Thing

Song · Faith No More

“Epic” by Faith No More

From the album The Real Thing (1989)

“Epic” by Faith No More appears on 109 radio countdowns from 40 stations between 1990 and 2026. It was first released in 1989 on the album The Real Thing. Its best result is #6 on the KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1990. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #21 alternative song of 1990, #57 alternative song of all time and #274 of the '90s.

109countdowns
40stations
#6best position
0#1 finishes
1top 10 finishes
1990–2026years charted

Watch

Faith No More - Epic (Official Music Video)

Video from YouTube (UPROXX Indie Mixtape). Pressing play loads YouTube's player. Watch on YouTube

"Epic" came off The Real Thing, Faith No More's third album, released in 1989, and when it went out as a single in 1990 it turned out to be the band's breakthrough. Mike Patton wrote the words and sings them, and the music came from Jim Martin, Billy Gould, Roddy Bottum and Mike Bordin; Matt Wallace produced with the band, engineered and mixed.

It's a mongrel of a record and proud of it: Martin's guitar grinds like a metal band's, Gould's bass and Bordin's drums lock into a funk strut, Bottum's keyboards pile on the pomp, and Patton barks and yelps through the verses before the chorus goes wide and bombastic. It sounds like several different bands fighting over the same song and all of them winning.

It reached number seven on the Cash Box chart and number nine on the Hot 100, went to number two in New Zealand, and it sat at number one in Australia for three weeks. It remains one of the band's best-loved songs and a fixture of their live shows.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.

RockLists rankings

Alternative & Modern Rock

Indie & Adult Alternative

Classic Rock

Hard Rock & Metal

All Rock Formats

Year-end countdowns

Year#StationCountdownof
1990 6 KROQ Los Angeles, CA KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1990 107
1990 15 91X San Diego, CA / Tijuana 91X Top 91 Songs of 1990 91
1990 11 CFNY 102.1 The Edge Toronto, ON CFNY Top 90 Songs of 1990 90

All-time and decade countdowns

Year#StationCountdownof
– 47 CRNC 90.1 CRNC Top 90.1 Songs of the '90s 91
1990 168 Z-Rock Z-Rock Top 1001 Songs of All-Time (1990) 1000
1991 297 CFNY 102.1 The Edge CFNY Top 1002 Songs of All-Time (1991 Edition) 1002
1992 115 KROQ KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1992) 500
1993 68 Studio Brussel Studio Brussel De Tijdloze 100 (1993) 100
1994 82 KROQ KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1994) 497
1994 235 Live 105 Live 105 Revolutionary 500 (July 1994) 500
1994 88 Studio Brussel Studio Brussel De Tijdloze 100 (1994) 100
1994 358 KISW KISW Top 1000 of All Time (1994) 1000
1995 68 KROQ KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1995) 500
1995 265 Live 105 Live 105 Revolutionary 300 (July 1995) 300
1995 86 Studio Brussel Studio Brussel De Tijdloze 100 (1995) 100
1995 212 KISW KISW Top 1000 of All Time (1995) 1000
1996 338 KROQ KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1996) 500
1996 54 Q101 Q101 Top 500 Songs of All-Time (1996) 500
1996 204 KISW KISW Top 1000 of All Time (1996) 1000
1997 483 102.3 WBAB WBAB Top 1,023 Rock and Roll Songs of All Time (1997) 1023
1998 195 KROQ KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1998) 488
1998 195 KISW KISW Top 1000 of All Time (1998) 1000
1998 19 Triple J Triple J Hottest 100 of All-Time (1998) 100
1999 78 KROQ KROQ Top 300 Most Requested Songs of the '90s (Labor Day 1999) 300
1999 268 WHFS WHFS Top 500 Songs of the '90s (December 1999) 500
1999 146 91X 91X Fat 500 Songs of All-Time (July 1999) 500
1999 260 WLIR / WDRE WLIR Top 300 Songs of All-Time (December 1999) 300
1999 138 WFNX WFNX Top 500 Songs of All-Time (June 1999) 500
1999 129 107.7 The End The End Top 1077 Songs of All-Time (December 1999) 1077
1999 120 WOXY 97X WOXY Modern Rock 500 (1999) 500
1999 406 CD101 CD101 Top 2000 Songs of All-Time (December 1999) 2000
1999 249 CFNY 102.1 The Edge CFNY Top 1002 Songs of All-Time (November 1999) 1002
1999 138 Studio Brussel Studio Brussel De Tijdloze 100 (1999) 150
1999 169 KISW KISW Top 1000 of All Time (1999) 998
2000 74 Y100 Y100 Top 300 Songs of the '90s (September 2000) 100
2000 94 WOXY 97X WOXY Modern Rock 500 (2000) 500
2000 406 CD101 CD101 Top 2001 Songs of All-Time (December 2000) 2001
2000 80 The Edge KEDJ Countdown 2000 (106 songs) 106
2000 65 103.3 The Edge 103.3 The Edge Top 103 New Rock Songs of the Millennium 103
2001 96 WOXY 97X WOXY Modern Rock 500 (2001) 498
2001 379 CD101 CD101 Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (December 2001) 2002
2001 146 WBRU WBRU Modern Rock Top 500 (2001) 500
2002 70 WOXY 97X WOXY Modern Rock 500 (2002) 500
2002 379 CD101 CD101 Top 2003 Songs of All-Time (December 2002) 2003
2002 216 KISW KISW Top 999 of All Time (2002) 999
2002 50 Fred (XM 44) Fred XM Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (July 2002) 2002
2003 29 WOXY 97X WOXY Modern Rock 500 (2003) 500
2003 200 CD101 CD101 Top 2004 Songs of All-Time (December 2003) 2004
2003 242 Fred (XM 44) Fred XM Top 2044 Songs of All-Time (July 2003) 2044
2004 52 Q101 Q101 Top 300 Party Songs of All-Time (July 2004) 300
2004 370 107.7 The End The End Original Alternative 500 (May 2004) 500
2004 201 CD101 CD101 Top 2005 Songs of All-Time (December 2004) 2005
2004 44 Y100 Y100 Top 300 Songs of All-Time (July 2004) 300
2005 25 WOXY 97X WOXY Modern Rock 500 (2005) 500
2005 201 CD101 CD101 Top 2006 Songs of All-Time (December 2005) 1994
2005 220 99X 99X Freedom of Choice 1000 (2005) 1000
2006 99 107.7 The End The End Top 107 Songs of the '90s (December 2006) 107
2006 66 KROQ KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 2006) 500
2006 172 Live 105 Live 105 500 Co-Op Countdown (Memorial Day 2006) 500
2006 47 WOXY 97X WOXY Modern Rock 500 (2006) 499
2007 104 KROQ KROQ Top 500 Most Requested Songs of the '90s (Labor Day 2007) 500
2007 86 CD101 CD101 Top 2008 Songs of All-Time (December 2007) 2008
2008 221 KROQ KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 2008) 500
2008 71 CD101 CD101 Top 2009 Songs of All-Time (December 2008) 2009
2009 127 CFNY 102.1 The Edge The Top 200 Songs of the 90's According to 102.1 The Edge 200
2009 87 Live 105 Live 105 Memorial 500 Song List (2009) 500
2009 73 CD101 CD101 Top 2010 Songs of All-Time (December 2009) 2010
2009 188 CFNY 102.1 The Edge 102.1 The Edge Top 200 Songs of All-Time (2009) 200
2009 46 Triple J Triple J Hottest 100 of All-Time (2009) 100
2010 72 CD101 CD101 Top 2011 Songs of All-Time (December 2010) 2011
2011 76 CD101 CD101 Top 2012 Songs of All-Time (December 2011) 2011
2013 77 CD101 CD101 Top 2013 Songs of All-Time (December 2013) 2012
2013 103 KBPI KBPI Top 200 Songs of All Time 200
2014 78 CD101 CD101 Top 2014 Songs of All-Time (2014) 2013
2014 131 94.3 WCYY WCYY CYY 500 Most Played Songs (2014) 500
2015 127 94.3 WCYY WCYY CYY 500 Most Played Songs (2015) 500
2019 282 99.1 PLR 99.1 PLR Big 500 (2019) 499
2019 110 94.3 WCYY WCYY CYY 500 Most Played Songs (2019) 500
2019 649 102.5 KZOK KZOK Top 1025 of 2019 1025
2019 174 106.7 WLLZ WLLZ 500 (2019) 500
2020 181 106.7 WLLZ WLLZ 500 (2020) 500
2020 934 102.5 KZOK KZOK Classic Rock Top 1025 (2020) 1025
2020 471 Q105.7 Q105.7 Memorial Day 500 (2020) 499
2020 82 105.9 The X 105.9 The X July 420 (2020) 420
2020 150 DC101 The DC101 Top 500 500
2021 731 90.9 The Bridge 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the '90s 908
2021 257 99.1 PLR 99.1 PLR Big 500 (2021) 500
2021 255 106.7 WLLZ WLLZ 500 (2021) 500
2021 131 105.9 The X 105.9 The X July 420 (2021) 420
2022 279 The Colorado Sound The Colorado Sound Top 900 Songs of the '90s 900
2022 322 101X 101X 500 (2022) 498
2022 263 106.7 WLLZ WLLZ Rock N Roll 500 (2022) 500
2022 369 X96 X96 Top 500 Alternative Songs of All Time 500
2022 848 102.5 KZOK KZOK Classic Rock Top 1025 (2022) 1025
2022 133 105.9 The X 105.9 The X July 420 (2022) 420
2023 120 105.9 The X 105.9 The X July 420 (2023) 420
2023 70 94.3 WCYY WCYY CYY 500 Most Played Songs (2023) 500
2023 360 106.7 WLLZ WLLZ Rock N Roll 500 (2023) 500
2023 732 101.5 WPDH WPDH Top 1015 (2023) 1015
2023 668 Q104.3 Q104.3 Top 1,043 Classic Rock Songs of All Time (2023) 1043
2023 99 94.1 WJJO WJJO Frequent Rocker Top 100 Songs of 2023 100
2024 303 99.1 PLR 99.1 PLR Top 400 of the Last 40 Years (2024) 400
2024 191 106.7 WLLZ WLLZ Rock N Roll 500 (2024) 500
2025 307 WFPK WFPK Top 500 Songs of the '90s 500
2025 100 99.1 PLR 99.1 PLR Top 400 of the Last 40 Years (2025) 400
2025 196 106.7 WLLZ WLLZ Rock N Roll 500 (2025) 500
2026 868 WYEP WYEP Greatest Songs of All Time 1180
2026 283 101X 101X 500 (2026) 500
2026 175 106.7 WLLZ WLLZ Rock N Roll 500 (2026) 500

Also listed as: Epic (What Is It); Epic (What is It).

Charting alongside it in 1990

Best songs of 1990 →
  1. 1Nothing Compares 2 USinéad O'Connor
  2. 2The Only One I KnowThe Charlatans
  3. 3Blue Sky MineMidnight Oil
  4. 4Enjoy the SilenceDepeche Mode
  5. 5Here's Where The Story EndsThe Sundays
  6. 6The Emperor's New ClothesSinéad O'Connor

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