Faith No More "Epic (Single & Video)"

"Epic" is a song by American rock band Faith No More. It was released as the second single from their third album, The Real Thing (1989), in 1990 in the United States and Europe. The song was the band's breakthrough hit, peaking at number nine on the US Billboard Hot 100, number seven on the US Cash Box Top 100, number two in New Zealand, and number one in Australia for three weeks. It is among the band's most popular songs and a staple in their concerts.

Bassist Billy Gould said, "It was conceived naturally as a riff in the studio between Roddy, myself and Mike Bordin during rehearsal that later got fleshed out into an entire song." He also said that, after the disappointing performance of the album's first single ("From Out of Nowhere"), the record label had low expectations and let the band pick whatever song they wanted as the next music video (and thus, the next single). "So we picked 'Epic' because it just felt the most natural at the time. We had very little expectations of it becoming a commercial hit," said Gould.

The song has been labeled rap metal, rap rock, funk metal, and alternative metal.

Directed by South African Ralph Ziman, the music video for "Epic" features surreal images, which are combined with performance footage of the band soaked by an artificial rainstorm on a sound stage. The final shot is of keyboardist Roddy Bottum playing the piano outro on an upright model, which explodes in slow motion after he finishes and walks away from it.

Guitarist Jim Martin was a schoolmate, close friend and fan of the late Metallica bassist Cliff Burton. In the video, he can be seen wearing a T-shirt with a photo of Cliff with the words "A Tribute to Cliff Burton". In addition, Mike Patton can be seen wearing a Mr. Bungle shirt that reads "There's A Tractor In My Balls Again".

The video was criticised by animal rights activists, as it features a flailing fish out of water. 

During an interview, the band joked that the fish seen flopping around in the music video belonged to Icelandic singer Björk, who at the time was the singer for the band The Sugarcubes, and they claimed to have stolen it from her at a party. There are also stories of Björk giving the fish to Bottum after a poetry reading in San Francisco. This was confirmed by the singer who defended the group, saying that "I know those guys, I know they wouldn't do anything to harm [him]. But I know, if I had gone home with MY fish, which was given to ME, none of this would have ever happened.

Director Ralph Ziman confirmed in 2010 that several fish were used during the filming of the video and none were out of water for very long. The fish were released following the completion of the video.

"Epic" was the band's most successful single in the US and was generally well received. According to Rolling Stone, it set a standard that Faith No More did not match with its later albums. Both the Philadelphia Daily News and Los Angeles Times praised the song, citing the song as "radio-ready" and "radical", respectively. However, The New York Times also cited Faith No More as "style-crunching," using "Epic" as their example. The Village Voice's Pazz & Jop annual year-end critics' poll ranked "Epic" at number five on their poll of the best singles of 1990, tying with Lisa Stansfield's "All Around the World".