I saw Faith No More last Friday and they still put on a solid show - this was my third FNM show after seeing them in a club in 1990 and opening the Metallica/GnR tour (I left 3 songs into the GnR set). To be honest, part of me is a little disappointed that they've become more a Mike Patton project than they band I loved. Patton's voice is still amazingly solid and sounds much, much better live than clips I've seen on YouTube (I think it needs to be listened to LOUD, otherwise his vocals overpower the mix) - the rest of the band is spot on as well... except well, the guitar. Jon Hudson is a solid guitar player but he lacks character in both his playing and stage presence (um, in other words: JIM MARTIN needs to be in this band).
Sol Invictus is a good album - but it doesn't seem like a FNM album to me. There are some tunes that really try and capture some of the FNM magic (Superhero, Cone of Shame and MF)... but a lot of it just seems to be OD on Mike Patton and it might help to restrain that in but a bit (he's got too many other projects to showcase that). I'm still listening and learning this album, I'm sure more of it will grow on me... but, my initial feeling is a bit of disappointment (but, man Superhero gets the blood pumping).
On the topic of pop music - well, I'm not that audience and I'm not going to judge folks for liking what they like. I love being eclectic and zipping through FNM, Metallica, Gojira, Royale and Taylor Swift without blinking.