When Faith No More released the video for Easy, it became an instant hit and received heavy airplay on MTV back then, when the station was the main factor in shaping the musical taste of the youth. I liked the song very much, thinking that it was a beautifully constructed rock ballad. Of course, in my teenage years, I wasn’t into any other music except rock, so I didn’t know that Easy wasn’t a Faith No More original, but an old Motown tune from the seventies. It was a hit single for Commodores, written and sang by Lionel Richie. Released in March 1977, "Easy" reached #1 on the Billboard R&B chart and #4 on the Billboard Hot 100.
When Faith No More covered the song, they used it as sort of a prank for their heavy metal fans, who expected to hear Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs” at concerts. Instead, they gave them a Motown ballad instead, but the band members were pretty much fond of the song. Bill Gould, the band’s bassist, said “we like ["Easy"] in a painful kind of way. It gives us memories of our childhood". It is their highest-charting UK hit, reaching #3, their second number one single on the Australian charts and their final charting single in the American chart Billboard Hot 100, peaking at #58. It was originally issued on December 29, 1992.
