Fungus Amongus

Fungus Amongus is the debut studio album by American rock band Incubus, released on November 1, 1995, by Chillum Records, Incubus' own independent label. It was later re-released under Epic and Immortal Records on November 7, 2000, after popular demand.

Album information

Many of the names given under 'Personnel' are actually pseudonyms for the band members. 'Fabio' is guitarist Mike Einziger; 'Dirk Lance' is bassist Alex Katunich, who later adopted 'Dirk Lance' as his stage name; 'Brandy Flower' is an actual Sony employee; and 'Happy Knappy' is vocalist Brandon Boyd. 'Brett' and 'Brett Spivery' refer to Brett Spivey, longtime friend of the band, who went on to make their first two DVDs, and the videos for "I Miss You" and "Summer Romance (Anti-Gravity Love Song)".

The album cover image is of a fly agaric mushroom.

Stylistically, the album shows strong influences by funk metal bands such as Red Hot Chili Peppers, Primus, and Mr. Bungle, all of whom are mentioned in the liner notes of the album. Also, the group presents a quasi-rap style, which continued onto S.C.I.E.N.C.E., showing Brandon rapping on songs such as "Psychopsilocybin", "Trouble in 421", "Speak Free", and "Take Me to Your Leader".

Reception

Upon initial release, the album failed to chart; however, when re-released in 2000 by Epic/Immortal Records, it managed to peak at number 116 on the Billboard 200. The album received generally negative reviews from critics. Dean Carlson of AllMusic wrote, "Incubus' independent debut is an unremarkable take on suburban MTV funk." He also criticized frontman Brandon Boyd, writing, "there's much to dislike, notably frontman Brandon Boyd, who growls like he wants the voice of anybody but himself". Tim Grierson of About.com observed, "at this early stage, Incubus just sounded like a tired rehash of Rage Against the Machine and Red Hot Chili Peppers." In 2001, Spin labeled the album as "goofy" and "Primus-obsessed."

The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004) gave the album one star out of five. The review states, "although it may only be vaguely recalled, the great funk metal scare occurred at the dawn of the 90s, between the waning of hair metal and the waxing of grunge." It adds that "Incubus was a latecomer to a boomlet of shirtless suburban funkateers who were greatly inspired by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Primus and Faith No More" and that "Fungus Amongus, a compendium of slapped bass and forced wackiness, seemed hopelessly dated in 1995." The 2003 book The Rough Guide to Rock describes the album as "a rough-and-ready amalgam of funk, rock, metal and wilful weirdness that merely hinted at what Incubus would go on to produce."

In 2020, Ultimate Guitar included it on their list of "Top 8 Iconic Funk Metal Albums". Loudwire added it to a list titled "26 Bands Who Sound Nothing Like Their First Album". They stated, "taking cues from Faith No More, Primus and hip-hop, the funk-first rap/rock of Fungus Amongus was a snapshot of heavy music in 1995."

When looking back on Incubus's discography in a 2017 interview with Kerrang!, Boyd observed, "[Fungus Amongus] was super-fun to make, but we didn't know what we were doing. I guess that's why a lot of our fans love that record, but for me when I hear it I truly cringe. I would just as soon bury it forever."

Track listing

Personnel
 Happy Knappy – vocals, djembe
 Fabio – guitars
 Dirk Lance – bass
 Salsa – drums

Charts

References

1995 debut albums
Epic Records albums
Incubus (band) albums