In addition to his most popular endeavor, Faith No More, Patton is also co-founder and lead vocalist of Mr. Bungle, and he has fronted and/or played with Tomahawk, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Fantômas, Moonchild Trio, Kaada/Patton, Dead Cross, Lovage, Mondo Cane, the X-ecutioners, and Peeping Tom.

Consistent collaborators through his varied career include avant-garde jazz saxophonist John Zorn, hip hop producer Dan the Automator and classical violinist Eyvind Kang.

"[6] Patton has been cited as an influence by members of Coheed and Cambria, Deftones, Five Finger Death Punch, Hoobastank, Incubus, Lostprophets, Killswitch Engage, Korn, Queens of the Stone Age, System of a Down, Papa Roach, and Slipknot.

[24] Although Patton was "pretty well-adjusted and well-liked by [his middle school] peers",[25] he had a "hyper geek" personality and felt increasingly alienated from sportspeople; ultimately, he found a supportive environment in the death metal music scene where he shifted his focus from sports to art.

His success in mainstream rock and metal ultimately helped secure Mr. Bungle a record deal with Warner Bros.[47] The band released a self-titled album (produced by John Zorn) in 1991, and the experimental Disco Volante in 1995.

[49] Mr. Bungle reunited in 2019 with three original members (Patton, Dunn and Spruance) plus drummer Dave Lombardo and guitarist Scott Ian to re-record its first demo from 1986 The Raging Wrath of the Easter Bunny, released on October 30, 2020.

Patton sang alongside vocalist Jessika Kenney, and was accompanied by the Modern Brass Ensemble, Bologna Chamber Choir, and Alberto Capelli and Walter Zanetti on electric and acoustic guitars.

The set was pieced together by swapping song files through the mail with collaborators like Dan the Automator, Rahzel, Norah Jones, Kool Keith, Massive Attack, Odd Nosdam, Amon Tobin, Jel, Doseone, Bebel Gilberto, Kid Koala, and Dub Trio.

[74] In August 2017, Patton released an album with the band Dead Cross, a supergroup that includes Slayer and Fantômas drummer Dave Lombardo and Retox members Michael Crain and Justin Pearson.

[75] On December 27, 2017, Patton performed his collaborative EP, Irony Is a Dead Scene, as well as a cover of Faith No More's "Malpractice," with the Dillinger Escape Plan live at the band's first of three final shows at Terminal 5 in New York City.

On January 25, 2020, Patton joined Laurie Anderson and Rubin Kodheli at the SFJAZZ Center for a performance based on the 16th century military manual Quanjing Jieyao Pian by Qi Jiguang.

[105] Phil Freeman of The Wire groups Patton with Tom Waits, Frank Zappa and Brian Wilson in what he calls 'California Pop Art' – artists from that area who adapted unconventional sources into their music and created pieces to then hire musicians capable of realizing them.

[8] Film scores by Patton have been described as blurring the lines between genres, as well as "radical", in a manner similar to popular musicians such as Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross who turned to the audiovisual medium without any strict adherence to its orchestral tradition.

[15]Before the release of their 1986 debut The Raging Wrath of the Easter Bunny, Dunn and Patton[141] had got hold of ska- and funk-infused bands such as Oingo Boingo, Fishbone, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Camper Van Beethoven, E.U.

[15][146] The theatrics and overexpression of certain notes of Oingo Boingo's Danny Elfman paralleled those of Patton,[147][148] while his late 1980s nasal rapping drew comparisons to Red Hot Chili Peppers' Anthony Kiedis.

[33] After a few years working there, Patton was allowed to commission albums to have them on sale, subsequently ordering "the craziest shit" he was aware of from diverse styles, with the secret intention of taking those records into his house to make copies of them that he and his Mr. Bungle bandmates would listen to.

[18] Important film pieces to him include Rosemary's Baby by Krzysztof Komeda, In Like Flint by Jerry Goldsmith, The Godfather by Nino Rota, Kwaidan by Tōru Takemitsu, Under the Skin by Mica Levi, The Birds by Oskar Sala, and The Exorcist.

[85] Patton has a fascination for the underground scene in Japan, as suggested in the influence of the Boredoms and Melt-Banana on his music, his collaborations with Merzbow and Otomo Yoshihide, and the Ipecac signings of zeuhl band Ruins and ambient duo Yoshimi & Yuka.

According to a 2002 article from East Bay Express: "[Mike Patton]'s undeniably striking, with piercing Italian good looks and that inexplicable aura shared by first crushes, high-profile criminals, and celebrities ... And he's definitely, well, a little weird."

[170] Mr. Bungle, Patton's band before his sudden rise to fame, already acted bizarrely in the late 1980s; they self-identified as "Star Wars action figure porno freaks" and would throw out bras and underwear for their audience, among other antics.

[142][212] In interviews with Faith No More from the early to mid-1990s, he went on to claim to be obsessed with masturbation;[213] to have defecated in an orange juice carton of Axl Rose[214] and in a hotel hair dryer;[215] to have munched on a tampon left on stage by a member of L7; and to have lived with an aggressive lizard which inspired his lyrics, among many other things.

[217] In 2001, the official website of progressive rock band Tool stated that, when Fantômas supported them in promotion of their Lateralus record, Patton was stopped in Florida by airport security for carrying an extremely large amount of money.

[218] The North Coast Journal retrospectively pointed out the "profound lack of fact checking" by some journalists on Patton's statements,[219] and Culture Creature stated that it was hard to determine when he was teasing interviewers.

[197] The cosmopolitan inclinations of Patton are evident in his hobbies on tour, which include visiting local record stores and immersing himself in the culture of the areas (on occasion, fans have spotted him wandering through populous places in countries like Japan and Chile).

[112] A big part of Patton's negative views on the entertainment industry was born out of witnessing the behind the scenes of Faith No More's 1992 world tour as a support band for Guns N' Roses and Metallica, the two most successful heavy metal acts at the time.

"[88] Around the turn of the millennium, there was a tribute album to Faith No More in progress that featured Disturbed, Deftones and several nu metal bands, but Patton lampooned it in interviews as soon as he heard about it, statements that prompted its cancellation.

[250] For the 1995 album King For a Day... Fool For a Lifetime, all the members of Faith No More, excluding Mike Bordin, shaved their heads,[251] which in the following months, for Patton, became "unkempt and overgrown, complementing a thick, lazy moustache".

[211][20] [Kiedis, who] had still not forgiven [Mike] Patton for being a similarly pretty, long-haired singer who happened to be prettier, younger and sing better, managed to become totally irrelevant [by 1990], and then more popular than ever, thanks to musical vulture/magpie/compressor extraordinaire Rick Rubin.

[302] A reviewer at The Quietus opined that, notwithstanding Faith No More's far-reaching legacy, the most valuable contribution of Patton has been using his platform "to become one of the most potent driving forces in avant-garde and alternative music", through his diverse projects and collaborations, and the experimental artists he has signed to Ipecac Recordings.

Prominent singers such as Chino Moreno (Deftones),[303] Brandon Boyd (Incubus),[304][305] Ville Valo (HIM),[306] Jacoby Shaddix (Papa Roach),[307] Greg Puciato (The Dillinger Escape Plan),[308] Jesse Leach (Killswitch Engage),[309] Ivan Moody (Five Finger Death Punch),[310] Justin Pierre (Motion City Soundtrack),[311] Daryl Palumbo (Glassjaw),[312] Howard Jones (Killswitch Engage),[313][314] Claudio Sanchez (Coheed and Cambria),[315] Tommy Rogers (Between the Buried and Me),[316][317] Daniel Gildenlöw (Pain of Salvation),[318] Doug Robb (Hoobastank),[319] Tommy Vext (Divine Heresy),[320] Hernan Hermida (Suicide Silence),[321][322] Dimitri Minakakis (The Dillinger Escape Plan),[323] Mike Vennart (Oceansize),[324] Spencer Sotelo (Periphery),[325] CJ McMahon (Thy Art Is Murder)[326] and Kin Etik (Twelve Foot Ninja)[327] have all cited Patton as their primary influence.