Defend the Indefensible - Extreme

Mark, are you sure you're not mixing up "More Than Words" with Dan le Sac vs Scroobius Pip?

I really liked "Hole Hearted"!

also, Nuno's solo album was kind of half-OK.

Extreme went away and never bothered us again.

There. Defence over.

"More Than Words" was my prom theme. The prom committee had that phrase imprinted on double shotglasses (with the official explanation being that they were "flower vases"). So Extreme gets me drunker quicker.

Also defensible for "Play With Me" as used in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure.

Do you... want to... PLAY! (cut to Beethoven rocking out on the keyboard and Joan of Arc taking over an exercise class)

lol I just saw this pre-major label version of "Mutha" (which was also pre-Nuno Bettencourt)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ma4dcGQAkCM

"Three Sides To Every Story" was an excellent album. Much better than the more famous predecessor, which kinda sucked.

I WASNT AWARE THAT THE GUYS RESPONSIBLE FOR ONE OF THE BEST BILLS AND TEDS EXCELLENT ADVENTURE SCENES NEEDED DEFENDING!!!!!!!

Man, I don't like what I see here.

*gets the funk out*

I somehow ended up watching Cherone & Bettencourt play "Hole Hearted" with a near comatose Steve Hackett from Genesis and a wailing John Paul Jones.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4msmR_iST9Y

maura assembled an oral history of "more than words"

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/extremes-more-than-words-oral-history-1991-ballad-20150206

I really don't like any of the albums except for the first one, but I totally appreciate that Pornograffiti has bigger share of the culture and it's cool if people want to like it more.

I cannot believe "More Than Words" was the third single and I'm even more floored "Hole Hearted" was the fourth!

lol i listened to pornograffiti for the first time last weekend on a train to new jersey with maura

i don't think it's... gooood necessarily. it is something

i enjoyed it!

I enjoyed III Sides to Every Story, although I think I've only listened to the whole thing once.

Was there a name for that kind of hat? I must have known a dozen people who wore one around 1992. I even inherited one somehow, it just ended up in my bedroom never to be claimed, but I never wore it.

Hole Hearted might have been the first time I became aware of just sliding a major triad up and down over the same bass note (pedal point), so that's cool. I still think it's a nice song.

I had III Sides to Every Story fwiw.

I remember watching the Hole Hearted video and thinking "Boston looks cool I want to go to Berklee School of Music"

"Hole Hearted" sounded unusual in that there weren't many ugly men bashing acoustic guitars to an uptempo tune in fall '91.

on the pop chart, that is

proto-DMB

Huh,I had no idea that Nuno was RiRi's guitarist back when I saw her quite a few years back, I remember he was doing some Frusciante-sounding licks to songs like "What's My Name?":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdszYNCF0q4

I have a theory that 'More Than Words' is about trying to get a tuggie.

Nuno said the original title was actually "Just Put Out Already."
― nabisco (nabisco), Tuesday, 9 August 2005 15:52 (eleven years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I mean the song is pretty deliberately open-ended, though it's open-ended in that way that pop songs are when they're actually about sex but are being careful to be vague about it. The basic sentiment = "show you love me," which can mean any number of things in any number of contexts, obviously one of the lyrical pluses of massively-popular songs. It's very easy to imagine as a woman's song, maybe even easier. But in the end there was obviously some awareness, no matter how wink-and-smirk it may have been, that for a teenage-boy audience it'd be the most eloquent expression of sex-pressure in the history of mankind -- kind of a gift, this very convincing-sounding "more than words" argument.
I don't know if you guys remember the cassingle but the b-sides were called "More than Oral" and "Time for the Ass, Girl."

― nabisco (nabisco), Tuesday, 9 August 2005 15:58 (eleven years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Close your eyes
And just reach out your hand
And touch me
Not so tight
I have lube if you want

Pornograffiti had that bit with a buzzing insect that used to drive my cousin's friend's dog crazy whenever he heard it

hole hearted is about pegging

where's Brad

why am i being singled out here

'Rest in Peace' is about poppage.

i've listened to extreme ii: pornograffiti at least twice, it's a fun record

still, when maura told me to listen to it a few years ago, i spent roughly twenty minutes going "wait, it's really called pornograffiti???????!"

it's one from the hair metal years that i still think fondly on for whatever reason. not as much as whitesnake or queensryche, but at least as much as savatage.

I would hope they thought you were the sort of boy who liked the band...but who knows on here :D

xps

the lyrics for the title track are wonderful

Sex!

Sex on the brain
Pumped in my veins
Flowing from my head to my feet

Sex on TV
Rotation heavy
You and I are what we eat

Sex when I'm all alone
It calls me on the phone
Can't stop this ringing in my ear

Sex in excess
Filling all our senses
Keep saying there's nothing to fear

Can't you read the writing on the wall
Can't you seee the rising and the fall
Whoa, can't you see it!

All I see is pornograffitti
All I hear is pornograffitti
See no, hear no
All I speak is pornograffitti
All I fear is pornograffitti
Speak no evil

Sex in 3D
No evil eyes see
Too much of it and you'll go blind

Sex education
Misinformation
Kiss me where the sun don't shine

Sex it surrounds me
Pornograffiti
It's all so constitutional

Sex is literate
Read all about it
But censor where you all can go,go,go

Can't you read the writing on the wall
Can't you see the rising and the fall

All I see is pornograffitti
All I hear is pornograffitti
See no, hear no
All I speak is pornograffitti
All I fear is pornograffitti
Speak no evil

All I see is Pornograffitti
All I hear is pornograffitti
See no, hear no
All I speak is pornograffitti
All I fear is pornograffitti
Speak no evil

(SOLO)

Se-se-se-sex!!
Can't you hear the writing on the wall

All I see is pornograffitti
All I hear is pornograffitti
See no, hear no
All I speak is pornograffitti
All I fear is pornograffitti
Speak no evil

All I see is pornograffitti
All I hear is pornograffitti
See no, hear no
All I speak is pornograffitti
All I fear is pornograffitti
Speak no evil

Sex,sex,sex,sex
Sex,sex,sex,sex
Sex,sex,sex,sex
Sex,sex!
Yeah,yeah,yeah,yeah!
Sex sells

before smithy gets here I will point out that savatage were power metal rather than hair metal?

No matter though as both genres SUCK :)

still, when maura told me to listen to it a few years ago, i spent roughly twenty minutes going "wait, it's really called pornograffiti???????!"

― ToddBonzalez (BradNelson), Thursday, April 27, 2017 10:33 AM (one minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

There's really nothing more clever or fun than a pornomanteau.

If grunge killed poodle metal then why did Warrant/Extreme/Mr Big all have their biggest selling albums at the same time?

Even in the UK Bon Jovi and Def Leppard had their biggest selling albums in about 1992 and played their first UK stadium gigs because of it.

you're right about savatage. i guess also queensryche was more proggy than hairy.

why am i being singled out here

― ToddBonzalez (BradNelson), Thursday, April 27, 2017

I was disappointed you didn't revive the thread, man

Early Queensryche was just iron maiden type stuff before going full on prog metal i think?
It wont surprise anybody that I never liked them.
I was more into Warrior Soul.

alfred, I think it was the fact that you posted about brad just after the previous comment that got brad a bit concerned :D

i guess also queensryche was more proggy than hairy.

Wasn't this true even of Extreme? I never really thought of any of those bands as hair metal.

my memory of those first three bands is their successful albums predated Nirvana/Pearl Jam by at least a few months, maybe over a year. i think with the latter two, they were such massive groups that they transcended their genre. i know that Keep the Faith did decently in the U.S., Adrenalize was huge early but i think the party was over for them after the first couple singles. this is probably regurgitating the New Jersey argument a bit though.

i think a lot of these bands weren't but they sort of belong in the same general crowd. i mean my point of reference are playlists from 103.5 the Blaze circa 1989-1992.

http://www.scottchilders.com/timecapsule/WVVXbig.jpg

that's another local station that i actually never knew about, 103.5 was more popular.

Bon Jovi and Def Leppard had their biggest selling albums in about 1992

Based on the BPI page (http://www.bpi.co.uk/certified-awards/search.aspx), Slippery When Wet ('86) went 3x platinum, while Keep the Faith ('92) just went platinum. Hysteria ('87) went double platinum while Adrenalize went silver. Those figures for the 80s albums are still low compared to US figures though!

also i was wrong about 103.5, my memory was that their switch was earlier but like a lot of stations it was a latecomer to the lite metal game, they switched formats on April 1, 1991.

In early 1991, WFYR-FM (103.5), an adult contemporary station in Chicago for many years (also under an AC Oldies format) was sold by it's parent company Summit Communications to Major Broadcasting of Chicago for $19 million. Major, a newer company had success with a high-energy hard rock format in Denver at KBER-FM. On March 29th, the sounds of Whitney, Rod and Elton gave way to 44 hours of "Rock Rock ('til you drop)" by Def Leppard. Then, at noon on April 1st, the station "snuffed the fire and stoked The Blaze!" But this was no April Fool's joke. The Blaze had come to Chicago, featuring acts such as Skid Row, Billy Squier, Ratt, Ozzy Osbourne, Slaughter and other hard rock and psuedo-metal bands.

http://www.scottchilders.com/timecapsule/BlazeAd1.jpg

That may be SINCE though. Bon Jovi got BBC and commercial radio play with keep the faith and its singles while the previous albums didnt. Not when I listened to them on sick days when off school. I had them all on CD anyway so I didnt care anyway haha

'Alwayss' is where things really kicked off for them radio wise.

Yeah, I remember listening to radio stations like that. That's sort of what I'm saying: I remember this as a transitional period where the hair metal stuff was present but in decline, with a mix of quasi-arty/proggy stuff, heavier stuff, and rootsier stuff coexisting.

xps

the uk had no rock radio which is why these bands could get big and sellout big venues due to support from Kerrang and Raw and Sounds or The Friday Rock show , but noone actually outside of that heard their songs. Bon Jovi, Def Leppard et al did crossover out of that but commercial radio especially ignored rock unless it was a ballad. you never heard GNR or Nirvana or Pearl Jam on it.
Which makes it more baffling that they did embrace Limp Bizkit, Offspring (second time around), Linkin Park.

If Britain had a rock radio station i wonder how different the musical landscape would be.

That was an xp to the chart with Queensryche at #1, not the Bon Jovi/Winger/Warrant thing obv.
(xp again)

it really is pretty amazing how that genre basically evaporated within months. so many of those bands were getting their albums in the top 10, and i mean Skid Row had a #1 album, and they all immediately just became non-entities.

I think xhuxk wrote something once about how it was Queensryche and not Nirvana who killed hair metal.

Radio One was odd in 91/92 as they did play Nirvana, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Alice In Chains, RHCP, Jane's Addiction, Dinosaur Jr alongside Def leppard, Little Angels, Thunder, Bon Jovi, Mr Big, Extreme,SKIN, GNR, Metallica and even Iron Maiden. It was a huge sea change. Commercial radio otoh ignored it except for the ballads.
Especially on the jackie brambles show. Steve Wright was still shite.

surely MTV/Radio killed hair metal just liked they created its success by simply abandoning it?

i think Nirvana was the band that kind of pied pipered everyone into grunge and alt-rock. the only band i can think of that had one foot in metal and made a careful exit into grunge just in time was Alice in Chains. i remember them being advertised on those stations, they got some airplay, and then somehow they made the successful transition better than anyone else.

the early 90s were nuts though just look at all the major labels signing every alt rock band and metal band going. It seemed exciting at the time hearing bands you actually liked on radio. You cant say that post 2000 really because rock radio still didnt exist in the UK.

i'd be curious to hear the queensryche argument. i don't think Nirvana exactly killed it, i think the genre never really changed and the cliches of the music just became pretty stifling.

also that kind of metal at the time was the closest thing music to Zeppelin/Sabbath/Thin Lizzy/Deep Purple/etc, as soon as something better came along people were going to jump ship. i think also the rise of more rock oriented country music like Garth Brooks killed it to. there is a lot that kind of country had and still has in common w/lite metal.

i was thinking about this while listening to Miranda Lambert and Little Big Town, how much they owe to the kind of arena rock that doesn't exist anymore in metal or alt rock.

Garth Brooks was astonishingly huge over there right?
He has a big fanbase here but never had any airplay so was never mainstream but I get the impression in the states he was as big as mariah, madonna, jacko etc

There will always be room for fistpumping somewhere.

Depeche Mode's story is really interesting in this regard -- they built up their fanbase throughout the 80s, fully graduated to arena rock levels by 1990, fully embraced arena rock cliches in full in 1993-94, and then after Dave cleaned up proceeded to stay comfortably there up through the present. Meanwhile any hair metal triumphalists in '88 or so who were trashing DM (and believe me, they were out there) are mostly all "Great to be back here at the...which Nebraska county fair is this again?"

This was the argument: http://www.spin.com/2009/11/myth-no-2-nirvana-killed-hair-metal/
The Queensryche thing was more of a catchy headline, it seems. He's mostly saying the same thing we're saying afaict.

I get the impression in the states he was as big as mariah, madonna, jacko etc

― Odysseus, Thursday, April 27, 2017 5:14 PM (two minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

dude was like Elvis or the Beatles for awhile

xxpost:

"Guns N'Posers!"

I know y'all aren't talking about Extreme anymore, but I heard Pornograffitti for the first time last year, and I really enjoy it. I listened to it just wondering what else they did apart from "More Than Words" and I was maybe expecting some kind of Motley Crue or Poison Sunset Strip hair stuff. I was pleasantly surprised that there was a bunch of funk in their sound, which I guess was part of the LA scene around that time? RHCP and Jane's "Been Caught Stealing" come to mind. I was impressed by the way the music moved, and the guitar playing really sounds fantastic to my ears: nimble, playful and with personality. I also really like how delightfully dumb the lyrics are.

My favorite example is "When I'm President". The whole thing is great, but there are two verses I would like to bring to your attention.

This verse makes an appeal to school aged children who can't vote:

"First things first, we're gonna change the rules
Better listen up, all you boys and girls
Your prez says there'll be no after school
So vote for me, now wouldn't that be cool"

He also has a plan for peace in the Middle East:

"Now I know there's trouble in the Middle East
I'll spend all the money when I stop the Arms Race
On my brothers in the desert, gonna have themselves a feast
When that's done, then we'll start on world peace"

I listened to this song a lot last year. It doesn't seem quite as funny this year.

i think so many people got into extreme via the two big hits and the rest of the album is just like that^^^

love the spoilery trailer i found online for Full Contact, which uses Get the Funk Out (as does the film itself)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oICHP1cTMgs

Oh, Extreme is from Boston. I just assumed they were from Los Angeles. My bad.

I don't like what I see here.

*gets the funk out*

many xposts to Ned

Aren't Def Leppard doing county fairs now?

They are touring arenas as we speak: http://www.defleppard.com/tour/

The only Extreme album I've heard in full is Waiting For the Punchline, which I only bought because Mike Mangini plays drums on two tracks (and it was cheap). Mangini's drumming is great, the songs are otherwise kinda mediocre. I'd rather listen to Dream Theater though.

Berklee boys sticking together ^

Christ, I saw Extreme at the Hammersmith Odeon back in the day (1993?). Almost tempted to go listen to Pornograffitti, just to see.

IF YOU DON'T LIKE
WHAT YOU SEE HERE
GET THE FUNK OUT

OTM

can't argue with the logic