Defend the Indefensible - Extreme

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