By the fall of 1991, the music landscape wouldn’t be the same. When Nirvana’s Nevermind record was released in ‘91, you had to be a grunge band to find high success. But before grunge music changed the landscape of music, few bands were able to start highly successful careers in music. The Black Crowes and Extreme are two bands that come to mind as getting off the ground before the sounds of Nirvana and Pearl Jam changed music forever.
Extreme released their highly successful sophomore record, Extreme II: Pornograffitti, in the summer of 1990. The Boston, Massachusetts, natives saw their record reach the No. 10 spot on the Billboard Top 200 charts before settling at the No. 23 spot by year’s end. Extreme II: Pornograffitti has a runtime of one hour and four minutes of funk-metal, rock, and hard rock all neatly wrapped in loud guitars, perfect harmonies and delicate grooves.
The record kicks off with “Decadence Dance.” The song starts with thunder and a rainstorm behind a piano intro before the band kicks in with a droning guitar sound. By the time guitarist Nuno Bettencourt begins to play, fans know this record is going to be special. What is interesting to listen to on this record is that singer Gary Cherone and the rest of the band have a call-and-response throughout the song. During the main portions of the song, Cherone and Pat Badger on bass and Bettencourt answer with a riff. Giving Cherone just the drums shows off how powerful his voice is without the other instruments. Throughout the chorus, the band’s harmonies kick in to show how versatile they are as multi-instrumentalists.
“Decadence Dance” is a great introduction to their record. It introduces fans to their style of rock and roll while tossing them around in hard riffs and loud guitars. This opening tune also allows Bettencourt to showcase himself as a monster guitarist early on in the record instead of blending in with the rest of the group.
At song four, Badgers familiar bassline greets listeners. “Get the Funk Out” was released as the second single from the promotion of the record. What makes this song stand out from some of the others on the record is the Li’l Jack Horn Section, who are credited with the horns that fans hear in the background. In addition, fans with great ears can hear guitarist/singer Pat Travers singing background vocals. Producer Michael Wagener does a great job at balancing the band, horn section and vocals so that it doesn’t sound too clustered and messy. During the outro, everything is “controlled chaos,” which makes it more of an easy listen for fans.
Immediately following “Get the Funk Out” is the band’s biggest song in their career. “More Than Words” checks in at No. 5 on their record. In the United States, it reached the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart before settling at No. 7 at the end of the year. The song also topped charts in other countries like Belgium, Canada, Israel, the Netherlands and New Zealand.
“More Than Words” is a great opposite of the band. Throughout the tune, Bettencourt and Cherone trade off with lead vocals while the entire band harmonizes throughout the chorus. What makes songs like this so great is that there’s nowhere to hide. This tune features just Bettencourt on guitar. There’s no bass, no drums, no rhythm guitar. It highlights how the band is more than rock and roll musicians; it highlights them as excellent singers as well. The song finishes with Bettencourt noodling & soloing on the guitar before the song carries over the finish line.
By the time fans move down the record to “It (‘s a Monster)” the hard rock makes its triumphant return. This tune would also have been a great opening track for the record. There’s a great beat Paul Geary lays down on the drums. There’s a great jump to the beat that creates a new sound to their song. The lyrics on this tune are not complicated and allow this song to be more of an instrument-focused tune.
The band’s title track, song eight, is a six-minute hard rock anthem. Songs like “Pornograffitti” helped define the band’s sound. If readers were confused by what “funk-rock” or “funk-metal” was, just listen to the song structure and the rhythm and sounds Bettencourt produces from his guitar. There’s a magical blend of rock/metal, funk and classic rock blended into this song, which serves as a great base for the tune. The Li’l Jack Horn Section also makes their return for a few select seconds on this tune, adding a new, different sound to their record. Like on most songs on this record, the band’s “togetherness” on the harmonies really complements their music. Crisp, clear, pitch-perfect harmonies elevate a tune so much. It’s one thing for Cherone to sing the chorus, but to have the other three members chime in as much as they do on vocals helps exponentially.
By the time fans reach the last song on the record, they’ve been whipped around through three more rock songs, one ballad and one guitar-powered anthem, “Song for Love.” So, the band elects to end their record with a power-pop-infused ballad titled “Hole Hearted.” This three-and-a-half-minute tune was the band’s second highest-charting single, as it was released as the fourth and final single from the record. “Hole Hearted” is a straightforward ballad that has a rougher edge since the entire band is included on this tune. Geary has a simple beat while Bettencourt explores different avenues on his guitar. Usually, a band wants to end the tune on a loud, memorable note and uses a hard rock tune to “go out with a bang.” But it’s refreshing to hear Extreme go down a different path and use a pop-rock ballad.
Extreme found massive success in their sophomore record, Extreme II: Pornograffitti. The band’s self-titled debut record saw some moderate success at the No. 80 spot on the Billboard 200 charts and produced minor hits like “Kid Ego.” But it was their second go-around that saw them take the jump to new heights. There is a very fitting lesson in Extreme’s success before the grunge takeover – if at first you don’t succeed, try again. For Extreme, that could never be more true.
Rating 9/10
Tracklist:
1. Decadence Dance
2. Lil’l Jack Horny
3. When I’m President
4. Get the Funk Out
5. More Than Words
6. Money (In God We Trust)
7. It (‘s a Monster)
8. Pornograffitti
9. When I First Kissed You
10. Suzi (Wants Her All Day What?)
11. He-Man Woman Hater
12. Song for Love
13. Hole Hearted
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My love for live music started with my first concert ever, Guns N’ Roses back in 2016. Since then, I’ve been able to capture photos of some amazing artists like Alice Cooper, Judas Priest, Ace Frehley, and Post Malone. I am based in the Boston, Massachusetts area. I am always looking for the next concert to attend.