History Music / Extreme

Among the last wave of [[TheEighties 80's]]/[[TheNineties 90's]] pop-metal "[[HairMetal hair]]" bands, Boston-based '''Extreme''' stand out from the pack thanks to an eclectic musical sensibility owing as much to Music/TheBeatles as to Music/VanHalen. Mostly classified as a FunkMetal band, Extreme nonetheless dabbled with several pop forms during their career, ranging from the pre-rock pop of Music/FrankSinatra to trendy mid-90's PostGrunge, meshing it all into a series of loose [[ConceptAlbum Concept Albums]]. Through it all, they've maintained a strong technical reputation as musicians, particularly for the soloing of Portuguese-born guitar wizard Nuno Bettencourt.

-->"Get The Funk Out"

* MrFanservice: Nuno Bettencourt, ''hands down''.

* [[VocalTagTeam Vocal Tag Team]]: Gary Cherone has Nuno Bettencourt harmonizing with him on many occasions. Nuno sings signifigant lines in the songs too.

* MrFanservice: Bettencourt

** Attempting to hit the big time after touring the Boston area, Extreme recorded ten of their fifty-song library for a mostly undistinguished debut album. The album's sound doesn't stand out from the rest of the Music/{{Poison}}-esque HairMetal of the time, and [[WebVideo/ToddInTheShadows 1989 did not need more hair metal]], but some of the later signatures - Bettencourt's precise lead guitar, well-placed three-part harmonies, and a consistent album-wide lyrical theme (centered loosely around childhood) - make themselves known. [[ClassicalMusic Classically-inspired]] [[BreakawayPopHit radio hit]] "Play With Me", a non-single from the ''BillAndTedsExcellentAdventure'' soundtrack added at the last minute, helped break Extreme out and point the way towards their later eclectic ways.

Lead singer Gary Cherone is also infamous for [[DorkAge his disastrous stint]] as the third VanHalen singer.

* [[HairMetal Hair Metal]]: Extreme came in with the last wave of the trend and are usually lumped in, though their take on the pop-metal sound owes to plenty more than VanHalen.

* [[CountryMusic Country Music]]: "Hole Hearted" has a countryish acoustic orchestration and four-on-the-floor bass drum beat througout.

* IntercourseWithYou: A few songs on the first album, but it's actually pretty vague about it. Subverted with the songs on "Pornograffitti", while sexual references are made, it's more of a lament on how sex obsessed society is

Among the last wave of [[TheEighties 80's]]/[[TheNineties 90's]] pop-metal "[[HairMetal hair]]" bands, Boston-based '''Extreme''' stand out from the pack thanks to an eclectic musical sensibility owing as much to Music/TheBeatles as to Music/VanHalen. Mostly classified as a FunkMetal band, Extreme nonetheless dabbled with several pop forms during their career, ranging from the pre-rock pop of FrankSinatra to trendy mid-90's PostGrunge, meshing it all into a series of loose [[ConceptAlbum Concept Albums]]. Through it all, they've maintained a strong technical reputation as musicians, particularly for the soloing of Portuguese-born guitar wizard Nuno Bettencourt.

** The breakthrough multiplatinum-selling album brought along the funky and mellow signature tendencies of the band. Described as "A Funked Up Fairytale", the album had a signifigant concept-album vibe surrounding it. Backed up with "Lil' Jack Horn Section" and truly groundbreaking guitar work, ''Pornograffitti'' was an dynamically diverse bunch of electrifying funk metal songs such as "Get The Funk Out", "Decadence Dance" and "He-Man Woman Hater" sharing the spotlight with the acoustic mega-hits "More Than Words" and "Hole Hearted". There's even a [[FrankSinatra Sinatraesque]] piano ballad, a mind-boggingly precise guitar solo and [[PissTakeRap tongue-in-cheek]] [[RapRock rapping]] thrown in for good measure.

* InTheStyleOf: Twice on ''Pornograffitti'' - "More Than Words" [[BlackSheepHit confused listeners]] with its [[Music/TheEverlyBrothers Everly Brothers-inspired]] sound while "When I First Kissed You" is a [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] FrankSinatra homage. "Ghost" from ''Saudades de Rock'' is likewise a Music/{{Coldplay}} pastiche.

Among the last wave of [[TheEighties 80's]]/[[TheNineties 90's]] pop-metal "[[HairMetal hair]]" bands, Boston-based '''Extreme''' stand out from the pack thanks to an eclectic musical sensibility owing as much to TheBeatles as to VanHalen. Mostly classified as a FunkMetal band, Extreme nonetheless dabbled with several pop forms during their career, ranging from the pre-rock pop of FrankSinatra to trendy mid-90's PostGrunge, meshing it all into a series of loose [[ConceptAlbum Concept Albums]]. Through it all, they've maintained a strong technical reputation as musicians, particularly for the soloing of Portuguese-born guitar wizard Nuno Bettencourt.

* CoverVersion: "[[Music/{{KISS}} Strutter]]", "[[TheBeatles Help!]]", "[[Music/{{Queen}} Love Of My Life]]", and OneHitWonder Wild Cherry's "Play That Funky Music".

* ShoutOut: "[[TheBeatles I read the news today, oh boy]]/About a tragic comedy", from "Cupid's Dead". Pat Badger also uses PaulMcCartney's [[IconicItem Höfner bass guitar]] in the "Tragic Comic" video. And then there's "[[Music/PinkFloyd Comfortably Dumb]]"

* [[GenreBusting Genre Busting]]: Now FunkMetal, now straight pop, now ProgressiveRock, now pre-rock pop, now YngwieMalmsteen-like classical guitar!

** Attempting to hit the big time after touring the Boston area, Extreme recorded ten of their fifty-song library for a mostly undistinguished debut album. The album's sound doesn't stand out from the rest of the Music/{{Poison}}-esque HairMetal of the time, and [[WebVideo/ToddInTheShadows 1989 did not need more hair metal]], but some of the later signatures - Bettencourt's precise lead guitar, well-placed three-part harmonies, and a consistent album-wide lyrical theme (centered loosely around childhood) - make themselves known. [[ClassicalMusic Classically-inspired]] [[BreakawayPopHit radio hit]] ''Play With Me'', a non-single from the ''BillAndTedsExcellentAdventure'' soundtrack added at the last minute, helped break Extreme out and point the way towards their later eclectic ways.

** The breakthrough multiplatinum-selling album brought along the funky and mellow signature tendencies of the band. Described as "A Funked Up Fairytale", the album had a signifigant concept-album vibe surrounding it. Backed up with "Lil' Jack Horn Section" and truly groundbreaking guitar work, "Pornograffitti" was an dynamically diverse bunch of electrifying funk metal songs such as ''Get The Funk Out'', ''Decadence Dance'' and ''He-Man Woman Hater'' sharing the spotlight with the acoustic mega-hits ''More Than Words'' and ''Hole Hearted''. There's even a [[FrankSinatra Sinatraesque]] piano ballad, a mind-boggingly precise guitar solo and [[PissTakeRap tongue-in-cheek]] [[RapRock rapping]] thrown in for good measure.

** A three-sided album ([[JustForPun hence the title]]) where all three sides are stylistically distinct. Side one, "Yours", focuses on the stadium rock the band is most associated with and features lyrics based on political issues such as the role of government, war, racism, and the media. The second side, "Mine", is more personal lyrically and follows up on the pop style of ''Hole Hearted'' and ''More Than Words''. Starting from the light-hearted minor hit ''Tragic Comic'', the songs quickly grow darker, with the ballad ''Our Father'' addressing a runaway father ([[NotChristianRock who may or may not be God]]) and expressing philosophical doubt. This sets the stage for the ProgressiveRock-oriented final side, "The Truth", a three-part suite heavy on biblical references which attempts to answer what the point of it all is.

** A seemingly-final effort mostly InTheStyleOf Music/{{Soundgarden}}, "Waiting" hews only very loosely to its narrative about a cynical atheist who finds religion. Mostly known for the somewhat more characteristic instrumental single ''Midnight Express'', a showcase for Bettencourt which still appears in the band's live set.

** A reunion album whose title roughly translates as "Nostalgia For Rock" in Portuguese, "Saudades" lacks the unified lyrical themes of most of the band's work, instead emphasizing their FunkMetal style even on Music/PinkFloyd tribute ''Comfortably Dumb''. ''Take Us Alive'' also provided the title for their subsequent tour.

* [[AlbumTitleDrop Album Title Drop]]: "Pornograffitti" and "Waiting For The Punchline" have their title tracks
** Having three sides to every story is also a recurring lyrical theme in ''Cupid's Dead''
** "Saudades de Rock" has ''Peace (Saudade)''

* [[ChristmasSongs Christmas Songs]]: The B-side ''Christmas Time Again'', though it doesn't exactly praise Christmas time.
* ConceptAlbum: "Pornograffiti" and "III Sides to Every Story" at least.
* [[CountryMusic Country Music]]: ''Hole Hearted'' has a countryish acoustic orchestration and four-on-the-floor bass drum beat througout.
* CoverVersion: ''[[Music/{{KISS}} Strutter]]'', ''[[TheBeatles Help!]]'', ''[[Music/{{Queen}} Love Of My Life]]'', and OneHitWonder Wild Cherry's ''Play That Funky Music''.

* [[DualMeaningChorus Dual Meaning Chorus]]: ''Hole Hearted'' can be interpreted as being a regular love song or about having a so-called "god-shaped hole".

* {{Homage}}: The first comeback single, ''Rock and Roll Man'', to the late [[Music/{{Boston}} Brad Delp]].

* InTheStyleOf: Twice on "Pornograffitti" - ''More Than Words'' [[BlackSheepHit confused listeners]] with its [[Music/TheEverlyBrothers Everly Brothers-inspired]] sound while ''When I First Kissed You'' is a [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] FrankSinatra homage. ''Ghost'' from "Saudades de Rock" is likewise a Music/{{Coldplay}} pastiche.
* IntercourseWithYou: A few songs on the first album, but it's actually pretty vague about it. Subverted with the songs on ''Pornograffitti'', while sexual references are made, it's more of a lament on how sex obsessed society is
* LastNoteHilarity: ''Suzi (Wants Her All Day What?)'' is left unresolved...or not...
** The song ''Flesh'N'Blood'' ends with a belch.
* MisogynySong: ''He-Man Woman Hater''
* MoneySong: ''Money (In God We Trust)'', with lines like "Money, my personal savior/Money, material lord", is a fairly sarcastic take.
* MotorMouth: The words in ''Play With Me'' fly by as fast as the riffs, and ''Cupid's Dead'' [[RapRock isn't the easiest song to keep up with either]].
* NotChristianRock: They are masters of this. While not a Christian band, Gery Cherone is himself an outspoken Christian, and the lyrics the a lot of their songs are filled with bible refrences and Christian themes. Some songs, such as ''Watching, Waiting'', ''Hole Hearted'', ''Am I Ever Gonna Change?'' and ''Rise and Shine'' are pretty much straight up Christian.

-->''Hey Patrick! Not bad, for a pasty faced white boy!''
* ProgressiveRock: Especially on "III Sides to Every Story". Nuno's guitar solos often have a neoclassical quality to them, as best seen in ''Play With Me'' on "Extreme"
* [[RapRock Rap Rock]]: ''When I'm President'' is a curious example. ''Cupid's Dead'' also contains a rap section towards the end.
* RearrangeTheSong: Extreme have released "Horn Mix" versions of ''Hole Hearted'' and ''Cupid's Dead'' as B-sides.
* ShoutOut: "[[TheBeatles I read the news today, oh boy]]/About a tragic comedy", from ''Cupid's Dead''. Pat Badger also uses PaulMcCartney's [[IconicItem Höfner bass guitar]] in the ''Tragic Comic'' video. And then there's "[[Music/PinkFloyd Comfortably Dumb]]"

-->"Hey Patrick, Not bad, for a pasty faced white boy!"

->"Hey Patrick, Not bad, for a pasty faced white boy!"

** A seemingly-final effort mostly InTheStyleOf {{Soundgarden}}, "Waiting" hews only very loosely to its narrative about a cynical atheist who finds religion. Mostly known for the somewhat more characteristic instrumental single ''Midnight Express'', a showcase for Bettencourt which still appears in the band's live set.

Then again, some may only know them for [[BlackSheepHit those two acoustic hits]]. And many of them only know them for [[OneHitWonder their first acoustic hit]].

** A reunion album whose title roughly translates as "Nostalgia For Rock" in Portuguese, "Saudades" lacks the unified lyrical themes of most of the band's work, instead emphasizing their FunkMetal style even on PinkFloyd tribute ''Comfortably Dumb''. ''Take Us Alive'' also provided the title for their subsequent tour.

* ShoutOut: "[[TheBeatles I read the news today, oh boy]]/About a tragic comedy", from ''Cupid's Dead''. Pat Badger also uses PaulMcCartney's [[IconicItem Höfner bass guitar]] in the ''Tragic Comic'' video. And then there's "[[PinkFloyd Comfortably Dumb]]"

* TakeThat: WebVideo/ToddInTheShadows really, really likes showing them when discussing doomed early 90s musicians, nearly to RunningGag levels.

* Gary Cherone - vocals

Then again, some may only know them for [[BlackSheepHit those two acoustic hits]]. And many of them only know them for [[[OneHitWonder their first acoustic hit]].