Arguably the second most famous band from Boston (next to Aerosmith), Extreme has announced a reunion tour and a new album in the works. They have been a guilty pleasure for me since High School and my friends bugged the hell out of me for it. Then again some of them listened to Poison so who are they to judge. At least they didn’t listen to Winger or Grim Reaper though.
The odd thing is I didn’t get into them through their biggest single “More than Words“. I actually dislike the song. Although More than Words was most likely the first song I heard by them, the song that made me go out and listen to them some more was “Hip Today” which is from their final album Waiting for the Punchline. This is my favorite album by them and the critics hated it. There are other albums are more in the hair metal genre (III Sides to Every Story arguably fits in here too).
After Waiting for the Punchline the band broke up. Gary Cherone had a short stint singing for Van Halen (he was on the album III), Paul Geary (the drummer) went on to manage some bands including Godsmack and the Smashing Pumpkins and the guitarist Nuno Bettencourt did some solo work and formed a few bands.
Unfortunately the band does not get as much respect as I think they deserve. Although they began as a hair metal band they branched out. Gary Cherone has an amazing voice (reminds me of Freddie Mercury from Queen) and Nuno can shred like mofo on the guitar and still be tasteful. Listen to the following video to hear not only his great riff writing but his tasteful chops.
Here’s the video for Extreme’s “Hip Today”.
Posted by 82muchf00d 
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