If it were up to the record company, the band would have released a song that became by far their best known work.
There are several reports of artists and bands that, for one reason or another, almost dispensed with songs that became their biggest hits. happened to the extremewho was discouraged from releasing the power ballad “More Than Words”.
Released as the third single from the album Extreme II: Pornograffitti (1990)the acoustic song guided only by the voices of Gary Cherone and Nuno Bettencourt and for the guitar of the second mentioned reached the first place of the charts of five countries, including the United States and Canada, and the top 10 of several others, such as the United Kingdom, France and Germany. Today it is, by far, the group’s most heard track on streaming platforms — only on Spotifyaccumulates 573 million streams, while the band’s second most played there, “Hole Hearted”, does not reach 20 million.
In an interview with Noise11 (via Ultimate Guitar), Bettencourt admitted that the extreme he was, above all, wary of more pop experiments. The group had gained some notoriety due to its sound that fused hard rock, American funk and neoclassical elements. It had weight, but also groove and references to classical music, all in the same cauldron and packaged in a look of huge hair and flashy clothes, as the time demanded.
To make matters worse, the record company A&M I wasn’t convinced either. “More Than Words” could be successful. Nuno pointed out that acoustic works had not yet become the phenomenon of popularity that they would become, especially from 1992 onwards, when MTV professionalized its staff even more. Unplugged (created in 1989) and Eric Clapton released their eponymous album to the series — which sold 26 million copies worldwide and became the best-selling live album in history.
“’More Than Words’ appeared long before the success MTV Unplugged. Nobody knew what to do with that song. The label didn’t know what to do. They didn’t think it would yield a single. They thought: ‘where are we going to find a place to play this?’.”
experimental impetus
Despite that, the extreme he even liked to put himself in unusual situations. Nuno Bettencourt told that he and the vocalist Gary Cherone they preferred to row against the tide, artistically speaking.
“Gary and I were always like, look, let’s run into the burning building while everyone else is going the other way. Why not change things up a bit? As all the bands we grew up listening to did.”
Next, the guitarist mentioned some of his favorite groups — and they all liked to experiment.
“Even the Led Zeppelin did it with Led Zeppelin III (1970), and they ended up enjoying that acoustic album. O Queen he always changed his route. Sometimes it even happened with Van Halen, when they made songs like ‘Could This Be Magic?’ and ‘Ice Cream Man’. You listened and said: ‘what?’. But I ended up realizing that it was really cool and fun.”
In the view of Bettencourt, it is important that each artist is who he is. It’s not just about being “varied”, since, according to him, there are bands like AC DC that don’t change their sound and still sound amazing. It’s more a matter of spontaneity.
Queen’s inspiration
At another point in the interview, Nuno Bettencourt exalted like the Queen influenced and still inspires Extreme. The relationship between the two bands is known to the public, especially due to the participation of Bettencourt and his colleagues at the event in tribute to Freddie Mercuryin the year 1992.
“We don’t usually sound much like the Queen, we even have some influence from them, but we definitely adopted their philosophy of: ‘do what you want to do’. With us, the best songs always win, regardless of how they sound.”
Source: Rollingstone
Earl Johnson is a music writer at Gossipify, known for his in-depth analysis and unique perspective on the industry. A graduate of USC with a degree in Music, he brings years of experience and passion to his writing. He covers the latest releases and trends, always on the lookout for the next big thing in music.
