Extreme (the band)

bnt

Rather than re-open the old thread on their Saudades de Rock album, I'd thought I'd start a new one. I only just read that they had reformed, and have been trying to schedule tours and recordings, but have been thwarted due to Nuno Bettancourt's commitments to Rihanna's band. :pac:

In the 1990s I thought they were OK until they released III Sides to Every Story which impressed the heck out of me. It's an incredibly ambitious album with 3 distinct styles which, appeals to the prog side of my music tastes too. I just dug it out again: favourite track is probably Cupid's Dead, since bassist Pat Badger gets to show off a little too, nailing a unison guitar/bass solo with Nuno that would have Mr. Big fans smiling. They did it in 2009 too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7nlOEnuOfQ

PS: a bit of trivia you won't find on Wikipedia: Pat plays basses made by a Boston company, Mouradian Guitars. He used to work for Jim Mouradian before joining Extreme, doing repairs and building instruments for the likes of Chris Squire (Yes).

buck65

Waaaaay to Extreme for me.

seachto7

Waiting for the Punchline is well worth a listen. Has that classic rock kind of vibe to it, but Nuno is a tasty guitar player, I'll say. Wouldn't be in to much of their other stuff other than that album.

sham69

I get slagged by my friends for liking Extreme (usually like my music a bit heavier)

i love nuno's guitar playing first of all .
Saw them live in '92/93 and they were pretty good.
Midnight express live was fantastic as was flight of the wounded bumblebee.

I regularly listen to 3 sides to every story, seriously underrated album , not everyones cup of tea but some great diversity on it.

Wouldnt mind seeing them live (just to hear nuno)
Their last album wasnt that bad, some great guitar on it.

Links234

sham69 wrote: »

I get slagged by my friends for liking Extreme (usually like my music a bit heavier)

I guess you could say they're...

(•_•)
( •_•)>⌐■-■
(⌐■_■)

...not Extreme enough!

Giving the video linked in the op a watch, and they're not bad at all I've heard a good bit about Nuno, he gets a lot of praise among guitarists, and I can see why!

slavetothegrind

always been a fan, nuno is top drawer!

Poor old pat torpey has parkinsons now!

ex drummer paul geary manages alter bridge!

and i am all out of interesting facts..........

scudzilla

Can't stand them, seen them at Donington one year, they went on straight after Sepultura and Pantera, oh how much fun that was

P_1

Caught a gig of theirs in the Academy a few years back and have been a fan ever since. They have such a fantastic energy to them. Warheads is probably my favourite song of theirs. Fun fact, their album Pornograffiti is supposed to have made some record of being the most returned CD in history due to so many people buying it for More Than Words and not liking the rest of the songs on it.

seachto7

slavetothegrind wrote: »

always been a fan, nuno is top drawer!

Poor old pat torpey has parkinsons now!

ex drummer paul geary manages alter bridge!

and i am all out of interesting facts..........

Pat Torpey is in Mr Big, not Extreme

DazMarz

I love Extreme! I think they were like a nice blend of Van Halen (the European guitar god being an obvious link and add in that Cherone was a vocalist with Van Halen for a few years), RHCP (funky styling to their music) and with a dash of good old fashioned party metal thrown in.

For sure, their lasting legacy will forever be the mawkish power ballad "More Than Words", but in fairness that is one soulful and actually quite beautiful power ballad.

They're obviously not extreme enough (pun intended) for some metal fans, too metal for some rock fans, etc. But I think they are very talented musicians and that they get an unfair amount of maligning and are a bit overlooked. "Kid Ego" is a great rock anthem, "Play With Me" is a staggering piece of guitar trickery, "Get The Funk Out" is a brilliant metallic funk offering, "Wind Me Up" has a great hook and a catchy chorus... and so on. They have some cracking tunes on their earlier albums.

Then there's III... an absolutely brilliant album where the total picture is greater than the sum of the parts. Brilliant, but with grunge taking hold, it was not long before Extreme faded away.

I caught them in the Academy a few years ago (Cherone nearly snotted himself by tripping over a mic wire while doing onstage antics! ) and they were fúcking amazing. Even took the piss a bit for when it was obvious they were going to play "More Than Words" (acoustic guitars appearing), they began to play "Stairway To Heaven" instead.

Great and overlooked band, IMO.

poundhound

Seen them in the Point in the early 90's and again in the SFX a couple of years later. Both gigs were very good.

They toured the states with Kings X a few years ago.
Amazed Kings X opened, a far superior band.

seachto7

This is a top tune:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Mx9unWgn60

Off their Waiting for the Punchline album. More stripped back kind of sound. Brilliant guitar riffs.

peter1892

poundhound wrote: »

Seen them in the Point in the early 90's and again in the SFX a couple of years later. Both gigs were very good.

They toured the states with Kings X a few years ago.
Amazed Kings X opened, a far superior band.

The SFX gig was really good - it had been moved from the Point so it was pretty full (the Point gig in 91 wasn't bad either but the crowd was small & there were a lot of screaming kids at it, as I recall).

I think they might even have played Feile back then...

Stretchryan

peter1892 wrote: »

The SFX gig was really good - it had been moved from the Point so it was pretty full (the Point gig in 91 wasn't bad either but the crowd was small & there were a lot of screaming kids at it, as I recall).

I think they might even have played Feile back then...

Seen them at the feile years back and always thought Nuno bettencourt was too good a guitarist for that band.

Feile gig was good from what i can recall.