eMusic

Start Your Trial

Extreme

Extreme

Rate it!

Avg: 4.0 (26 ratings)

  • Formed: 1985 in Boston, MA
  • Disbanded:1996
  • Years Active: 1980s, 1990s

Biography

Although guitarist and band mastermind Nuno Bettencourt's style was derived from Eddie Van Halen, his heart is with the progressive hard rock of Queen, as well as Beatlesque pop and touches of lounge jazz. Consequently, Extreme's music is never easy to classify; it's not just heavy metal, hard rock, or pop -- their albums cover all of that territory with a sweeping ambition and a social consciousness to match. By the time of their second album, Pornograffitti, Bettencourt was already well-respected in the heavy metal world, but it was the Everly Brothers-style acoustic ballad, "More Than Words," that crossed them over into the mainstream -- it hit number one and the follow-up single, the acoustic-based pop rocker "Hole Hearted," hit number four. Extreme's third album, Extreme III: Three Sides to Every Story, was an over-ambitious follow-up that sold well at first but didn't have the staying power of their previous album. Extreme's fourth album, 1995's Waiting for the Punchline, suffered from a similar lack of sales. The following year, Extreme announced they were breaking up, as Bettencourt went on to launch a solo career -- issuing the albums Schizophrenic in 1997, Mourning Widows in 1999, and Furnished Souls for Rent in 2000. Cherone went on to front Van Halen for a lone album, 1998's Van Halen III, which was slammed by both the critics and fans alike, resulting in poor sales and Cherone's eventual exit. 2000 saw the release of a 13-track Extreme best-of collection, An Accidental Collision of Atoms.
— Stephen Thomas Erlewine & G , All Music Guide

“ The indie iTunes — Hardcore music fans are migrating to eMusic, the iTunes Music Store's cheaper, cooler cousin.”


Rolling Stone
Start Your Trial

Recently Viewed

Back
Forward

© 1998-2009 eMusic.com Inc. eMusic and the eMusic logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks in the USA or other countries. All rights reserved.

All Music Guide © 1992 - 2009 All Media Guide, LLC
Portions of content provided by All Music Guide, a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC

Facebook®, YouTube, Flickr™ and Wikipedia® are registered trademarks of their respective owners, Facebook Inc., Google, Inc., Yahoo! Inc. and Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. Neither Facebook Inc., Google, Inc., Yahoo! Inc. nor Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. are partners or sponsors of eMusic. eMusic uses the Facebook, Flickr, YouTube and Wikipedia API but is not endorsed or certified by Facebook, Flickr, YouTube and Wikipedia. eMusic does not pre-screen, monitor, endorse nor assume any liability for websites, contents, products, services or claims made by Facebook, YouTube, Flickr™ and Wikipedia®.

Legal or copyright question regarding Facebook, YouTube, Flickr or Wikipedia content on eMusic? Please email us.