Extreme is an American rock band, headed by frontmen Gary Cherone and Nuno Bettencourt,
that reached the height of their popularity in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Among some of Extreme's musical influences are Van Halen, Queen, Aerosmith and Led Zeppelin.
The band played at The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert in 1992, also jammed with Brian May
and Van Halen, and Cherone joined Van Halen in 1996.
The band has described their music as "funky metal" in the early days, but it would evolve
much more in the mid-90s by blending classic rock influences with post-grunge and alternative
rock.
They have released five studio albums, two EPs and two compilation albums since their
formation.
The band was one of the most successful rock acts of the early 1990s, selling over 10 million
albums worldwide.
Extreme achieved their greatest success with their 1990 album Pornograffitti, which peaked
at number 10 on the Billboard 200, and was certified gold in May 1991 and double platinum
in October 1992.
That album featured the acoustic ballad single "More Than Words", which reached No. 1 on
the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States.
Band biography Early years
Extreme was formed in Malden, Massachusetts, in 1985.
Vocalist Gary Cherone and drummer Paul Geary were in a band called "The Dream".
Guitarist Nuno Bettencourt was in a band called "Sinful", and bassist Pat Badger was playing
with a Berklee-based act called "In The Pink".
Following an altercation between the rival groups over communal dressing rooms, the four
decided to form a new band together.
Cherone and Bettencourt began writing songs together and the band played numerous shows
in the Boston area.
They gradually developed a strong local following, and were named "Outstanding Hard Rock/Heavy
Metal Act" at the Boston Music Awards in 1986 and 1987.
The band had accumulated several original songs by the time A&R director Bryan Huttenhower
signed them to A&M Records in 1988.
The band then recorded their self-titled debut album which was issued in 1989.
The first single was "Kid Ego", a song that Cherone would later admit made him cringe.
The final track on the album, "Play With Me", was used as the "mall chase" song in the film
Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure.
Popular success Sales of Extreme's first record were sufficient
to support a second release.
Michael Wagener, who had previously worked with Dokken and White Lion, was hired to produce
the band's Extreme II: Pornograffitti album in 1990.
The record, which showcased Bettencourt's guitar-playing, was a mixture of funk, pop
and Glam metal sounds.
"Decadence Dance" and "Get the Funk Out" were released as singles.
"Get the Funk Out" reached No. 19 in the UK charts in June 1991.
Neither single was successful in the United States, however, and the album had fallen
off the charts when A&M sent the third single to a number of radio stations in Arizona.
The acoustic ballad "More Than Words" entered the Hot 100 on March 23, 1991, at No. 81.
It later became a huge smash, hitting No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States.
The subsequent single, "Hole Hearted", another acoustic track, was also successful, rising
to No. 4 on the same popular music chart.
The band began recording their third album in 1992.
Their appearance at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert in April 1992 interrupted the recording
sessions, but it gave the band considerable exposure beyond the heavy metal fraternity.
By playing a medley at the tribute, as well as "Love of My Life" and "More Than Words"
acoustically, Extreme gained a considerable amount of fans along with the Queen fan base.
At the introductory speech before they played, Brian May noted that they "possibly more than
any other group on this planet, knew what Queen was about all these years, and what
Freddie was about all these years".
III Sides to Every Story was released on September 22, 1992.
The first single from the album, "Rest in Peace", had an accompanying video clip inspired
by a film short by the National Film Board of Canada called Neighbours.
The band was sued for plagiarism, but they quickly settled out of court, later releasing
a new version of the clip.
The album contained noticeable religious themes, presumably put there by Cherone, who noted
in interviews being interested in evangelical preachers.
The album was generally favored by music critics and fans, but it failed to sell as well as
Pornograffitti.
Mangini era and break-up Prior to the band's appearance at Donington's
Monsters of Rock festival in the summer of 1994, Mike Mangini replaced Paul Geary on
drums, who left the band to pursue a career on the business side of the music industry,
managing successful acts such as Godsmack.
Waiting for the Punchline, the first record to feature Mangini, was released on February
7, 1995.
The singles "Hip Today", "Unconditionally", and "Cynical" were released, but the album
sold even less than III Sides to Every Story.
Extreme disbanded after the tour in 1996, on amicable terms, when Nuno decided to leave
to pursue a solo career.
Post-breakup Gary Cherone: Van Halen and other projects
On the recommendation of former Extreme manager Ray Danniels, in 1996, Gary Cherone joined
one of the world's most successful rock acts, Van Halen.
During 1996, Van Halen's fan-base weathered the acrimonious departures of two of rock's
most successful lead singers: first David Lee Roth, the band's original frontman, and
then Sammy Hagar, who had fronted Van Halen since 1985.
Into this fractious, and very public situation entered Cherone, whom guitarist Eddie Van
Halen later called a "musical soulmate".
In 1998, the Cherone-fronted Van Halen released Van Halen III.
Van Halen III was a departure for the band—experimental, sometimes acoustic, and socially conscious,
lyrically.
It bore little resemblance to the band's earlier, riff-driven classic rock.
Longtime Van Halen fans drew negative comparisons between Cherone's socially-conscious lyrics
and those of iconically tongue-in-cheek lyricist, David Lee Roth.
Also, Cherone's sometimes complex lyrics were perceived to lack the 'everyman' quality that
Sammy Hagar's possessed.
Additionally, on tour, Gary's stage presence was criticized.
Van Halen III reached No. 4 on the Billboard 100 album charts, and sold over 500,000 copies
in the U.S. alone; however, by Van Halen's standards, it was a failure.
All 12 of their previous albums had all sold over 2,000,000 copies in the U.S. alone, with
2 selling over 10,000,000 in the U.S. alone—and the previous five studio albums had all reached
No. 1 on the Billboard 200 album charts.
Van Halen's tour was successful; however, not as successful as in previous years.
In late 1999, after Van Halen's 2nd album with Cherone was 'sent back' by Warner Bros.
Records, Cherone left the band.
He later formed Tribe of Judah, which released an album called Exit Elvis in 2002.
In 2005, Cherone released a four song sampler CD, entitled Need I Say More.
Nuno Bettencourt: other projects In 1997, Nuno Bettencourt released his first
solo album titled Schizophonic.
In 1998 he formed a group called Mourning Widows who released a self-titled album that
year and a follow-up album, Furnished Souls for Rent, in 2000.
Following the breakup of that band, he released another solo album under the project name
of Population 1 in 2002.
Acquiring new members for the tour, he decided to keep the name Population 1 and the first
release as a band was a five-song E.P.
entitled "Sessions from Room 4" in 2004.
They then changed the band's name to Dramagods and created a follow-up CD entitled Love in
2005.
Nuno along with bandmates Kevin Figueiredo and Steve Ferlazzo then went on to collaborate
with Perry Farrell's project Satellite Party.
A 13-track Extreme "best-of" collection, The Best of Extreme: An Accidental Collocation
of Atoms?, was released in 1998.
A re-packaged collection with a different tracklisting titled Extreme – The Collection
was released in 2002.
Reunions Extreme reformed for a short tour in 2004
playing in the Azores, in their hometown of Boston at the WAAF anniversary as well as
a few concerts in Japan.
After a hiatus during 2005, the band returned in 2006 with the "classic" Pornograffitti
line-up to do a small, three-show reunion tour through New England.
In July 2007 Bettencourt quit Satellite Party for the definite Extreme reunion with Gary
Cherone and Pat Badger.
On November 26, 2007, the band announced plans for a world tour in the summer of 2008 with
King's X as well as a release date for their new album, Saudades de Rock, produced by Bettencourt.
Kevin Figueiredo, who played with Bettencourt in DramaGods and Satellite Party, took over
drum duties for the band.
Original drummer Paul Geary would still remain involved with the band, albeit in a management
position.
Singles from the album have been available on MySpace including "Star".
The album was released on July 28, 2008 in France, August 4, 2008 in Europe, and August
12, 2008 in the United States.
The band then embarked on the Take Us Alive World Tour, supported by King's X in the US
and Hot Leg in the UK, with various other dates in Europe and Asia, through all of 2008.
In 2009, the band continued to tour, co-headlining the East Meets West Tour with Ratt.
The final date of this tour, in their hometown of Boston, Massachusetts, was recorded for
the release of the band's first live DVD called Take Us Alive.
According to a December 2010 interview with singer Gary Cherone, Extreme had been writing
new material for a new album, which they planned - at the time - to release in 2011.
Asked in the same interview if the band will produce the new album by themselves or get
an outside producer, Cherone replied, "There's talk of a few people.
It would be great to get an A-list name.
I don't know if that happens.
My dream producer would probably be Rick Rubin.
Here's a guy that's done Johnny Cash, the Chili Peppers and you know, Neil Diamond."
But due to conflicting schedules with Nuno Bettencourt supporting Rihanna on her tour
during 2011, plans to go into the studio were postponed to 2012.
Also in 2010 rumors started about possible commemorative shows for Extreme II: Pornograffitti,
given the 20th anniversary of the record.
Finally, in 2012, initially a small string of such shows in Japan has been confirmed,
marking the full return of the band's activities after a hiatus when Nuno was on tour with
Rihanna, as well as other side projects by other members, most notably Gary Cherone's
Hurtsmile.
Extreme were to tour Australia in April of 2013, with Richie Kotzen as support act, but
the shows were cancelled due to scheduling conflicts with Rihanna's 2013 North American
tour.
Tours Extreme Tour
Pornograffitti Tour III Sides to Every Story Tour
Waiting for the Punchline Tour 2004 Mini-Reunion Tour
2005 Reunion Tour 2006 Reunion Mini-Tour
Take Us Alive World Tour 2008 East Meets West Tour '09
Pornograffitti Live Tour 2014 Personnel
Members Current members
Gary Cherone – lead vocals Nuno Bettencourt – lead guitar, 6 and 12-string
acoustic guitar, brass/orchestration arrangements, keyboards, piano, backing and lead vocals
Pat Badger – bass, acoustic bass guitar, backing vocals
Kevin Figueiredo – drums, percussion Former members
Paul Geary – drums, percussion, tambourine, backing vocals
Paul Mangone – bass, backing vocals Peter Hunt – lead guitar, backing vocals
Hal Lebeaux – rhythm guitar, backing vocals Mike Mangini – drums, percussion
Carl Restivo – bass, backing vocals Laurent Duval – bass, backing vocals
Line-ups Timeline
Discography
Extreme Pornograffitti
III Sides to Every Story Waiting for the Punchline
Saudades de Rock References
External links Extreme Band Profile at Rockpedia.co
Extreme official website Extreme on Myspace
Official message board Official Portuguese fan club
Zeglobox's backing tracks