Even 25 years on, it’s hard to imagine Extreme’s unlikely success. Well, it isn’t as they were still riding on the last hurrah of ‘hair’ rock before grunge crashed the party. Even so Extreme had a wide plethora of styles and most of them can be head on this album.
Opener ‘Decadence Dance’ is sort of the ‘go to’ track for the old school, mainstream radio rock they were usually lumped in with alongside Poison, David Lee Roth,etc. It’s a great rock party track and does sound pretty fun in hind site. Following track ‘Lil Jack Horny’ shows they are on par with these bands in terms of explicit content, another track that make Extreme sound like a mediocre Aerosmith rip off.
It isn’t until song number three when things get interesting. A Run DMC esque rap-rock mash up entitled ‘When I’m President’ a highlight so far that evokes a time when dressing like Garth from Wayne’s World was ‘cool’. I have no idea why this band get called ‘Funk rock and compared to RHCP…oh wait, what’s this? ‘Get The Funk Out’? how rude!
Ahh! so this is what got the alt-rock fans’ attention in 1990. ‘Get The Funk Out’ is like ‘Higher Ground’ era Red Hot Chilli Peppers with bigger hair and Richie Sambora on guitar (or at least it sounds that way). Saxophones, slap bass, Crue-esque gang vocals. This is awesome. Makes you wonder why first two tracks were recorded.
Of course this is the album with the soppy acoustic tear-jerker ‘More Than Words’ that you probably hear terrible covers of in rom-coms. This version is still the best, and just as romantic. It’s funny that at the start of this album Extreme could be disregarded as just another mullet wearing rock band, to funk-punks and now acoustic ballad masters. Spanning the genres and we’re only at track 5 of 13.
In a way this was the final party for the hair / glam era of rock. A matter of months later a certain album called ‘Nevermind’ was released. Although Extreme are still touring and are a very talented band, their timing was terrible. On the verge of the 90s – a decade that grunge, punk-pop, gansta rap, industrial metal, britpop and many other sub-genre would dominate the airwaves and alternative charts. Rock fans could care less.
Even so, this has become a ‘cult’ hit over the years and made it’s name with it’s crossover singles such as ‘More Than Words’. Making Extreme’s second album a ‘vintage’ classic. This deluxe edition might just hit the right demographic – original fans of the album who had it on vinyl, as well as newer fans who might be discovering this for the first time.
The bonus disc contains remixes, 12″ mixes (remember those?), anice a capella /acoustic version of ‘More Than Words’ and various b-sides. A lovely package for those who already love the album. In all this is the ideal album to listen to for those who want to want to get in to Extreme. Recommend for any demographic this release is aimed at: fans old and new.
Also here’s a fun fact: drummer Paul Geary is now the manager of Steel Panther.
