Staying Power

Queen live made it sound good, not extreme. Extreme while good at the tribute concert wasn't very good as songwriters. Never really were that good. I remember when they had that 1 popular ballad, sort of their Love Of My Life. I'm not all that Impressed by their version of Staying Power. There is a reason why they fizzeled out Quickly.

[QUOTE] [b]mike hunt wrote:[/b]

Queen live made it sound good, not extreme. Extreme while good at the tribute concert wasn't very good as songwriters. Never really were that good. I remember when they had that 1 popular ballad, sort of their Love Of My Life. I'm not all that Impressed by their version of Staying Power. There is a reason why they fizzeled out Quickly. [/QUOTE]

The fizzeled out because they were doing straight up rock when grunge was the craze. Grunge was marketable, so the record labels put more promo $ into grunge.

Popularity does not necessarily mean quality, and lack of popularity does not mean lack of quality.

If it does, then Jellyfish was a crap band too.

your 100 percent right about that , lot of bands I love never made it big, but i'll stand by my other comments. Queen at the Bowl was great, and Improved the song by miles. Extrems verson is ok. Still think they're average at best as a band. I love a lot of underground bands. Check out a band called Into Another, never made it big, but they had a much bigger impact on me than other big 90's bands like Nirvana.

I think Extreme started out as an imitation style influence band and it showed with the mostly juvenile songs on their first album. I'd still take 5 cuts from it as damn good.

Pornograffitti was pretty great as a playful cohesive album, still a bit too 80's for me.

III SIDES TO EVERY STORY was absolutely fucking brilliant, with only one of the singles REST IN PEACE (and the cassette cut "Don't go" (or whatever it's called) not doing it for me.

WAITING FOR THE PUNCHLINE was unique and though they didn't hit grunge, they touched on it with narcissism and gloom. Some great riffs and moods in that album.
And a favorite: MIDNIGHT EXPRESS

SAUDADES DE ROCK suffered from lack of a true producers producer. Otherwise it's a great album (*I'll always prefer NUNO'S version of "Interface" better), but suffice it to say it shows its influences heavily.

STAR = DEAD ON TIME, QUEEN
COMFORTABLY DUMB = NUNO (SOLO) - GOD TOOK A PICTURE
GHOST - (shitty ass) COLDPLAY
FLOWER MAN = early POLICE notably NEXT TO YOU/PEANUTS
SUNRISE - LED ZEP
SLIDE = FAME - CARLOS ALOMAR- BOWIE- JOHN LENNON

but it had some stellar Extreme originals

LAST HOUR
KING OF THE LADIES
TAKE US ALIVE (*old country rnr throwback)


And if you've never heard Nuno's solo work (including MOURNING WIDOWS, POPULATION ONE, DRAMAGODS, also his bit with SATELLITE PARTY) then you're kinda missing out (IMHO)

I think they did it as a nice tribute to the original. Fair play. Never liked them (it was a bad era for music for me - they seemed a little too drama school) but understand the quality of what they did in that area.

I'm Canadian, going to London and will see Extreme at the o2 in Brixton on December 20, cannot wait, hope they do Staying Power. While everybody's opinions are as valid or meaningless as mine, if Extreme is an "average" band, then Mike Hunt, you've got to share your musical tastes with me. Pat Badger is criminally underrated as a bassist, he's playing with Nuno FFS so he can't be an root note beat keeper, and he's a great singer live to boot. Kevin Figuerido is a fantastic drummer and bring more to Extreme live than Paul Geary did IMHO, Gary Cherone is one of rock's best lyricists and a great front man (and a sometimes dodgy live singer), and they write great songs across all genres. Nothing average about them. And there's Nuno. And that version of SP rocks.

But they are totally square. Totally unfitting name.

Fair enough, Dysan, I'm not here to define what square is in terms of a band, but they are all over the map musically much like Queen, hence the name. III Sides has more musical diversity on it than many major acts entire catalogues have, and if you don't like their music or their un-hipness that is cool :)

Yep. Like I said earlier on, I just never took to them. They weren't the Manics or Suede so didn't get a look in :)

...Both of who, incidently, had their fair share of squareness :)

Like Queen were the hippest band around? One of the reasons why Queen wern't bigger in the States is because they didn't have the cool factor as an ACDC or Guns And Roses. These days it sort of evened out. Queen are pretty big here, they do good on classic rock polls on the radio, though a cool band like The Doors do edge them out most of the time. Not by much, Queen are bigger here than people think. Extreme are another story. They didn't have the creativity of Queen. They were pretty boys with average talent.

[QUOTE] [b]dysan wrote:[/b]

They weren't the Manics or Suede[/QUOTE]

http://rateyourmusic.com/search?searchtype=a&searchterm=the+Manics+

Which band is it? Never heard of them, and I'm interested.

Or you mean the Manic Street Preachers?

Yep. Much more exciting for me in '91 / '92

[QUOTE] [b]dysan wrote:[/b]

But they are totally square. Totally unfitting name. [/QUOTE]

The name is totally fitting in with 80's cheesiness. I've often heard this sentiment from my dull brother who listens to mud: black metal, warped submerged cassette tape sounding drudge. ... "they're not extreme! "



Thing is. ... didn't ya know. . EXTREME stands for a new band featuring Ex- members from THE DREAM (Gary and Paul)

So. ...it's truly "Ex Dream", as Nuno was big in a band called Sinful at the time.

Kinda like Hollywood Roses and the Guns N Roses conglomerate.

Same with FAITH NO MORE: Formerly Faith No Man

Just thought I'd add that. Nothing else.

Around this time I also liked L7 - so the 'square' tag is nearly redundant.
And *whispers* Ugly Kid Joe (hey, I was young - and I still like their Ugly As They Wanna Be EP) - they got their name because they supported Pretty Boy Floyd and didn't have a name yet.