Extreme frontman Gary Cherone, the worst thing to ever happen to Van Halen (and that’s saying a lot), and guitar virtuoso Nuno Bettencourt are allegedly reuniting for a show in Boston this June. In fact, Blabbermouth reports all four original members are on board for a mini-tour of New England casinos.
What makes this intriguing is that while VH1′s excellent Bands Reunited convinced historically significant acts Berlin, A Flock Of Seagulls, and ABC to set aside their differences on-camera, Nuno was having NONE OF IT. He threw a tantrum, refused to sign a release, and robbed thousands of former fans of reliving their prom night.
So I won’t post a “More Than Words” MP3, and I certainly don’t give a shit that they’ve reformed, but I am curious: has an indie band ever covered this … sincerely? From a pure songcraft perspective, it is a perfect ballad, made more impressive for its overcoming a horrendous album title and cover, and boring music video.
Apologies for the left-field flashback. I have a hole in my heart for “More Than Words” ’cause my 6th grade crush once scrawled the lyrics on the blackboard. That week I became an extreme Extreme expert. Plus, it’s one of those songs to which EVERYONE KNOWS THE WORDS.
We now return to your regularly scheduled indie rock.
UPDATE: Take cover… (Thanks Sulley.)
Mike Patton – “More Than Words” (MP3) — This was bogus … sorry.
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Shouldn’t the word “Extreme” be somewhere in that first paragraph?
And yes, “More Than Words” really is a good song, and definitely the best of the Hair Band Power Ballads from that dark period of music. It doesn’t have the camp value of “Every Rose Has Its Thorn” or “Never Say Goodbye” perhaps, but you don’t hate yourself quite as much for singing along.
“More Than Words” is a well-crafted song. The rest of the album was terrible.
I saw that VH-1 thing and Nuno came off looking like a total asshole.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=CQhF6Y5lW6s
It’s not a cover, it’s better!
I saw Biv (a JLC side-project) from Charleston, SC, cover it once as an encore in Greenville. But they wore mullet wigs and sat on stools to play it, so I don’t think it meets the ‘sincere’ standard. Ahem.
I actually don’t know the words. Which isn’t entirely undeliberate.
Not a good song. The lyric, if you listen carefully, is simply a guy trying to convince a girl to give him a blowjob. Plain and simple.
Now, Tesla’s cover of ‘Signs?’ Genius.
you are the biggest wuss i have ever known for posting this video
Frankie J covered this song on his latest album… terrible, terrible.
When I saw Liz Phair at an in-store appearance, she sang just a little bit of it and commented about how it really is a pretty good song. Not a full cover but the sentiment was sincere.
Although I do love this song fairly intensely, my top two shitty power-ballads are “I remember you” by Skid Row and “the sun shines through the rain” by Cinderella. Hair metal is crap, but sooooo good for the soul when you’re just sitting around with a case of beer and too much sunshine.
Why? Why would you post More than Words?
It’s like a stake through my 1991-sized heart!
Not only is it a good song, but there is no Dashboard Confessional (or etc etc) without it. That could maybe have been a good thing, but whatever. The folks who still think they’re too cool to like it are missing out.
weird al? FUCK NO. you DID NOT just post that here. seriously.
I totally lost an iPod war once when “More Than Words” came up on the other’s list. The thing is, I can’t hate on that, cos the song is so good.
“Not a good song. The lyric, if you listen carefully, is simply a guy trying to convince a girl to give him a blowjob. Plain and simple.”
Somehow that just makes it a BETTER song.
mike kinsella covered it. its on the japanese “i do percieve” import.
I will say that one of my favorite mash-ups to play live is “More Than Tipsy”…J-Kwon’s “Tipsy” (Instrumental) with Extreme’s “More Than Word” (A Cappela). It works, I kid you not.
I don’t think Nuno came off bad for not wanting to reunite on VH1, maybe he’s just private.
One thing I know, that fool was fine.
Really interesting reading your comments on this one. It’s not a big news story or anything, I just posted it on a whim. And I promise I will never blog about Extreme again!
If anyone else plays acoustic guitar, you know how easy it is to perfectly emulate the picking. It’s a fun one to perform to amuse people.
Yup. That ‘cover’ totally not me. Just like the guy writing this e-mail isn’t mike patton, either. Unfortunately the internets is littered with mp3s like this and another great one, like Mr. Bungle covering “Baby One More Time”. Both are bogus.
Man, i would LOVE to hear that Owen cover of more than words…can anyone share?
Next flashback request: Cutting Crew, I just died in your arms tonight stizz.
Rina girl…i’m wit you- that was one fine man. He could play Cutting Crew, or better yet, just stand there and do nothing. Who the hell cares….as long as he shows up!! Dayam he is fine.
people SERIOUSLY have iPod “wars”? that wasn’t just a brilliant joke?
Our ridiculous guitar DMode coverband the Blasphemous Guitars leave the stage every show so our shredder (he actually won a competition called Guitarmaggedon) can do a ridiculous solo. After 5 minutes of shredding, he goes into “More Than Words” which always gets people giggling but then he starts singing DMode’s “Somebody” over it which fits perfectly (try it). Then I come out and play the main riff from “Just Like Heaven” over it then into Whitney’s “I wanna Dance With Somebody” we go, power ballad style. So wrong. So fun. We opened for well known Van Halen tribute band Atomic Punks at the House of Blues and I came out during the Extreme bit with a big sign that said “CHERONE FOREVER, LEE ROTH NEVER”. i can’t believe no one threw anything!
that was brutal.
im happy it was before my time.
I’ve always thought that song would not be terribly out of place on Hard Days Night. Although maybe that’s because I always thought it was a bit of a rip off of “If I Fell”.
up until last week i worked at a resturant were all the kitchen crew listened to Latino radio (may day may day) and listening to it one night, a slow spanish version of “More than words” came on. I was ecstatic!! I sang along in english just like I did when I was 12.
Are you sure 60738 about this?!?