Extreme - Hole Hearted
Sometimes it feels like a song is following me around. I have heard this song too many times in random places lately not to post it.
The harmony. Oh, the harmony.
Rivers flow into the sea
Yet even the sea is not so full of me
If I’m not blind why can’t I see
That a circle can’t fit and where a square should be
Acoustic guitars…to the Extreme!
Blister in the Sunday: “Watching the Wheels” by John Lennon
Metal Monday: “Get the Funk Out” by Extreme
Blues and Jazz Tuesday: “Paris, Texas” by Ry Cooder
Wednesday’s Women: “Running Up That Hill” by Kate Bush
Re-worked Thursday: “Honky Tonk Women” by The Pogues
Feelin’-it Friday: “Three Penny Operator” by Ron Hawkins
Saturday Shred: “Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground” by The White Stripes
“Get the Funk Out” by Extreme
(Words/Music: Gary Cherone and Nuno Buttencourt, Album: Pornograffiti, A&M Records 1990)
By 1990, the mainstream metal world was basically split into two camps: party metal and serious metal. Party metal included such bands as Poison, Def Leppard, and Warrant and, with the exception of power ballads, generally featured anthemic lyrics designed to inspire fist pumping and head banging. Serious metal bands like Queensryche and Metallica provided topical lyrics of social and political issues and rarely, if ever, lowered themselves to the more “pop” party metal. Occasionally though, the two did merge. While Poison had “Something To Believe In” and Warrant had “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” both songs reeked of being contrived to gather a wider, more serious audience and were generally cringe-worthy. And just because they learned to strum a few chords on an acoustic guitar, I’m pretty sure I don’t want Bret Michaels and Jani Lane trying to teach important life lessons.
However, one band did manage to combine original and poignant lyrics with fun, upbeat music. Although they will be eternally and ironically known for two acoustic songs, “More Than Words” and “Hole-Hearted,” Extreme managed to garner praise from the critics for their social commentary, their ability to incorporate other musical genres with metal, and the seriously fluid and energetic fretwork of Nuno Bettencourt. “Get the Funk Out,” a favorite song at live shows (for hopefully obvious reasons), was the final single from the Pornograffitti album and, I believe, was the band’s attempt to regain their metal cred after the two aforementioned acoustic singles pegged them as a ballad band. In addition to some unique and catchy lyrics, the song features a funky bass rhythm and a complete horn section, both of which were completely missing from metal songs at that point. It is this willingness to step away from the scripted recipe of 90s metal that made Extreme one of the exciting up-and-coming bands at the time in my collection. Unfortunately, the heyday of fun and upbeat metal would soon come to an end, squashed by the overly-serious trudging invader from the northwest: grunge. Singer Gary Cherone would eventually make the embarrassingly big mistake of singing with Van Halen and guitarist Nuno Bettencourt would find himself playing guest artist on a variety of other artists’ records from Janet Jackson to Perry Farrell. But for a few moments in the early 90s, many of the best elements of metal converged in Extreme.
