Extreme

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• Genre: Pop Metal
• Hometown: Boston
• Extreme Website

About

Best known for the 1991 No. 1 hit, "More Than Words," and for the fact that the band went on hiatus after singer Gary Cherone replaced Sammy Hagar in Van Halen, Extreme formed in Malden, Mass., in 1985. Early incarnations featured fatal dosages of hair spray and spandex, but they were smart enough to tone down their pop metal stylings when grunge broke in 1991 and, along with similar-minded acts Queensryche and Tesla, managed to stay afloat despite a nationwide disinterest in metal for the first half of the 1990s. Their major breakthrough, Pornograffitti, turned up in 1990. A pair of follow-ups came on its heels (III Sides to Every Story in 1992 and Waiting for the Punchline in 1995) before Cherone left for Van Halen and the group went on indefinite hiatus. The classic-era lineup reunited in 2004 for a series of well-received concert appearances. After another impromptu disbanding, they got their heads together in 2007 and released a fifth album, Saudades de Rock in 2008.

- Mike McGuirk