''Extreme'' is the first studio album by the American

glam metal Glam metal (also known as hair metal or pop metal) is a subgenre of heavy metal that features pop-influenced hooks and guitar riffs, upbeat rock anthems, and slow power ballads. It borrows heavily from the fashion and image of 1970s glam r ...

band Extreme, released in 1989 by

A&M Records A&M Records was an American record label founded as an independent company by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss in 1962. Due to the success of the discography A&M released, the label garnered interest and was acquired by PolyGram in 1989 and began distr ...

. The album reached No. 80 on the ''Billboard'' 200, and produced the minor

Mainstream Rock Mainstream rock (also known as heritage rock) is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations in the United States and Canada. Format background Mainstream rock stations represent the middle ground between classic rock and active rock ...

hit "Kid Ego". The single "Play with Me" is featured on the soundtrack for the comedy film ''

Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure ''Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure'' is a 1989 American science fiction film, science fiction comedy film directed by Stephen Herek and written by Chris Matheson (screenwriter), Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon. The first installment of the Bill & T ...

'', an opening episode of season 4 of ''

Stranger Things ''Stranger Things'' is an American science fiction horror drama television series created by the Duffer Brothers, who also serve as showrunners and are executive producers along with Shawn Levy and Dan Cohen. Produced by Monkey Massacre Prod ...

'', and the 2007

rhythm game Rhythm game or rhythm action is a genre of music-themed action video game that challenges a player's sense of rhythm. Games in the genre typically focus on dance or the simulated performance of musical instruments, and require players to pres ...

, '' Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s''.

Music

The album has been primarily described as

, but has also been described as

funk-metal Funk metal (also known as thrash-funk or punk-funk) is a subgenre of funk rock and alternative metal that infuses heavy metal music (often thrash metal) with elements of funk and punk rock. Funk metal was part of the alternative metal movement, ...

, and

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...

Reception

The album sold modestly well at around 300,000 units, and was favored by heavy metal fans, but did not achieve significant mainstream success. Three of the album's singles, "Little Girls", "Kid Ego", and "Mutha (Don't Wanna Go to School Today)", received medium airplay on ''

Headbangers Ball ''Headbangers Ball'' is a music television program that consisted of heavy metal music videos airing on MTV and its global affiliates. The show began on MTV on April 18, 1987, playing heavy metal music videos from both well-known and more obs ...

''. Extreme was met with mixed reception. AllMusic gave the album three stars saying,"Extreme's first album shows the band struggling to shed their influences, particularly

Van Halen Van Halen ( ) was an American rock band formed in Pasadena, California, in 1972. Credited with "restoring hard rock to the forefront of the music scene", Van Halen was known for its energetic live shows and for the virtuosity of its lead gu ...

, and develop a style of their own; consequently, it's wildly uneven, but guitarist

Nuno Bettencourt Nuno Duarte Gil Mendes Bettencourt (born September 20, 1966) is a Portuguese-American guitarist, singer-songwriter, record producer, and businessman. He became known as the lead guitarist of the Boston rock band Extreme. He has also recorded ...

is always worth hearing". In his review for '' Extreme II: Pornograffitti'', Bryan Rolli called the album "rote

". ''Rolling Stone'' writer Kim Neely gave the album three stars, but called it an "extremely good listen".

Track listing

All songs written by Cherone & Bettencourt, except "Mutha (Don't Wanna Go to School Today)" by Cherone, LeBeaux & Hunt.

Personnel

Pat Badger Patrick John Badger, (born July 22, 1967, in Boston, Massachusetts) is a musician, singer, and songwriter, best known as the bass guitarist in the band Extreme. He has also performed in groups like Daemon, In The Pink, Super Trans Atlantic, Tri ...

–

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

, backing vocals *

–

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

, backing vocals, percussion, orchestration, mixing *

Gary Cherone Gary Francis Caine Cherone ( ; born July 26, 1961) is an American rock singer and songwriter. Cherone is known for his work as the lead vocalist of the Boston rock group Extreme and Van Halen. He has also released solo recordings. In 2007, he ...

– lead & backing vocals, design, logo design *

Paul Geary Paul Geary (born July 24, 1961 in Medford, Massachusetts) is an American rock and roll drummer and Artist Manager. He is a co-founder and drummer of the Rock band Extreme. He left the group in 1994 to pursue a career in artist management. ...

–

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

, percussion, backing vocals, logo design ;Additional musicians * The Lollipop Kids –

background vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are used ...

(tracks 5, 11) * Rapheal May –

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica inclu ...

(track 1) ;Production * Mack – producer on all but 2, 3 and 4 engineer, mixing * Bob St. John – engineer, mixing * Nigel Green – mixing on tracks 2, 3 and 4 *

Howie Weinberg Howie Weinberg is an American audio mastering engineer with over 2,257 mastering credits, three TEC Awards, 21 Grammy Awards, two Juno Awards, and one Mercury Prize. Career Weinberg mastered Herbie Hancock's 1983 album ''Future Shock''. Other m ...

– masteringat

Masterdisk Masterdisk is an American multimedia company in New York, located at 8 John Walsh Boulevard in Peekskill. They provide production services such as audio mastering, vinyl cutting and enhanced CD and DVD production. Their clients include such no ...

, New York *

Jeff Gold Jeff Gold (born 1956) is an American music business executive, author, music historian, Grammy Award winning art director, and music memorabilia collector and dealer. Music Business Gold was the first employee of Rhino Records, and in 1975 produce ...

– art direction * Harris Savides – photography

Charts

Album

Singles

Accolades

References

{{Authority control 1989 debut albums Albums produced by Reinhold Mack A&M Records albums Extreme (band) albums Funk metal albums Hard rock albums by American artists