\nPornograffitti<\/i> came at the tail end of the heavy metal Roman
\nempire in the late 80s and early 90s. While Nirvana would
\neventually slash the jugular vein of this beast, it was still an
\namusing era to look back on. I have to admit Cinderella’s
\nNight Songs<\/i> is still one of my favorite CDs that’s not on
\npublic display in my apartment.<\/p>\n
Extreme was ridiculous: they had big hair, their lyrics came
\nstraight out of a ninth grade journal, but they were indeniably
\nfun. Though Gary Cherone should be sending a royalty check to Paul
\nStanley, his voice lifted Extreme out of the wuss metal pits
\noccupied by White Lion and Winger.<\/p>\n
For slobbering musicians out there, guitarist Nuno Bettencourt
\ngave a performance that was par none. His solos on “Li’l Jack
\nHorny”, “It ‘s AMonster” and “He-Man Woman Hater” were jaw dropping
\nmarvels. Even a staunch Velvet Underground fan would have to fight
\noff the urge to pick up the ol’ air guitar in
\nPornograffitti<\/i>‘s best moments.<\/p>\n
\nPornograffitti<\/i> already ranks up in my top ten “guitar”
\nalbums. What’s truely great though about the album is the
\nharmonies. The lyrics for “When I’m President” are more dated than
\nTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles but the harmony play between
\nBettencourt and Cherone still are hard to resist. For full no-brain
\nfun,
\nPornograffitti<\/i> rarely disappoints.<\/p>\n
Unfortuantely, the ever present power ballad did this band in.
\n“More Than Words”, a beautiful, minimal acoustic number made the
\nband huge, but it only represented about a tenth of what Extreme
\ncould do. Any person who bought the album from hearing “More Than
\nWords” on a soft rock station had to be shocked when the white boy
\nParliament nod “Get the Funk Out” came on. For the band, “More Than
\nWords” is the song that will still get airplay. The rest of the
\nalbum is either too innocent and poppy for the Tool-dominated hard
\nrock stations or from the fact that many radio stations don’t want
\nto acknowledge that cheesy heavy metal were their bread and butter
\nin the late 80s.<\/p>\n
Aside from the funk experimentation, Extreme tried to cover
\nother genres of music in
\nPornograffitti<\/i>, with differing amounts of success. The
\nBeatles influenced “Song For Love” has a nice sing-along appeal to
\nit. Their nod to Sinatra lounge territory, “When I First Kissed
\nYou” fell flat though. Surprisingly though, that song came nearly
\nseven years before the lounge fad broke out. For that weak moment,
\nPornograffitti<\/i> was ahead of its time, savor the irony.<\/p>\n
The rest of the album does show a great deal of age, as with
\nmost heavy metal albums. The Desert Storm flag-waving patriotism of
\n“When I’m President” had me wincing, especially after hearing of
\nall the civilians lost in that war. Cherone also seemed to be
\nsuffering from a inner personality crisis in
\nPornograffitti<\/i>. In the title track, he damns our lustful
\nnature behind a crisp whallup of electric guitars. But “Suzi (Wants
\nHer All Day What?)” sounds like the exact song that Cherone would
\ncondemn.<\/p>\n
Okay, I got a little too analytical with the group there. Like
\ngangsta rap, lyrics take a full back seat for the sound. And few
\nmetal bands had the chops that Extreme possessed. Bassist Pat
\nBadger and drummer Paul Geary were never far behind the spotlight
\nthat Bettencourt and Cherone shined in. And when they all were on
\nthe same level…damn. In “He Man Woman Hater”, probably the finest
\nsong on the album, the chorus will be buzzing in your head like a
\ndouble gin and tonic. “Sooner or later you’ll be a he-man woman
\nhater\/it’s inevitable,” it’s not Voltaire, but its something that
\nyou can’t put out of your head, due to great musicianship.<\/p>\n
\nPornograffitti<\/i> was a mini-concept album, which Extreme would
\nembrace fully with their next release
\nIII Sides To Every Story<\/i>. It’s one of few concept albums
\nthat actually works. Most of the songs deal with sexual lust in one
\nway or another. What makes it work though is the songs are so
\nirresistable, it’s addictive, just as sex is.<\/p>\n
Other metal albums accomplished more than
\nPornograffitti<\/i>. Albums like Metallica’s
\nMaster Of Puppets<\/i>, AC\/DC’s
\nBack In Black<\/i> and even Tool’s
\nAenima<\/i> have elevated heavy metal to new levels. What
\nPornograffitti<\/i> did best though is show heavy metal at its
\nmost appealing and accessible. A pretty boy lead singer, a killer
\nguitarist and harmonies straight out of the Beatles, it’s a
\nformula, though sadly dated, that Extreme had nailed down.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":24496,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5626],"rating":[5612],"class_list":["post-35699","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-extreme","rating-rating-b-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/35699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35699"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/35699\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35699"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=35699"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=35699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}