To the Extreme: A Retrospective of the Rock Band, Extreme

The roots of the rock band, Extreme, can be traced back to 1983, in Boston, when guitarist Nuno Bettencourt first met singer Gary Cherone in Cherone's band, The Dream, which Cherone shared with drummer Paul Geary. Overcoming a bumpy start, Bettencourt would eventually leave his band, Sinful, two years later to join The Dream, which had changed its name to Extreme in the interim.

Within the first few rehearsals, Bettencourt's playing clearly overshadowed the band's other guitarist, Peter Hunt. In a mutual, and not-so-amicable decision, Hunt and Extreme parted ways.

Just over a year later, in October of 1986, bassist Pat Badger joined Extreme, replacing Paul Mangone. With a solid lineup in place, Extreme rolled through Boston like an eight-legged rock-and-roll wrecking crew. In just over a year Extreme won the "Outstanding Hard Rock Act" award in the first annual Boston Music Awards, won an MTV video contest, and signed with A&M Records.

In March of 1989, Extreme released their self-title debut album, Extreme, to wonderful reviews and a very respectable sales total of 300,000 copies. Though Extreme only made it as high as #80 on the Billboard music charts, the band toured North America and Japan supporting the singles, "Kid Ego", "Little Girls", and"Mutha (Don't Wanna Go To School Today)". IT wasn't long, however, before Bettencourt's guitar playing caught the attention of guitar magazines the around the world, creating a major buzz for the band.

Coming off of decent success of their first album, Extreme released Pornograffitti in September of 1990, with the first single being "Decadence Dance". The response was underwhelming as it got very little radio play or time in the MTV rotation. The same went for the second single, the party anthem, "Get the Funk Out". Despite the bands solid rhythm section and Cherone's better-than-most voice, it was Bettencourt's guitar playing, and the recognition it received in guitar-based publications, that kept the band afloat.