FSOTD #16/More Than Words (1991)

FSOTD #16 opens a new frontier in the musings that are "first song of the day." Today's true first song ("Act Naturally") was also yesterday's first song, something I knew was just bound to happen. It did. So here's the new rule for that: Whenever there's a duplicate, I will pick a "featured song of the day," whatever song strikes me, for whatever reason.

Today's featured song (FSOTD #16) is "More Than Words" by Extreme. Perhaps you remember the song. It was a 1991 #1 hit and is featured in umpteen collections. Maybe you've seen a clip of the two singers with their beautiful harmonies and hair on some TV spot for "90's Nuggets" or some such. Their names are Nuno Bettencourt and Gary Cherone. They are not the only members of this band, whose second album Extreme II: Pornograffiti contained this mega-hit. Their Wiki article also describes this as a departure from their funk-metal sound, which goes a long way in explaining the seeming contradiction between the simplicity of this beautiful acoustic romantic ballad and the name of the band: Extreme. Anything but.

So why this song? Well, as I picked up a magazine for some morning reading, there - written on the back cover - was More Than Words/Extreme. Call it fate. Call it convenience. Call it FSOTD #16.