Liner Notes · No. 016
"More Than Words" by Extreme: the B-side
Quick hall pass: a funk-metal band's quietest song became the video everybody wanted to remake: a Weird Al single, a sitcom and a late-night talk show all took a turn. Here's the B-side.
📰 FAST FACTS
- The original recording keeps turning up on TV: IMDb lists it in The Boys (2022, uncredited), Barry (2023) and Paradise (2025), among others. (IMDb)
- On May 1, 2023, Bettencourt played his viral "Rise" solo live for the first time, on the Monsters of Rock cruise. Shredding at sea. Somewhere, a lifeguard covered his ears. (Blabbermouth)
- The band was still putting out videos from Six in November 2025, with "Here's to the Losers." (Rockposer)
On this record
TRACK 1 · The cameo
Weird Al and a sitcom borrowed the video
Weird Al's label wanted a parody, so he parodied the video. In 2009, How I Met Your Mother remade it with Nuno himself.
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The mix-up: In 1992, "Weird Al" Yankovic released "You Don't Love Me Anymore" (June 19, the second single from Off the Deep End). It was an original song, not a parody, but some fans thought it was one anyway. Weird Al writes one straight song and the whole world checks it for jokes. The man has a reputation.
The video: His label insisted on a parody video, so the parody went into the picture instead of the song, and the picture was "More Than Words." Jay Levey directed. Of all the videos to borrow, he picked the most sincere one of 1991. The only thing missing was the headband.
The sitcom: October 12, 2009, How I Met Your Mother recreated the video with Jason Segel and Nuno Bettencourt himself, for a song Nuno's own bio calls "Best Night Ever." Neil Patrick Harris, Cobie Smulders, Alyson Hannigan and Josh Radnor turn up too. An associate producer, Carl MacLaren, said the video "lives in the world of Marshall's brain." So does every 1991 slow dance, apparently.
Now, about who pointed the camera at the original in the first place. Quiz time.
The husband-and-wife team who directed this video went on to make which movie?
No Googling. We'll know. (If you watched the pop-ups, this one's a freebie.)
That's Side A. Flip the tape.
Side B is where it gets weird:
- Live: Wembley 1992 for Freddie Mercury, the 2008 comeback tour and a hometown show in Boston.
- Covers: Westlife, Mina with her daughter, Frankie J, and Jimmy Fallon and Jack Black's shot-for-shot remake.
- Where Extreme are now: a comeback album, Ozzy's farewell show, and 2026 tours with Def Leppard and Mötley Crüe.
Free, every Tuesday. One song, the story you never heard, and a 10-minute hall pass from the doomscroll. Already subscribed? Enter your email to unlock.
▶ SIDE B
TRACK 2 · The live one
Wembley, a comeback and a hometown DVD
Played acoustic at the Freddie Mercury tribute in 1992, then on a comeback tour, a Boston DVD and a 25th-anniversary night in Vegas.
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The tribute: April 20, 1992, Wembley Stadium, the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert, an AIDS-awareness benefit for the Mercury Phoenix Trust. Extreme played a rapid-fire Queen medley. Then Gary Cherone and Nuno Bettencourt sat down with an acoustic guitar for Queen's "Love of My Life," followed by "More Than Words."
The comeback: In 2008, after a 13-year hiatus, Extreme came back with the Take Us Alive world tour, about 75 cities. Thirteen years off. Long enough for the headbands to come back into fashion, then go out again.
The hometown: August 8, 2009, House of Blues, Boston. The show was recorded for the Take Us Alive DVD/CD, with "More Than Words" and "Hole Hearted" in the set. Boston got the two acoustic hits from the funk-metal band. Boston did not complain.
The anniversary: May 30, 2015, The Joint at the Hard Rock Casino in Las Vegas: the band played all of Pornograffitti, front to back. It came out in 2016 as Pornograffitti Live 25: Metal Meltdown. Twenty-five years later, the quiet song still had to share a set with the loud ones.
TRACK 3 · Cover watch
A boy band, an Italian legend and Jack Black
An Italian legend with her daughter, Westlife, Frankie J, and Jack Black's shot-for-shot remake the band called its "new favorite version."
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- 1995 · Mina with Benedetta Mazzini. The Italian legend recorded it with her daughter. The only cover on this list you could play at a family dinner without anyone cringing.
- 1999 · Westlife. The Irish boy band put it on their self-titled debut album. A boy band covering a hair-metal band's ballad: the circle of 90s life.
- 2005 · Frankie J. Released his R&B version as a single. Fourteen years later, the middle-school slow dance got a new soundtrack.
- 2015 · Jimmy Fallon and Jack Black. On The Tonight Show, May 4, a shot-for-shot black-and-white remake of the video, Jack Black as Cherone, Fallon as Bettencourt. Cherone called it "spot-on," and the band called it their "new favorite version." Jack Black's hair finally got the 1991 role it was born for.
- 2019 · Marissa Nadler & Stephen Brodsky. A hushed indie cover, released alongside their take on Phil Collins' "In the Air Tonight." Somehow even quieter than the original. Didn't think that was possible.
▶ WATCH THE CONTENDERS
Battle of the versions: which "More Than Words" wins?
Cast your vote. Results in the next issue. Choose carefully: we're judging you.
TRACK 4 · Where are they now
Where Extreme are now
The 2023 album Six got Nuno Guitar World's best solo of 2023, he led the Ozzy tribute at the VMAs, and a seventh album is being recorded.
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The lineup: Gary Cherone on vocals, Nuno Bettencourt on guitar, Pat Badger on bass, Kevin Figueiredo on drums. Yes, there's a drummer. He's allowed on the other songs.
The album: June 2023 brought Six, their first album in 15 years, on earMUSIC. Guitar World called the solo on the lead single, "Rise," the best of 2023. The guy who made the world's most famous strummed ballad went and won a shredding contest. Range.
The farewell: On July 5, 2025, Bettencourt played in the all-star covers sets at Back to the Beginning, Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath's farewell show in Birmingham. On September 7, 2025, he was music director and guitarist for the Ozzy tribute at the MTV VMAs, with Steven Tyler, Joe Perry and Yungblud. That farewell show is where the Grammy from the pop-ups came from.
The road: In 2026 Extreme were booked to open for Def Leppard on six UK dates in June and July, then to tour the US with Mötley Crüe on The Return of the Carnival of Sins tour, which ran through September 26 in Ridgefield, Washington. Next up, booked: South America with Def Leppard, Bogotá on October 30, Buenos Aires on November 5, Santiago on November 8. The 80s called. It wants its tour poster back.
The next one: In May 2026, Bettencourt said the seventh album is being recorded, with about 20 songs to choose from. No word yet on whether any of them come without drums.
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