"More Than Words" is a song by American

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

band Extreme. It is an

acoustic rock Acoustic music is music that solely or primarily uses instruments that produce sound through acoustic means, as opposed to electric or electronic means. While all music was once acoustic, the retronym "acoustic music" appeared after the ad ...

ballad featuring guitar work by

Nuno Bettencourt Nuno Duarte Gil Mendes Bettencourt (born September 20, 1966) is a Portuguese-American guitarist. He became known as the lead guitarist of the Boston rock band Extreme. Bettencourt has recorded a solo album and has founded rock bands including ...

and the vocals of

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 (band), Extreme and Van Halen. Early life Cherone grew up in Ma ...

(with harmony vocals from Bettencourt). They both wrote the song, which was produced by

Michael Wagener Michael Wagener (born 25 April 1949) is a German retired record producer, mixer and engineer from Hamburg, best known for his work with many popular American hard rock and heavy metal music, heavy metal bands in the late 1980s. He is particularly ...

and represented a departure from the band's usual funk metal style. "More Than Words" was released as the third single from Extreme's second album, ''

Pornograffitti ''Extreme II: Pornograffitti'' (also known as simply ''Pornograffitti'') is the second studio album by the heavy metal music, heavy metal band Extreme (band), Extreme, released on August 7, 1990, through A&M Records. The album title is a portm ...

'' (1990), on March 12, 1991, by

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. In the United States, it topped the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart and was certified gold by the

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(RIAA). It additionally topped the charts of Belgium, Canada, the Netherlands, and New Zealand, and it entered the top 10 in 10 other countries. The music video for the song was directed by

Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris Jonathan Dayton (born July 7, 1957) and Valerie Faris (born October 20, 1958) are a duo of American directors and producers for films and music videos. They started their career directing videos for such artists as Red Hot Chili Peppers, R.E.M. ...

Content

The song is an acoustic ballad in which the singer wants his lover to do more than simply saying "I love you" to demonstrate her love for him. Bettencourt described it as a warning that the phrase was becoming meaningless: "People use it so easily and so lightly that they think you can say that and fix everything, or you can say that and everything's OK. Sometimes you have to do more and you have to show it—there's other ways to say 'I love you'".

Release

The band fought with their record company to get "More Than Words" released as a single. At one point, Bettencourt even quit the band over the issue. In 2016, Bettencourt told ''Billboard'': "'Our label at the time &M Recordsdidn't want to release "More Than Words" as a single because there was nothing on the radio like that at the time. The label said, "Who's going to play it?" Everybody was doing big power ballads at the time, and this was more like an

Everly Brothers The Everly Brothers were an American rock duo, known for steel-string acoustic guitar playing and close-harmony singing. Consisting of Isaac Donald "Don" Everly and Phillip "Phil" Everly, the duo combined elements of rock and roll, country, an ...

Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

track. But we fought for it'". "That song gave us the freedom to make the record we really wanted to make when we started recording our third disc," Cherone told

KNAC KBUE (105.5 FM, "Que Buena 105.5/94.3 FM") is a commercial radio station licensed to Long Beach, California, that serves the Los Angeles metropolitan area. It is owned by Estrella Media and airs a Regional Mexican radio format. Studios an ...

. "It got us doing huge tours all over the states and around the world... As the nineties went on, however, we really started to resent the song. We were tagged 'the More Than Words guys'. We didn't like the perception the song created about the band. I remember being on tour with

Aerosmith Aerosmith is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Boston in 1970. The group consists of lead vocalist Steven Tyler, bassist Tom Hamilton (musician), Tom Hamilton, drummer Joey Kramer, and guitarists Joe Perry (musician), Joe Perry and B ...

in Poland... it was on that tour we decided we would not play the song. We just didn't do it. A couple nights into the tour,

Steven Tyler Steven Victor Tallarico (born March 26, 1948), known professionally as Steven Tyler, is an American singer and songwriter. Tyler is best known as the lead singer of the Boston-based rock band Aerosmith, in which he also plays the keyboards, h ...

writes in big letters on our dressing room door, 'Play the fucking song!' His attitude was almost father-like. He was like, 'Look, this is your first time in Poland. When do you think you will be back? They want to hear it, so play it!'"

Critical reception

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

editor William Ruhlmann noted that on the song, the band pursued "acoustic balladry". Kira L. Billik from ''

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

'' described "More Than Words" as a "sweet, pure acoustic

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Great Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century. They were widely used across Eur ...

", "whose message is that the words 'I love you' are becoming meaningless". The song was also labeled as a "nontraditional love song".

Larry Flick Larry Flick is an American journalist, former dance music columnist, single reviewer, and Senior Talent Editor for ''Billboard'' magazine, where he worked for 14 years. Now he produces and hosts Sirius XM radio shows. Flick started in the musi ...

from ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' felt that this "tender, sparsely produced

/love ballad proves that sometimes less really is more. The spotlight here is on the band's striking vocal harmonies, as well as its shimmering acoustic guitar work". The Daily Vault's Sean McCarthy called it a "beautiful, minimal acoustic number

hat A hat is a Headgear, head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorpor ...

made the band huge" and concluded that "for the band, 'More Than Words' is the song that will still get airplay." Diane Cardwell from ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...

'' called it "a simple, almost folkie ballad using just two voices and a single acoustic guitar." Kirsten Frickle from ''El Paisano'' described it as an "all-acoustic ballad that is so beautiful it will make your hair stand on end". Pan-European magazine ''

Music & Media ''Music & Media'' was a pan-European magazine for radio, music and entertainment. It was published for the first time in 1984 as ''Eurotipsheet'', but in 1986 it changed name to ''Music & Media''. It was originally based in Amsterdam, but later m ...

'' labeled the song as "folky" and "a calming piece of music, aptly produced by

." They added, "It shows the band from a totally different angle. And it must be said, they handle this ballad extremely well." Alan Jones from ''

Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as ''Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music We ...

'' named it Pick of the Week, remarking that it is "a subdued, lilting acoustic workout that suggests nothing more than

Simon & Garfunkel Simon & Garfunkel were an American folk rock duo comprising the singer-songwriter Paul Simon and the singer Art Garfunkel. They were one of the best-selling music acts of the 1960s. Their most famous recordings include three US number-one sing ...

in its more angelic passages." Carrie Borzillo from '' Record-Journal'' called it an "

-style" song. A reviewer from ''Sandwell Evening Mail'' wrote, "If ever a song could be unrepresentative of a band's output, Extreme's worldwide smash hit ballad 'More Than Words' is it." Marc Andrews from ''

Smash Hits ''Smash Hits'' was a British music magazine aimed at young adults, originally published by EMAP. It ran from 1978 to 2006, and, after initially appearing monthly, was issued fortnightly during most of that time. The name survived as a brand ...

'' found it "eye-moistening". Tom Nordlie from ''

Spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spin (physics) or particle spin, a fundamental property of elementary particles * Spin quantum number, a number which defines the value of a particle's spin * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thr ...

'' viewed it as "a love ballad that sounds like the Everly Brothers or early

." He added, "Singer

harmonizes with himself as guitar-friend

strums clean, jazzy chord accompaniment, and that's it. No sudden escalation to bombast in the middle, no reneging on the song's original promise." Chad Bowar writing for LiveAbout placed the song on his list of the "Best 20 Hair Metal Ballads of the '80s and '90s".

Chart performance

On March 23, 1991, "More Than Words" entered the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 at number 81 and soon after reached number one. It also reached number two in the United Kingdom and reached number one in four other countries.

Music video

The song's music video was filmed in black and white and was produced and directed by American film and music video directors

. It starts with

Pat Badger Patrick John Badger (born July 22, 1967) is a musician, singer, and songwriter, best known as the bass guitarist in the band Extreme. He has also performed in groups such as Tribe of Judah and Dark Desert Eagles. Early life Badger was born in ...

turning off his amplifier and putting down his bass, and

Paul Geary Paul Geary (born July 24, 1961) is an American drummer and artist manager. He was co-founder and drummer of the rock band Extreme, which he left in 1994 to pursue a career in artist management. Geary founded Global Artist Management in Bosto ...

putting down his drumsticks. Nuno and Gary are then seen performing the song, while the other band members are shown in front of them, holding up their

lighters A lighter is a portable device which uses mechanical or electrical means to create a controlled flame, and can be used to ignite a variety of flammable items, such as cigarettes, butane gas, fireworks, candles, or campfires. A lighter typica ...

. In the video's music rendition, the song ends abruptly before Nuno's final solo and coda.

Track listings

* CD maxi # "More Than Words" — 5:33 # "Kid Ego" — 4:04 # "Nice Place to Visit" — 3:16 * 7-inch single # "More Than Words" (Remix) — 3:43 # "Nice Place to Visit" — 3:16

Content

Release

Critical reception

Chart performance

Music video

Track listings

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

Further reading