More Than Words

Extreme were a Boston hard rock band known for Nuno Bettencourt's fast guitar work, so an acoustic duet with no drums was the last thing anyone expected from their 1990 album Pornograffitti. More Than Words became a number one single in America and reached number two in the UK, and it remains the song they are known for. Couples choose it because it is just two voices and one guitar, which means a wedding band or even a friend can perform it, and because the lyric argues that love should be shown rather than spoken. Bettencourt and Gary Cherone wrote it one afternoon on Cherone's porch, and the band came to resent it, at times refusing to play it live.