"More Than Words" is a ballad written and originally performed by American rock band Extreme. It is built around acoustic guitar work by Nuno Bettencourt and the vocals of Gary Cherone (with harmony vocals from Bettencourt). Released in 1990 on the album Pornograffitti, the song is a detour from the funk metal style that permeates the band's records. As such, it has often been described as "a blessing and a curse" due to its overwhelming success and recognition worldwide, but the band ultimately embraced it and plays it on every show.
The song was described by Bettencourt as a song warning that the phrase "I love you" 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.'"
The song's music video was filmed in black and white and was produced and directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris.
CD maxi
- "More Than Words" — 5:33
- "Kid Ego" — 4:04
- "Nice Place to Visit" — 3:16
7" single
- "More Than Words (Remix)" — 3:43
- "Nice Place to Visit" — 3:16
On March 23, 1991, "More Than Words" entered the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 at number 81 and soon after reached number one. It also reached number two in the United Kingdom, where the group had success before its American breakthrough. Though they had made a few European charts before, this brought the band to their first mainstream success in the United States.
Extreme followed "More Than Words" with another acoustic ballad, "Hole Hearted", which peaked at number four in the United States and number three in Canada.
Irish boyband Westlife covered the song for their 1999 debut-album Westlife and released as promotional single in their Venezuelan only compilation album Grandes Exitos (2002), peaking at #3 on the Venezuelan singles chart. The single featured exclusive remixes of three of the group's biggest hits.
Venezuela
- "More Than Words"
- "I Lay My Love on You" (Single Remix)
- "World of Our Own" (Single Remix)
- "Uptown Girl" (Radio Edit)
Tony Lucca and JC Chasez in 1991, performed the song on the album Mickey Mouse Club.
"More Than Words" was a favorite song of Hispanic singer and actress Selena Quintanilla Perez. When she was murdered in 1995, the band played and dedicated the song at a Selena Perez tribute.
Italian singer Mina made a cover in duet with her daughter Benedetta Mazzini in 1995.
Flip Da Scrip in 1997 sampled the song in their 1997 single "I Never Told You".
BBMak in 1999-2000, on their first album, released in Asia in 1999, and as a B-side in 1999 for the UK "Back Here" single.
David Cassidy in 2003 for the album A Touch of Blue.
Naturally 7 in 2003 a cappella for the album What is It?.
Owen in 2004, as a Japanese bonus track on his album I Do Perceive.
Frankie J in 2005, as the third single from his album The One.
mink, a Japanese-Korean singer, did a bossa nova version on her first album mink ~prologue~.
Aloha Sex Juice performed in Hawaiian in the 2008 film Forgetting Sarah Marshall.
"The Gang" from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia sang the last verse in a capella while taking shots in their South Philly bar in the season two episode, "The Gang Goes Jihad".
Ruben Studdard covered the song on his 2009 album, Love Is.
Mike Kinsella of Owen has performed covers of the song live, with versions appearing on the Japanese import of I Do Perceive and on The Seaside EP in 2009.
Walters & Kazha performed it in 2005 as a live performance.
Serbian singer and participant of reality/talent show Operacija trijumf, Vukašin Brajić, has sung this song twice at the show's gala evenings.
Varsity Fanclub posted a cover on their YouTube channel.
Brazilian singer Ivete Sangalo covered the song at her show in Rock in Rio IV in September 30, 2011.
Performed in the Broadway musical Rock of Ages.
Performed by Julianne Hough and combined with Heaven by Warrant in the 2012 film Rock of Ages.
Glee, an American TV series, covered the song in fourth season episode "Shooting Star". The cover is performed by Heather Morris and Chord Overstreet.
Pablo Alboran, Spanish singer and songwriter, has covered the song in live concerts. His videos are available on YouTube.
Soul singer Algebra Blessett covered the song in a duet version with musician Eric Roberson in 2013.
On the Norwegian drama series Skam, actress Josephine Frida Pettersen performed the song in the episode "Er det noe du skjuler for oss?" with guitar accompaniment as her character, Noora Amalie Sætre.
The video for "More Than Words" was parodied by "Weird Al" Yankovic for his original song, "You Don't Love Me Anymore".
The comedic duo Paul and Storm produced an original pastiche of the song entitled "More Than Two" on their album Gumbo Pants.
Amateur Transplants wrote a comedic song to the same tune as "More Than Words" entitled "Northern Birds", which was released on their 2006 album "We Are So Bad".
The video was parodied by Jason Segel and the cast of How I Met Your Mother in an online tie-in music video on the episode "The Sexless Innkeeper".
An Indian styled version of the song and video featuring a sitar was parodied by Mike Myers and Manu Narayan in Mike's 2008 film The Love Guru.
ApologetiX parody of the song asserts the Christian proposition that one cannot earn salvation with "More than Works".
ZDoggMD has performed a parody-PSA version about HPV and HPV vaccination, entitled "More Than Warts".
American parody glam metal band Steel Panther recorded a song called "Girl from Oklahoma" as a sexually explicit ballad, which is based on the same structure and harmony of "More than Words". This was released in 2009 on their debut album Feel the Steel.
On May 4, 2015, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon covered the song and video with Fallon and Jack Black.
