Pornograffitti

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This article is about album by Extreme. For the Japanese rock band, see Porno Graffitti.

Professional reviews
Extreme II: Pornograffitti

Studio album by Extreme
Released	August 7, 1990
Recorded	Early 1990
Genre	Funk/Rock
Length	64:25
Label	A&M Records
Producer(s)	Michael Wagener
All Music Guide link
Extreme chronology
Extreme (1989)	Pornograffitti (1990)	III Sides to Every Story (1992)

Pornograffitti (also titled as Extreme II: Pornograffitti) was the second and most successful album released by Boston funk-metal band Extreme. The name is a portmanteau of pornography and graffitti (sic).

The record included the band's best known singles "More than Words" and "Hole Hearted", the only two songs which received significant commercial radio airplay.

1 Musical style
2 Production and marketing
3 Concept
4 Track listing
5 External links

[edit] Musical style

"More than Words", a gentle acoustic ballad, and "Hole Hearted", an acoustic folk song, were perhaps the least representative tracks on the album, both in terms of their musical style and thematic tone.

Musically, Pornograffitti is dominated by muscular metal guitar riffs, often with funky, syncopated timing, and incendiary, high-speed metal solos. Indeed, the record was above all a showcase for the extraordinary technical guitar-playing prowess of Portuguese-born guitarist Nuno Bettencourt. The record revealed Bettencourt was a "rising star" in the world of rock guitar, providing him with widespread admiration from rock guitar enthusiasts and continual exposure in guitar playing publications such as Guitar World and Guitar School.

[edit] Production and marketing

Pornograffitti was recorded and mixed at Scream Studios, Studio City, Los Angeles, California with producer Michael Wagener.

[edit] Concept

Thematically, Pornograffitti may be loosely described as a concept album. It follows the path of young boy "Francis" as he wanders through a decadent and corrupt society. Along the way he is faced with materialism ("Decadence Dance"), promiscuity and teenage pregnancy ("L'il Jack Horny"), political dishonesty ("When I'm President"), avarice ("Money"), addiction ("It's a Monster"), pornography and the ubiquitous use of sex as a tool of the media ("Pornograffitti") and misogyny ("He-Man Woman Hater").

Despite the apparently moralistic values behind these themes, the album retains a sense of humour and irony throughout.