Hole Hearted – Extreme | Top 40 Chart Performance, Story and Song Meaning
Chart Performance: Pop (#4) & Mainstream Rock (#2); 1991
Story Behind The Song By Ed Osborne
Extreme was getting set to record its third album when A&M Records decided to service More Than Words off Extreme II: Pornograffitti to a handful of radio stations. Listener reaction was immediate and extremely positive: on June 8th, 1991 Words became America’s #1 song.
Four weeks later the Boston boys embarked on their first arena tour, opening for David Lee Roth and Cinderella. Meanwhile, rock radio had latched onto Hole Hearted and moved it into heavy rotation.
Top 40 followed in August and Extreme found themselves with another hit on their hands. For 1992’s III Sides To Every Story, Extreme attempted an updated version of prog-rock.
Radio’s initial response was good as Rest In Peace went to #1 and two other tracks made the Top 10, however, neither crossed over into the mainstream, and III only went gold. Over two years passed before Waiting For The Punchline arrived in 1995. It quickly disappeared from sight, as did Extreme the following year.
This content and all Song Meaning articles were created and written by Top 40 Contributing Editor Ed Osborne. © 2024 Ed Osborne. All Rights Reserved. In addition to these song meaning articles, Ed has written our “Year in Music 1960s-1990s” articles.
Produced by:
- Michael Wagener
Lyrics Written by:
- Nuno Bettencourt
- Gary Cherone
Ed Osborne
Hi. I got my first record at age two and never looked back, spending a decades-long career in radio and the music business. Even after years of reading about and listening to all types of music, I am still fascinated by it. Apart from that, I’m endlessly intrigued by art, nature, and the inner lives of people (and dogs).