FAQ  |  Browse by artist  |  Browse by title  |  Browse by year  |  Other stuff

For some reason this foray into the world of the acoustic always reminds me of Extreme's "More Than Words" – both songs make me think of metallers with long hair sitting on high stools, perhaps one of them waving a token tambourine in self-conscious "unpluggedness". For submitter Charles, Mr Big's effort awakens in him painful memories of having worked in a corporate record store around the time of its release. But he managed to see the song through by listening out for those gear-grinding moments, of which there are two (in addition to a rather uncomfortable chord sequence before the guitar solo).

I think the reason these are so hideously blunt is that there's very little to the song at all – the general idea is over within the first minute or so, the solo isn't particularly inspiring, so there's nothing left to do. You can hear them hesitate with one final moment of doubt ("Are you sure we can get away with this?") and then the gear change is invoked in a peculiarly unsubtle manner. By the second one, there's no hanging around – it's time to get home as quickly as possible.

Still, all this earned them a No 1 hit, so perhaps they had the last laugh. On the other hand, I have a sneaking suspicion that visitors to this site are still laughing many years later...

Listen!