Jimmy Fallon & Jack Black Sound Amazing Together Singing Extreme's "More Than Words"
In 2015, Black and the Tonight Show Host hilariously recreated the music video of the bands '90s hit.
Whether it's "You Spin Me Round" by Dead or Alive or Lionel Richie's "Hello" — if there's one thing Jimmy Fallon loves doing, it's remaking iconic music videos.
In May 2015, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon Host enlisted the multi-talented actor and singer Jack Black to co-star in a shot-for-shot remake of the music video for the 1990 hit, "More Than Words," by Extreme.
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With Black being the voice of larger-than-life characters like Po in Kung Fu Panda and Bowser in The Super Mario Bros. Movie, he usually serves some over-the-top antics when he swings by The Tonight Show — like when he serenaded the audience with his sax-a-boom skills. But chaotic comedic actor dialed it down for this Extreme occasion.
While Fallon's past retro remakes might have featured plenty of props and costumes, the simplicity of the "More Than Words" music video matches the song's vibes. In the recreation, Black and Fallon — as Extreme lead singer Gary Cherone and guitarist Nuno Bettencourt, respectively — wear long wigs and sit on stools next to one another as they belt out the ballad, with Fallon strumming an acoustic guitar.
Black and Fallon's harmonizing, along with the beautiful black-and-white photography, elevates the video from parody to a love letter to a song that defines Gen X.
"This isn't a cover, this is a tribute," says the top-liked comment on the YouTube video of their version, and we have to agree.
RELATED: Jack Black's Legendary Sax-a-Boom Skills Dazzled The Tonight Show Audience
All About "More Than Words" by Extreme
"More Than Words" is a 1990 ballad by the band Extreme, from their second album, Extreme II: Pornograffitti. The acoustic track was sung by Cherone and accompanied on guitar by Bettencourt. It was a number one hit in the U.S., and still remains one of the most iconic songs from the 1990s.
"The song came pretty quick. I was singing and hearing this melody and doing the chord changes," Bettencourt recalled in a March 2024 interview with Music Radar. "I ran into the house and grabbed a little Fostex four-track recorder and threw the song down as quickly as possible.”
When it came to the stripped-down sound, Bettencourt said he "fought for that... I think when we were recording it I thought it would get bigger with strings and drums. It was really tempting, trust me," he continued. "But I think that was probably the best decision I ever made, to keep it as naked as possible. It’s one of those songs that people don’t get too tired of. Maybe the simplicity of it kept it tolerable.”
