Aside from the obvious Queen-ness of the whole thing, I was referring to an old song with an identical hook called ... You're A Star. PDT_008 When I heard the opening chorus, I smiled -- Extreme is great at doing stuff like this, and unless you are music-saavy, you will miss a lot of the allusions in their songs, not unlike Queen (whom they have always imitated).
I think that the song is great; it's certainly head and shoulders above any of the new singles appearing on Rock Band, the radio, or my son's iPod over the past year. (My Chemical Romance notwithstanding)
A lot of metallers disliked the slower stuff on III. I don't mind it. I certainly think Stop the World (Another Broadway/Tin Pan Alley reference, by the way) is a much better-constructed song than Rock A Bye Bye.
Interesting stuff, Ben, I'm not familiar with the Tin Pan Alley/Vaudeville songs you mentioned... maybe they're not so well known this side of the pond? (or maybe I'm just an idiot...)
I know I'm repeating myself, but I never liked the more lightweight/theatrical side of Extreme's sound. Queen always managed to pull off the campery in glorious fashion, but with Extreme I just find it twee and irritating. Maybe because Freddie Mercury had so much personality and charisma but Gary Cherone... doesn't. :|
And as for straightforward pop material, I think Nuno has done it better in his more recent projects than he ever did with Extreme.
