Watch: Gary Cherone Appears Onstage with Malden High Student

Image cred: Channel7

No disrespect to Malden-bred Gary Cherone - without question, the greatest lead singer Van Halen ever had. But his biggest hit as the frontman of Extreme, ”More Than Words,” came out in 1991. While certainly popular in its day, the ballad lacks the generation-transcending relevance of tracks on the level of “Smells Like Teen Spirit” or “I Want to Be Sedated.”

In other words, most teenagers in 2015 have no idea who Extreme is. They’re too busy flailing around to the dubstep drops of Skrillex and Avicii to study the rawk of the pre-grunge ‘90s.

That’s why it’s surprising that not only does Malden High School’s Nick Hames know “More Than Words,” he liked it enough to perform it at the 2015 Malden High Junior Varieties show. Channel7 reports the event incidentally took place on his birthday, March 6.

Equally surprising: Unbeknownst to Hames, Cherone himself would saunter onstage and turn the young guitarist’s cover into a duet.

Said performance, which certainly does the original justice, can be heard below.