Aerosmith
Aerosmith was one of the most popular hard rock bands of the 70s,
setting the style and sound of American hard rock for the next two
decades with their raunchy, bluesy swagger.
The Boston-based quintet found the middle ground between the menace
of The Rolling Stones and the campy flamboyance of
The New York Dolls,
developing a lean, dirty, riff-oriented boogie that was loose and
swinging and as hard as a diamond. In the meantime, they developed a
prototype for power ballads with their first single Dream On
(1973), a piano ballad that was orchestrated with strings and
distorted guitars.
Aerosmith's ability to pull off both ballads and rock & roll made
them extremely popular during the mid 70s, when they had a string of
gold and platinum albums. Their third album, Toys In The Attic
(1975) was their breakthrough album both commercially and
artistically. By the time it was recorded, the band's sound had
developed into a sleek, hard-driving hard rock, powered by simple,
almost brutal blues-based riffs.
Many critics at the time labeled the band as punk rockers -
Instead of adhering to the pretensions of Led Zeppelin or the gloomy
mysticism of Black Sabbath, Aerosmith stripped heavy rock to its basic
core. Steve Tyler's lyrics were filled with double entendres and
clever jokes, and the entire band had a street-wise charisma that
separated them from the heavy, lumbering arena rockers of the era.
The final single from Toys In The Attic, Walk This
Way was released around the time of their new 1976 album,
Rocks. The album went platinum and peaked at number three. In 1978
the band appeared in the ill-fated movie Sgt Peppers
Lonely Hearts Club Band performing Come
Together which became a Number 23 hit.
By the time the 1979 album Night In The Ruts appeared, Joe
Perry had left the band to form The Joe Perry Project. He was shortly
followed by Brad Whitford. By the early 80s, the group's audience had
declined as the band fell prey to drug and alcohol abuse, with Tyler
collapsing onstage during their 1984 "Back In The Saddle" tour.
However their career was far from over.
In the late 80s. Aerosmith pulled off one of the most remarkable
comebacks in rock history. In 1986, Tyler and Perry (fresh from a
rehabilitation program) appeared on the Run DMC version of Walk
This Way and appeared in the video. The clip received
saturation airplay on MTV and reached Number 4 on the national
charts.
A full-scale comeback album followed (Permanent Vacation)
in 1987, featuring the original Aerosmith line-up. The album resulted
in the hits Rag Doll, Angel and Dude (Looks
Like A Lady). The album reached Number 11 and sold over three million
copies.
Pump, released in 1989 reached number five, sold over four
million copies, and spawned the Top Ten singles Love In An Elevator
and Janie's Got A Gun. The band continued
to record and tour into the 90s and released a number of albums that equaled, if not surpassed, the popularity of their 70s albums.
| The
Band |
Steve Tyler
Vocals
Joe Perry
Guitar
Tom Hamilton
Bass |
Ray Tabano
Guitar
Brad Whitford
Guitar
Joey Kramer
Drums |
Jimmy Crespo
Guitar
Rick Dufay
Guitar |
|
