Aerosmith gets pretty mad props from a lot of folks, it seems—especially in the Boston area, where I’ve spent a fair chunk of my life—and I guess I can see why.
Sort of.
To me, much of the time Aerosmith sounds a little like a harder rocking Rolling Stones, with louder guitars and a form of swagger that relies less on charisma than on propped-up toughness and occasional shrieking vocals. If, say, Aerosmith could be plotted graphically as the artistic midpoint of the crooked line connecting the richly varied blues rock of the Stones and the puerile rock primitivism of AC/DC, I’d be tempted to say Aerosmith were the lesser band of the three and leave it at that. Sometimes a compromise is the lame way to go.
That said, there are more than a handful of Aerosmith songs that are pretty damned essential. Here’s a healthy taste.
Playlist 1
This covers their ‘70s heyday, starting with a few familiar favorites and then proceeding chronologically for the bulk of the playlist. Good stuff.
Playlist 2
Aerosmith’s collaboration with Run-DMC on the remake of “Walk This Way” was a milestone in the band’s career and in music history. Apparently, neither Aerosmith nor Run-DMC were keen on the idea, but producer Rick Rubin pushed it through, finally breaking rap music into the mainstream for good. Popular music would never be the same again.
As for Aerosmith, the song’s success marked the start of a rebirth after a slump of many years. Very few bands make a comeback as strong as this. Here’s a short playlist of some of their best tracks from the period, starting with the cover that launched their comeback.
Cover Art:
- Get Your Wings: Source, Discogs.com, Fair use.
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