21 Days to Find a Home
Spin magazine (probably Chuck Klosterman) has my favorite quote about Aerosmith's Rocks, which I'll paraphrase here: They'd one day get their own roller coaster at Disney World, but on Rocks Aerosmith were their own roller coaster.
It doesn't have as many hits as Toys in the Attic or Pump, but Rocks is their best album, Aerosmith at their wildest, loudest and hardest (hell, even Testament couldn't make "Nobody's Fault" sound heavier). After "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing," it's easy to forget that Aerosmith made an album that inspired Slash, James Hetfield and Kurt Cobain to pick up guitars, but with one to Rocks I wonder why anyone remembers "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" at all. It's the only Aersomith album to have only one power ballad, and like everything else on Rocks it's a doozy, with vocal harmonies that deserve the Mick and Keith comparisons and one of Joe Perry's most transcendent solos. Listening again, I can't blame them for going soft after Rocks--how were they ever going to top this?
Showing posts with label joe perry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label joe perry. Show all posts
Thursday, April 9, 2015
Monday, December 15, 2014
What Your Least Favorite Aerosmith Album Says About You
Surely it's not this one.
Aerosmith: You're a Stones purist.
Get Your Wings: You're a Yardbirds purist.
Toys in the Attic: You're a Bull Moose Jackson purist.
Rocks: Your favorite song is "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing."
Draw the Line: You're straight edge.
Night in the Ruts: You're Joe Perry.
Rock in a Hard Place: You're Brad Whitford.
Done with Mirrors: You learned about Aerosmith from Run-DMC.
Permanent Vacation: You hate Bon Jovi.
Pump: Come on. You don't mean that.
Get a Grip: Your offspring bought this record.
Nine Lives: Your favorite album is Get a Grip.
Just Push Play: You learned about Aerosmith from Wayne's World 2.
Honkin' on Bobo: You learned about Aerosmith from American Idol.
Music from Another Dimension!: You've listened to every Aerosmith album.
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
G N' R Lies: "Mama Kin"
If we're counting Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide as GNR's debut, "Mama Kin" appears on two of the world's most beloved hard rock bands' first albums.
From Aerosmith, 1973:
From Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide, 1986:
After Rose Tattoo, Aerosmith was the second band that Guns N' Roses honored and obliterated by covering them on Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide. This time, it wasn't chops or charisma that gave GNR the distinct advantage, two things that Aerosmith has in droves. It was mainly something that that Aerosmith had that GNR didn't--a saxophone.
The saxophone may be the most polarizing instrument in all of rock n' roll, abhorrent in nearly every instance yet transcendent on Kid A, Cure for Pain and Bill Clinton's Arsenio Hall Show appearance. The A.V. Club and WNYC's Soundcheck have explored the sax's influence with simultaneous awe and scorn. For every Rolling Stones song with Sonny Rollins, there seem to be a thousand Kenny Gs. Aerosmith is one of the only rock bands that can make a saxophone work, and their "Mama Kin" is competent. But nobody listens to rock music for competence. "Competent" would be The Silver Bullet band, whom Aerosmith sound most like on "Mama Kin."
On Lies, "Mama Kin" comes right after "Move to the City," a GNR staple with gritty lyrics, a menacing progression, and yes--a saxophone. In that context, I like "Mama Kin" even more, knowing that Guns N' Roses had access to a saxophone and chose not to use it.
Joe Perry, whose band was taking Guns N' Roses out on tour the year that Lies was released, may have noticed. "I heard a lot of Aerosmith in them, which meant I also heard a lot of bands that came before us," Perry noted in Rolling Stone. "And I remember being a little jealous, because they were really hitting the nail on the head."
From Aerosmith, 1973:
From Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide, 1986:
After Rose Tattoo, Aerosmith was the second band that Guns N' Roses honored and obliterated by covering them on Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide. This time, it wasn't chops or charisma that gave GNR the distinct advantage, two things that Aerosmith has in droves. It was mainly something that that Aerosmith had that GNR didn't--a saxophone.
The saxophone may be the most polarizing instrument in all of rock n' roll, abhorrent in nearly every instance yet transcendent on Kid A, Cure for Pain and Bill Clinton's Arsenio Hall Show appearance. The A.V. Club and WNYC's Soundcheck have explored the sax's influence with simultaneous awe and scorn. For every Rolling Stones song with Sonny Rollins, there seem to be a thousand Kenny Gs. Aerosmith is one of the only rock bands that can make a saxophone work, and their "Mama Kin" is competent. But nobody listens to rock music for competence. "Competent" would be The Silver Bullet band, whom Aerosmith sound most like on "Mama Kin."
On Lies, "Mama Kin" comes right after "Move to the City," a GNR staple with gritty lyrics, a menacing progression, and yes--a saxophone. In that context, I like "Mama Kin" even more, knowing that Guns N' Roses had access to a saxophone and chose not to use it.
Joe Perry, whose band was taking Guns N' Roses out on tour the year that Lies was released, may have noticed. "I heard a lot of Aerosmith in them, which meant I also heard a lot of bands that came before us," Perry noted in Rolling Stone. "And I remember being a little jealous, because they were really hitting the nail on the head."
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Song of the Day: The Melvins, "Goin' Blind"
Steven Tyler had a great idea this week. Sensing the need to promote a terrible new album and distance himself from the self-parodic, cartoonish image he's earned over the past 20 years, he took care of both causing by going on the radio and insulting KISS.
"KISS is a comic book rock band and they got a couple hits but they're more of a comic book. You see them in their spackled faces," said the former American Idol judge. "It is different: a KISS lick, a Joe Perry lick--two different worlds, and sometimes depending on the time of day get offended. I hear that and I go, 'Yeah, that's alright. Do they really mean it? And what's this all about?'"
Anyone who's been lucky enough to hear Rocks and unfortunate enough to suffer through Just Push Play can tell what he's doing. But for better and worse, he's right. KISS is a comic book band. Still, once upon a time, KISS were a colorful, multi-dimensional, auditory comic books series.
On Hotter than Hell, KISS' second album, they were still figuring out how weird they could be if their ultimate goal was world domination. Thus, they were still brave enough to write and record "Goin' Blind," a plodding depiction of an old man despairingly ending his affair with a young girl. "I'm 93, you're 16/Can't you see I'm going blind?" howls Gene Simmons. Within months, the band sensed that kids would rather get down to "Rock and Roll All Nite," and stopped playing "Goin' Blind."
20 years later, an uncompromising sludge-metal band got a deal with Atlantic Records on Kurt Cobain's behest. The result was Houdini, which included a cover of "Goin' Blind."
The Melvins' version of "Goin' Blind" is darker and more ingratiating than KISS'. King Buzzo and Dale Crover's performances embrace the bizarre elements of the original without any conflicts of trying to be the world's biggest band. But I also like hearing how KISS at their weirdest still sound downright catchy in the hands of the Melvins. A bleak reboot of the original comic book band.
"KISS is a comic book rock band and they got a couple hits but they're more of a comic book. You see them in their spackled faces," said the former American Idol judge. "It is different: a KISS lick, a Joe Perry lick--two different worlds, and sometimes depending on the time of day get offended. I hear that and I go, 'Yeah, that's alright. Do they really mean it? And what's this all about?'"
Anyone who's been lucky enough to hear Rocks and unfortunate enough to suffer through Just Push Play can tell what he's doing. But for better and worse, he's right. KISS is a comic book band. Still, once upon a time, KISS were a colorful, multi-dimensional, auditory comic books series.
On Hotter than Hell, KISS' second album, they were still figuring out how weird they could be if their ultimate goal was world domination. Thus, they were still brave enough to write and record "Goin' Blind," a plodding depiction of an old man despairingly ending his affair with a young girl. "I'm 93, you're 16/Can't you see I'm going blind?" howls Gene Simmons. Within months, the band sensed that kids would rather get down to "Rock and Roll All Nite," and stopped playing "Goin' Blind."
20 years later, an uncompromising sludge-metal band got a deal with Atlantic Records on Kurt Cobain's behest. The result was Houdini, which included a cover of "Goin' Blind."
The Melvins' version of "Goin' Blind" is darker and more ingratiating than KISS'. King Buzzo and Dale Crover's performances embrace the bizarre elements of the original without any conflicts of trying to be the world's biggest band. But I also like hearing how KISS at their weirdest still sound downright catchy in the hands of the Melvins. A bleak reboot of the original comic book band.
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