Anyone who loves the rock has to have asked themselves this question at some point or another. You're sitting around the house listening to Toys in the Attic and you say to yourself, "What the hell happened to Aerosmith?" I mean, how can a band bring this much rock and then turn into one of the most craptastic bands on the planet?. These guys are legitimately referred to by many as "America's Greatest Rock n' Roll Band", yet in the past fifteen years they've hit us with some of the most heinous recording in the history of music. "Cryin'", "I Don't Wanna Miss a Thing", and "Pink"? Are fucking kidding me?
To paraphrase Gram Parsons, it's so sad to see good rock go bad. How does something like this happen? In order to figure it out we must first take a look at Aerosmith's career and see that they truly did rock in the first place. Was it just a fluke that they put out great rock for a decade? Did they just get lucky? Were they just a product of their times? My goal is to show that there was one factor that was there when Aerosmith rocked and was gone when they stopped rocking. Drugs.
The story of Aerosmith begins like many bands. They met, decided they wanted to rock, got together and rocked. It's that simple. That's how it always starts. What makes the story of Aerosmith interesting is that they actually were really good. They got signed to Columbia records and in 1973 released their self-titled debut album.
Aerosmith opens with "Make it" and never really slows down other than "Dream On". "Mama Kin", "Write Me a Letter", and "Movin' Out" are all classics, and the cover of "Walkin' the Dog" to close the album is pure genius. "Dream On" was released as a single and originally peaked at #59. Not great, but rock legends are not made overnight. It was a start. The band went out on the road, did drugs, wrote songs, and built a fan base.
In 1974, Aerosmith released their second album Get Your Wings, which features the stand out tracks "Same Old Song and Dance", "Lord of the Thighs", and "Train Kept A-Rollin'". This album also sees producer Jack Douglas come into the fold. The album sold well. They had a couple of songs on the radio. They were gaining in popularity and then...
Toys in the Attic was released on April 8, 1975. Rarely in history has so much rock been put onto a piece of vinyl. Rolling Stone put this album in at number 228 on their list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. This is the point in my life when I began to question Rolling Stone. Are you trying to tell me there are 227 better albums than this? Not if you like to rawk. The damn thing kicks off with "Toys in the Attic" for Christ sake. Hell, if that song was released on it's own it cracks the top 200. But it doesn't stop there, it's got "Sweet Emotion", "Walk this Way", "No More No More", "Big Ten Inch Record" and "Round and Round". This isn't a greatest hits album folks, it's an actual album. 228? Give me a damn break.
Anyway, Toys in the Attic established Aerosmith as one of the preeminent rock bands of their time. People actually mentioned them in the same breath as Led Zeppelin. Seriously. It happened. That's how good they were. Hell, Randall "Pink" Floyd said in Dazed and Confused that seeing Aerosmith was the social event of the season.
Given the greatness that is Toys in the Attic you would think that the boys were primed for a stinker. Well, barely a year later Aerosmith released Rocks, which Rolling Stone thinks is better (#176). I would argue with that, but it is without a doubt another classic. It starts out with "Back in the Saddle", which has to be one of the best album openers ever, and goes right into "Last Child", which has to be one of the funkiest songs a bunch of crackers from New England ever wrote.
Aerosmith followed up Rocks with Draw the Line and the decline had begun. Personally, I think the album has it's moments, but you can tell that the constant touring, drug use, and putting out five albums in five years was wearing on the boys. "Draw the Line" is a classic track, along with "King and Queens" and "I Wanna Know Why", but the album does not hold up compared to the previous efforts.
Not wanting to mess with a good thing, the boys soldiered on. The toured for Draw the Line and followed that up with the, quite frankly, terrible album Night in the Ruts. Joe Perry left the band in the middle of the recording of the album and it was also the first album since Get Your Wings that was not produced by Jack Douglas.
And here is where it happens. This is the moment when great rock bands die. What does Aerosmith do? Well, first they keep the train going. The replace Joe Perry and Brad Whitford with some chumps and release Rock in a Hard Place. At some point the get back together and release Done With Mirrors (although, ironically, they weren't.) And then it happens...
Tim Collins, the band's manager, tells the boys that he can make them the biggest band in the world if they all go through the dreaded rehab. And the rock died that day. Notice how they weren't told, "You guys will rock again, if you go to rehab." No, no one could make that promise. They were told they would be "biggest band in the world"; and, in turn, make a lot of cash.
When I was talking about Draw the Line, I mentioned that the band had been touring, recording, and doing drugs nonstop for about six years. Why is it that drugs are the first thing everyone attacks? Maybe people aren't meant to be on tour or in a studio for six straight years? Did anyone think of that?
No. They go to rehab and make a "comeback". I put comeback in quotes because we all know that the real Aerosmith will never comeback. Those guys died at some point during the recording of Night in the Ruts and they never returned.
We all know what happens next. They release Permanent Vacation which includes "Angel" and Aerosmith would never be the same. They subsequently release albums with tunes like "Janie's Got a Gun", "What it Takes", and the sucktastic trio on Get a Grip: "Cryin", "Crazy" and "Amazing". Seriously, all three of those songs were on the same freakin' album. I have to believe Joe Perry punches himself in the face while these guys are in the studio. How does this happen?
I'll tell you how... they stopped doing drugs. There is no other explanation. Did they keep touring? Yes. Did they keep recording? Yes. The only thing they stopped doing was drugs and now they suck. Ask yourself this, would someone who was high on coke record "I Don't Wanna to Miss a Thing"? That would never happen. I don't even know if it would be physically possible.
So, thank you, Tim Collins, for fucking up "America's Greatest Rock n' Roll Band." Thanks, from all of us who love the rawk. There is a special place in hell for people like you.
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7 comments:
Good stuff.
Don't want to have to start a new blog for this question but is it viable to apply the same hypothesis (that rehab or lack of drugs contributed to the absence of rock) to The Stones? I'm pretty sure Keith is still doing something illegal (or maybe he's not?) and their immediate past albums have been less than par (or worse).
I dare then ask, when, where and why did The Stones rock die?
Or should we not generalize? Should we just apply the "no-drugs" theory exclusively with Aerosmith?
As a side note, there were some hot chicks in the elevator for the 80's video "Lovin' In The Elevator." Bad song, hot chicks. Had to throw that in there.
The Stones will be covered at a later date.
For now keep your comments to editing the current post.
We will then defer the Stones to a later date.
Steven Tyler didn't actually complete rehab until 1986. This is the key moment as far as the beginning of "no drugs allowed" in the band.
Draw The Line, Night In The Ruts and Done With Mirrors were recorded before any rehab took place and these are lesser albums than Toys and Rocks (as Evil has pointed out). Evil states, "...the constant touring, drug use, and putting out five albums in five years was wearing on the boys." I agree but...
Could too much "drug use" have been just has harmful to Draw The Line and Night In The Ruts as the absence of drugs and influence of Tim Collins in writing/recording of the "crap" albums starting in the late 80's up to now?
Nights has an excuse because Perry left, but even in their prime, Draw The Line represents the first outward mark of a decline in their music and there was no rehab talk or Collins to influence the failures of that album. On a side note, Mirrors saw the return of Perry and it still didn't make any noise, other than maybe "Let The Music Do The Talking" which was a spin off of a song Perry had done in the 5 years he was not with Aerosmith.
Sounds like to me after the release of a "not as successful (compared to Toys and Rocks)" Draw The Line, the boys could have gone in one of 2 directions:
first, they could have said, "Shit. This album wasn't as good as Rocks and Toys...let's do more drugs, screw more girls, do whatever we did to create Toys and Rocks so we can make an album that will blow Toys and Rocks away."
second, they could have said, "Fuck the critics. Let's do more drugs, screw more girls, and release what we can and keep the train rolling as far as the tracks will allow."
I guess they chose #2.
Evil, it's your blog so I'll listen. Due to the fact that my knowledge is limited when it comes to this issue, I am willing to see where I might be wrong. I'm just trying to indulge...I'll go down swinging. Better than being handed the backwards "K".
You're welcome.
That is the best comment you've ever left!!!
Umm, yes and no. I think they were wearing themselves out and needed to take some time off. Do a year of debauchery in the south of France. Call Keith Richards for advise. Whatever it takes.
I don't think that song "Pink" is too bad. I heard it a couple of times at Platinum. Seemed o.k. to me.
As some have mentioned, this line of thinking could be applied to many once-great rock bands... ZZ Top, Rolling Stones et al. I've been done w/ZZ since before MTV, and the Stones ceased to exist for me after Some Girls. But I digress...
I had a friend who worked for the label they were on at one point... no surprize (wink), but he said that there was an album somewhat comparable to Rocks that was in the can (recorded during the crap era), but the label prevented it's release. The Boys from Boston have been saddled with label babysitters in the form of American Idol-esque songwriters, and Mariah Cariah-esque producers sadly for decades now.
I know the boys have a good one in 'em... maybe they'll get out from under the label whores and give us one more good one at some point before someone hits a pole in their Ferrari.
For my money, not to be TOO sacrilegious, but I actually liked "Cry me a River" and "My Fist your Face." But I agree w/Rolling Stone... "Rocks" was their creative pinnacle. "Nobody's Fault?" C'mon. That tune alone makes it. Then you add "Last Child" and "Back in the Saddle" and it's case dismissed. Ha ha.
As some have mentioned, this line of thinking could be applied to many once-great rock bands... ZZ Top, Rolling Stones et al. I've been done w/ZZ since before MTV, and the Stones ceased to exist for me after Some Girls. But I digress...
I had a friend who worked for the label they were on at one point... no surprize (wink), but he said that there was an album somewhat comparable to Rocks that was in the can (recorded during the crap era), but the label prevented it's release. The Boys from Boston have been saddled with label babysitters in the form of American Idol-esque songwriters, and Mariah Cariah-esque producers sadly for decades now.
I know the boys have a good one in 'em... maybe they'll get out from under the label whores and give us one more good one at some point before someone hits a pole in their Ferrari.
For my money, not to be TOO sacrilegious, but I actually liked "Cry me a River" and "My Fist your Face." But I agree w/Rolling Stone... "Rocks" was their creative pinnacle. "Nobody's Fault?" C'mon. That tune alone makes it. Then you add "Last Child" and "Back in the Saddle" and it's case dismissed. Ha ha.
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