Aerosmith

About Aerosmith

These days, the bluesy rock band Aerosmith are a safe bet. Often, the band's glam-rock trappings-lead singer Steven Tyler is famous for his eye makeup and flowing scarves�_"might seem incongruous next to the group's hot licks and raunchy songs. And the really freaky thing is, your parents could have met at an Aerosmmith concert. Taking the long, hard road that they've traveled into account, the band is surprisingly well-preserved. Yes, they've done the drinking and the drugs thing and, remarkably, they're still releasing solid album of blues-based hard rockers. Even more incredible is that a live Aerosmith show still blows the tattoos off of younger bands, and Tyler still commands the stage with the same spastic sex appeal that he's always had. He preens, poses and swings his mic stand through the band's nearly four decades worth of top 10 hits, including recent singles "Cryin'", "Amazin'", "I Don't Want to Miss A Thing" and "Pink." Heaven help you if you go into a Boston pub and talk trash about Aerosmith. The band formed in Boston in 1970 when ace guitarist Joe Perry and bassist Tom Hamilton hooked up with Tyler while playing the local club scene. Boston was less swept up in the psychedelic 60's than other American music capitols, and the band was more interested in playing tight, hot blues covers than expanding their collective minds. Aerosmith broke into the mainstream with 1975's essential Toys In the Attic album, which featured the title track, "Walk This Way" and "Sweet Emotion." These jams would become the soundtrack for a whole generation's beery road trips and adolescent make-out parties. Several other successful albums followed, making the band one of the biggest acts going at the end of the 1970's. Unfortunately, this is where the fame and drugs got out of control, and things looked pretty dark for Aerosmith in the early 1980's. Many fans credit the revolutionary hip hop group Run DMC with saving the band from disaster, and the rappers certainly succeeded in introducing Aerosmith to a whole new audience with their 1986 hip hop cover/ mash-up of "Walk This Way." To this day, the video for Run DMC's "Walk This Way" (featuring Tyler and Perry) is cited as an historic moment for rock and rap. The sobered up Aerosmith went on to release the instant classic album Pump in 1989 which featured come-back singles "Janie's Got A Gun" and "Love In An Elevator." Today you can even experience Aerosmith in MGM Studios Florida with Aerosmith's Rock 'n' Roller Coaster.