Most legendary bands should descend into a kind of caricature in their third decade of being a band. No-one can keep up a hell-raising reputation after they’ve passed the age where they would normally have kids and those that try are utterly hilarious for all the wrong reasons. That, and the fact that as time goes on we get other bands and artists being ever more outrageous in what they do and say. This means that it’s difficult for a modern day audience to read about what made last generation’s parents get up in arms about and truly understand why it was so shocking at the time.
However, that’s where Aerosmith come in. Aerosmith are timeless, they’re cool whatever your surroundings and when you look at them today, you still feel the kind of thrill you get when the most dangerous person you know winks at you. Put simply, Aerosmith are still a bunch of badasses 45 years into their career, and they won’t be stopping any time soon. The band began with The Toxic Twins themselves, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry, fronting their own bands, called Chain Reaction and The Jam Band respectively.
In 1970 the two bands played together on the same bill, and Tyler was completely taken with Perry’s band, which already contained future Aerosmith rhythm section Tom Hamilton and Joey Kramer on bass and drums respectively. Tyler wanted to combine the two bands and after talking it over, that’s exactly what he got. By October 1970, the band had moved in together, Monkees style, and started writing music and rehearsing for future shows. By 1971, they’d finalised the line up with the addition of Brad Whitford on the rhythm guitar, and the following year, by playing a gig in the presence of the head of Columbia Records Clive Davis, they got themselves a record deal.
January 1973 saw the release of their self-titled debut album. Pretty much immediately they gained a devoted following with a strong album and a decent sized hit with their single “Dream On”. That’s where their career stayed for the next couple of years, their raucous Blues-rock cutting out a fine niche for them and their live shows were as unmissable as they ever would be. 1975 would change everything. Their third album “Toys In The Attic” would take them from a jobbing but talented rock band to global megastars on par with Zeppelin and The Stones.
Ever since then they’ve been legendary for all the right reasons. They have the songs, the live show, the story and the legacy, everyone from Metallica to Motley Crue swear by their Aerosmith records and even Kurt Cobain was heavily influenced by their album “Rocks”. They’ve managed to weather any storm that a lifetime of rock and roll can throw at them and come out the other side with a live show that can still knock people for six. Knowing the habits that Tyler and Perry had in their prime, they’re lucky to still be around, but we’re lucky to have them around and rocking as well. Any self-respecting rock fan would do well to see this band as soon as possible.
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