AEROSMITH

AEROSMITH
30 GREATEST TRAX

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WALK THIS WAY	Steven Tyler	1976	10	VIDEO	[Q] Steve Tyler: “The song started at a sound check at HRC in Honolulu. It was a real rhythmical thing. Our drummer Joey Kramer played with a funk band and was always pushing James Brown. He brought funk to the table. And Joe picked up on it and brought that ‘Walk This Way’ lick. The groove kind of lent itself to rap. It kind of pissed me off at first that they weren’t following the lyrics, but they were following the rhythm. But I would scat, and then write the lyrics in after. I wrote them on the hallway wall.” (NME) Joe Perry: “We were heavily into funk and soul. Jeff Beck had turned me on to the Meters, and I loved their riffy New Orleans funk, especially ‘Cissy Strut’ and ‘People Say.’ In December of ’74, we flew to Honolulu to open for the Guess Who. During the sound check, I was fooling around with riffs and thinking about the Meters. I asked Joey to lay down something flat with a groove on the drums. The guitar riff to what would become ‘Walk This Way’ just came off my hands.” (Wall Street Journal) Tom Hamilton: (after watching Mel Brooks Young Frankenstein) “There was a part where the main character arrives at the train station in Transylvania and he’s met by this classic evil assistant, who takes his suitcase for him and hobbles down the steps and says ‘Walk this way,’ and to humor him he follows him down the steps the same way. So we told Steven, you’ve got to call the song ‘Walk This Way.’ Steven was like, ‘You can’t tell me what to call the song, I haven’t even written the lyrics yet!’ But we told him he had to do it. So he did.” (Spin) KILL ME : "" () : "" () : "" () KILL ME [P] (Steven Tyler, Joe Perry) Steven Tyler – lead vocals Joe Perry – guitar, slide guitar, acoustic guitar, percussion, backing vocals Brad Whitford – guitar Tom Hamilton – bass Joey Kramer – drums, percussion Produced: Jack Douglas Engineered: Jay Messina Recorded at: The Record Plant, New York, New York, USA, 1975 KILL ME W S U
DREAM ON	Steven Tyler	1978	6	VIDEO	[Q] Steven Tyler: "It's about the hunger to be somebody: Dream until your dreams come true. This song sums up the s--t you put up with when you're in a new band. Most of the critics panned our first album, and said we were ripping off the Stones. That's a good barometer of my anger at the press, which I still have. 'Dream On' came of me playing the piano when I was about 17 or 18, and I didn't know anything about writing a song. It was just this little sonnet that I started playing one day. I never thought that it would end up being a real song." () Steven Tyler: "The music for 'Dream On' was originally written on a Steinway upright piano in the living room of Trow-Rico Lodge in Sunapee, maybe four years before Aerosmith even started. I was seventeen or eighteen...It was just this little thing I was playing, and I never dreamed it would end up as a real song or anything...It's about dreaming until your dreams come true." (Walk This Way) Brad Whitford: "The idea was just to transcribe what Steven was doing with his left and right hands on the piano." (1997:Guitar World) Joe Perry: "Back in those days you made your mark playing live. And to me rock 'n' roll's all about energy and putting on a show. Those were the things that attracted me to rock 'n' roll, but 'Dream On' was a ballad. I didn't really appreciate the musicality of it until later, but I did know it was a great song, so we put it in our set. We also knew that if you played straight rock 'n' roll you didn't get played on the radio and, if you wanted a top forty hit, the ballad was the way to go. I don't know if we really played it much live, in those days if you only had half an hour to make your mark, you didn't play slow songs. So it wasn't until after it became a single that we really started playing it." (2002:Classic Rock) Steven Tyler: "Never in a million years did I think I'd take it to guitar. When I transposed it to guitar Joe played the right fingers and Brad played the left hand on guitar. Sitting there working it out on guitar and piano I got a little melodramatic. The song was so good it brought a tear to my eye." (Bruce Pollock interview) KILL ME () KILL ME [P] (Steven Tyler) Steven Tyler – lead vocals, Mellotron Joe Perry – guitar Brad Whitford – guitar Tom Hamilton – bass Joey Kramer – drums Produced: Adrian Barber Engineered: Adrian Barber, Caryl Weinstock Recorded at: Intermedia Studios, Boston, Massachusetts, USA, 1972 KILL ME W S
I DON'T WANT TO MISS A THING	Steven Tyler	1998	1	VIDEO	[Q] Dianne Warren: “I got the title for this song from a story I heard about an interview that james Brolin did. Talking about his relationship with Barbra Streisand, he said that he missed her when he went to sleep at night. The idea stayed with me.” (2015:Chicken Soup For The Soul) Dianne Warren: "I remember when I wrote 'I Don't Want to Miss a Thing.' It was like a Celine Dion song, and then (Universal Music executive) Kathy Nelson got Aerosmith to do it. I remember getting the CD, and my mind was blown; it was a genius record. It wasn't anything I thought it would sound like. It was beautiful. Fast forward to...today, I'll meet rappers and they love that song. That's part of the journey--songs definitely havea life of their own." (It All Begins With The Music) Tom Hamilton: "They played us this song. It was a ballad, and this was on a Friday night and we're kind of thinking about it . . . So they brought us down there to their facility and sat us down in this room with these huge computer monitors and showed us some of this outrageous footage from the movie and we just flipped out and right away we knew that we wanted to be involved with it. So we said, 'Yeah, we'll take a stab at the song and not only that but we'll make a deal with you: If we do that one, we want to do a rocker, too.' And they said, 'Fine, play us anything you've got.' So we went and recorded 'I Don't Want To Miss a Thing' and 'What Kind of Love Are You On?' And in the meantime they were trying out our version of 'Come Together' for another scene. And we actually had our fingers crossed because they can change that at the last second . . . But, amazingly enough, everything is in there in the main body of the movie and 'Don't Want to Miss a Thing' is just right for the scene they wanted it for, and so we're really blown away." (rockdaily.com) KILL ME [I] The chorus of the song is highly reminiscent of an earlier song Diane Warren co-wrote, "Just Like Jesse James", which appeared on Cher's 1989 album Heart of Stone. ..... It was one of many songs written by Diane Warren in that time period. The original version was a collaboration between Chicago musician Phil Kosch of Treaty of Paris and Super Happy Fun club, and nephew of chart topping writer Lou Bega. Lou introduced the two and they penned the initial track, but ultimately Kosch was left uncredited. (Wikipedia) KILL ME [P] (Dianne Warren) Steve Tyler - lead vocals, keyboard, harmonica, piano Joe Perry - guitar Brad Whitford - guitar Tom Hamilton - backing vocals, bass Joey Kramer - drums Produced: Matt Serletic Engineered: ?? Recorded at: ?? KILL ME W
JANIE'S GOT A GUN	Steven Tyler	1989	4	VIDEO	[Q] Steven Tyler: “I looked over at a Time magazine and saw this article on 48 hours, minute by minute, of handgun deaths in the United States. Then I got off on the child-abuse angle. I’d heard this woman speaking about how many children are attacked by their mothers and fathers… I felt, man, I gotta sing about this.” (Rolling Stone) Steven Tyler: "That song is about a girl getting raped and pillaged by her father. It's about incest, something that happens to a lot of kids who don't even find out about it until they find themselves trying to work through some major f--king neuroses." (Walk This Way autobiography) KILL ME [P] (Steven Tyler, Tom Hamilton) Steven Tyler – lead vocals, keyboards, harmonica Joe Perry – guitar, backing vocals Brad Whitford – guitar Tom Hamilton – bass Joey Kramer – drums John Webster – keyboards The Margarita Horns – brass instruments, saxophones Bruce Fairbairn – brass instruments, saxophones Henry Christian – brass instruments, saxophones Ian Putz – brass instruments, saxophones Tom Keenlyside – brass instruments, saxophones Produced: Bruce Fairbairn Engineered: Michael Fraser, Ken Lomas Recorded at: Little Mountain Sound Studio, Vancouver, B.C., Canada, 1989 KILL ME W S
SWEET EMOTION	Steven Tyler	1975	36	VIDEO	[Q] Steven Tyler: "I remember Tom playing that do-do-do-do-do-do-do. And I just went, "Sweet emotion". It spread out that line - that word - that group of words real nice. And it just happened to work, you know." (2013:CNN) Tom Hamilton: “We knew which section was going to be the verse, the chorus, and the bridge, but we didn’t have any lyrics, melody or anything. So it was a really amazing phenomenon where Joe and Steven would come back to Boston, a month and a half, two months later, with all the songs written, with all the vocal parts. It was… just unbelievable, when I first heard ‘Sweet Emotion’ with the lyrics on it. I thought ‘Wow, that is unbelievable.'” KILL ME [I] Many Aerosmith fans believe that Steven Tyler wrote all of the lyrics to the song about the tension and hatred between the band members and Joe Perry's wife. Tyler himself has said that only some of the lyrics were inspired by Perry's wife. It was stated in Aerosmith's tell-all autobiography Walk This Way and in an episode of Behind the Music that growing feuds between the band members' wives (including an incident involving "spilt milk" where Elyssa Perry threw milk over Tom Hamilton's wife, Terry) may have helped lead to the band's original lineup dissolving in the early 1980s. (Wikipedia) KILL ME [P] (Steven Tyler, Tom Hamilton) Steven Tyler - lead vocals, maracas, vibraslap Joe Perry - lead guitar, talkbox, backing vocals Brad Whitford - rhythm guitar Tom Hamilton - bass Joey Kramer - drums Jay Messina - marimba Produced: Jack Douglas Engineered: ?? Recorded at: The Record Plant, New York, New York, USA, March 14, 1975 KILL ME W S G U
ANGEL	Steven Tyler	1988	3	VIDEO	[P] (Steven Tyler, Desmond Child) Steven Tyler – lead vocals, piano, harmonica Joe Perry – guitar, backing vocals Brad Whitford – guitar Tom Hamilton – bass Joey Kramer – drums Morgan Rael – steel drums Drew Arnott – mellotron Henry Christian – trumpet Bruce Fairbairn – trumpet, cello, background vocals Scott Fairbairn – cello Mike Fraser – plunger mute Produced: Bruce Fairbairn Engineered: Bob Rock Recorded at: Little Mountain Sound Studios, Vancouver, B.C., USA, 1987 KILL ME W S
BACK IN THE SADDLE	Steven Tyler	1977	38	VIDEO	[Q] Joe Perry: "I had heard [original Fleetwood Mac guitarist] Peter Green playing a 6-string bass, although he never really played it as part of a song. He would sort of jam with it. But that's how I knew they existed. I figured it would be a cool instrument to play live. It sounded great, and I didn't know anyone else who was doing it. I wrote that song so that I would have excuse to play it on-stage." (2007:Ultimate Guitar) KILL ME [I] Although the lyrics, by Steven Tyler, were written with the simple idea of cowboys and sex, this song took on new meaning after Aerosmith reunited in 1984 and embarked on their Back in the Saddle tour. The "saddle" Tyler refers to in the song is metaphorical to several sexual positions. (Wikipedia) KILL ME [P] (Steven Tyler, Joe Perry) Steven Tyler – lead vocals Joe Perry – guitars, six-string bass, backing vocals Brad Whitford – guitars Tom Hamilton – bass Joey Kramer – drums, percussion Produced: Jack Douglas Engineered: Jay Messina Recorded at: Wherehouse and Record Plant Studios, New York, New York, USA, 1976 KILL ME W
CRYIN'	Steven Tyler	1993	12	VIDEO	: "" () : "" () : "" () KILL ME [P] (Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, Taylor Rhodes) Steven Tyler – lead vocals, keyboards, mandolin, harmonica, additional percussion Joe Perry – guitar, backing vocals Brad Whitford – guitar Tom Hamilton – bass Joey Kramer – drums John Webster – keyboards Paul Baron – trumpet Bruce Fairbairn – trumpet Tom Keenlyside – saxophone Ian Putz – baritone saxophone Bob Rogers – trombone Produced: Bruce Fairbairn Engineered: Recorded at: Little Mountain Sound Studios, Vancouver, B.C., USA, 1992 KILL ME W S
WHAT IT TAKES	Steven Tyler	1990	9	VIDEO	: "" () : "" () : "" () KILL ME [P] (Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, Desmond Child) Steven Tyler – lead vocals, keyboards, harmonica Joe Perry – guitar, backing vocals Brad Whitford – guitar Tom Hamilton – bass Joey Kramer – drums John Webster – keyboards Bruce Fairbairn – brass instruments, saxophones Henry Christian – brass instruments, saxophones Ian Putz – brass instruments, saxophones Tom Keenlyside – brass instruments, saxophones Produced: Bruce Fairbairn Engineered: Michael Fraser, Ken Lomas Recorded at: Little Mountain Sound Studios, Vancouver, B.C., USA, 1989 KILL ME W
DUDE (Looks Like a Lady)	Steven Tyler	1987	14	VIDEO	[Q] Steven Tyler: “One day we met Mötley Crüe, and they’re all going, ‘Dude!’ Dude this and Dude that, everything was Dude. ‘Dude (Looks Like a Lady)’ came out of that session.” (Walk This Way: The Autobiography of Aerosmith) KILL ME [I] Initially dubbed “Cruisin’ for a Lady”, “Dude” describes an effeminate-looking male (or drag queen) who’s mistaken for a lady. Per Steven Tyler in the book Walk This Way: The Autobiography of Aerosmith: “One day we met Mötley Crüe, and th... And in the book The Heroin Diaries, Nikki Sixx asserts that “Dude” was specifically inspired by Mötley Crüe’s own singer, Vince Neil. (Life'd) KILL ME [P] (Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, Desmond Child) Steven Tyler – lead vocals, piano, harmonica Joe Perry – guitar, backing vocals Brad Whitford – guitar Tom Hamilton – bass Joey Kramer – drums Morgan Rael – steel drums Tom Keenlyside – clarinet, tenor saxophone, horn arrangement Ian Putz – baritone saxophone Bob Rogers – trombone Henry Christian – trumpet Bruce Fairbairn – trumpet, cello, background vocals Scott Fairbairn – cello Mike Fraser – plunger mute Produced: Bruce Fairbairn Engineered: Bob Rock Recorded at: Little Mountain Sound Studios, Vancouver, B.C., USA, 1989 KILL ME W
YOU SEE ME CRYIN'	Steven Tyler	1975	--	VIDEO	[I] The song is a complex piano ballad and was heavily orchestrated. Aerosmith and producer Jack Douglas brought in a symphony orchestra for the song, which was conducted by Mike Mainieri. The song itself was written by lead singer Steven Tyler and outside collaborator Don Solomon. Some of the band members became frustrated with the song, which took a long time to complete, due to the many complex drum and guitar parts. (Wikipedia) KILL ME [P] (Steven Tyler, Don Solomon) Steven Tyler – lead vocals, piano Joe Perry – guitar, backing vocals, slide guitar, acoustic guitar, percussion Brad Whitford – guitar Tom Hamilton – bass Joey Kramer – drums, percussion Produced: Jack Douglas Engineered: Jay Messina Recorded at: The Record Plant, New York, New York, USA, 1975 KILL ME
JADED	Steven Tyler	2001	7	VIDEO	[Q] Steven Tyler: "You know, I started thinking about my daughter Mia, and then I thought, Well, I'll be in trouble there. But it's partly that, and partly the dream of the young trollup you wish you could have still--being an older lecher. And it's 'Why is she like that?' But after all, that's what we all like about her." (2001:Guitar) Marti Frederiksen: “For ‘Jaded,’ Steven and I went to his house in Lake Sunapee (NH) to write. We just walked in and started working with acoustic guitars. Steven liked a guitar riff I was playing, so he wrote several verses, and he came up with the title. It was a great collaboration; we had a feeling that this song could be the hit.” (2004:Songwriter Universe) Marti Frederiksen: “That song was my first pop hit. I don't know what happened that day, but it all came to me and Steven in a few hours. We were at his house and I remember he was on the phone. Anyway, I started playing the main riff and singing the melody. I didn't have the word 'jaded' yet -- that was his thing. But what I really thought was genius was the stutter when he sings, 'ja-ja-ja-jaded.' Steven came up with that.” (The Boombox) Steven Tyler: "When I hit on the melody for 'Jaded,' it was so phenomenal that for a while I was scared to do anything more with it. I didn't even tell the band." (Q magazine) KILL ME [I] The song's lyrics are about a girl who is "jaded", and how the relationship the narrator has with the girl is sometimes "complicated", but repeatedly claims that "I'm the one that jaded you." (Wikipedia) KILL ME [P] (Steven Tyler, Marti Frederiksen) Steven Tyler – lead/backing vocals, piano, Squeezebox, harmonica, percussion Joe Perry – guitar, slide guitar, pedal steel guitar, hurdy-gurdy, backing vocals Brad Whitford – guitar Tom Hamilton – bass, fretless bass Joey Kramer – drums Produced: Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, Marti Frederiksen, Mark Hudson Engineered: ?? Recorded at: ?? KILL ME W S
LIVIN' ON THE EDGE	Steven Tyler	1993	18	VIDEO	: "" () : "" () : "" () KILL ME [I] The song is one of Aerosmith's most successful attempts at tackling social issues. It reflects on the sorry state of the world ("There's something wrong with the world today"), religion, racism, among other things. However, the lyrics in the song also suggest that the world is still worth living in. The lyrics also contain a reference to the Yardbirds song, "Mister You're a Better Man Than I" (Aerosmith had previously recorded a version of a song popularized by the Yardbirds, "Train Kept A-Rollin'"). It is also considered another anti-conservative rant. ..... According to the band's autobiography Walk This Way, the song was inspired by the Los Angeles riots of 1992. Steven Tyler also mentions in the book, that the song features the sound of a bass drum he stole from his high school; four loud beats are heard from that drum in a pause between the final verse and chorus. (Wikipedia) KILL ME [P] (Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, Mark Hudson) Steven Tyler – lead vocals, keyboards, mandolin, harmonica, percussion Joe Perry – guitar, backing vocals Brad Whitford – guitar Tom Hamilton – bass Joey Kramer – drums John Webster – keyboards Paul Baron – trumpet Bruce Fairbairn – trumpet Tom Keenlyside – saxophone Ian Putz – baritone saxophone Bob Rogers – trombone Produced: Bruce Fairbairn Engineered: ?? Recorded at: Little Mountain Sound Studios, Vancouver, B.C., USA, 1992 KILL ME W S
SAME OLD SONG OR DANCE	Steven Tyler	1974	--	VIDEO	[Q] Joe Perry: " The original version [a different song with the same title, written by Sammy Cahn and made famous by Frank Sinatra] had more of a swing thing going. We just straightened it out and made it more of a twelve-bar progression. I haven't heard the original in a lot of years, but I seem to remember that it was a little looser. If you go back really far, you don't find a whole lot of straight 12-bar blues. There's always a variation on it, and a change, and I think that's kind of what we did to that song. We brought in the same instrumentation, and played it the way we heard it going down. Listening back to it, I think, 'Wow, we were playing swing back in 1974. How about that?' It was just another experiment. I'm not sure we really knew what we were doing." (2007:Ultimate Guitar) KILL ME [I] The song was built around a riff that Joe Perry came up with while sitting on his amp. Steven Tyler quickly came up with the lyrics. The song's lyrics are sung in sync with the main riff in the song. Additionally, the song is known for its upbeat rhythm and the dueling guitars by Joe Perry and Brad Whitford, along with interspersed horns. Dick Wagner (Alice Cooper, Lou Reed) plays the lead guitar. (Wikipedia) KILL ME [P] (Steven Tyler, Joe Perry) Steven Tyler – lead vocals Joe Perry – guitar, backing vocals Brad Whitford – guitar Tom Hamilton – bass Joey Kramer – drums, percussion Michael Brecker – tenor saxophone Randy Brecker – trumpet Stan Bronstein – baritone saxophone Jon Pearson – trombone Produced: Jack Douglas, Ray Colcord Engineered: Jack Douglas, Jay Messina, Rod O'Brie Recorded at: The Record Plant, New York, New York, USA, 1975 KILL ME W S
LOVE IN AN ELEVATOR	Steven Tyler	1989	5	VIDEO	[Q] Steven Tyler: "Uh...it was real life. ..... Well, you ever give a girl head in an elevator? Did you ever get a blowjob in an elevator? Were you ever jerking off and your mom called? Do you like to make love in a dark corner when you know people are looking and you may get caught? Knowing you may get caught puts a whole other slant on having sex. I don't know if that stems from my rowdiness, but I've experienced that. It's just one of those things. The first time I went [sings] "love in an elevator," it just slipped out. I didn't sit down and think, "What do I want to do with this song?" Although I'll tell you what I did think. Know how when people get in an elevator they always avoid eye contact? They're all looking up at the floor numbers. Oh yeah, 1,2,3,4,5... really gotta study that real hard. They're lookin' up there because they're embarrassed. So, "Love in an Elevator," what a great theme! To maybe get people to think about that when they're actually in an elevator would be so cool. By the way, that song got panned at first. "It sounds like a bunch of blues riffs," someone from the record company told us. That's quote, unquote." (Guitar World) KILL ME [I] "Love in an Elevator", like the other tracks on Pump, was recorded sometime in April to June 1989 at Little Mountain Sound Studios in Vancouver, British Columbia. During the writing process, lead singer Steven Tyler is said to have come upon the concept of the song while researching famous battleships. Specifically, an instance on the Russian Battleship Navarin, in which one of the crew was famously quoted, as the ship was going down, "?? ?????? ???? ?????, ? ?? ????? ??? ?? ?????? ???? ????," or when translated "we must live upwards now, for it is downward we head." Steven Tyler claims the song's lyrics were inspired by an experience he had at a hotel, in which he was making out with a girl in the elevator and they started having sex as the doors opened; “It felt like a lifetime waiting for those doors to close,” quipped Tyler. (Wikipedia) KILL ME [P] (Joe Perry, Steven Tyler) Steven Tyler – lead vocals, keyboards, harmonica Joe Perry – guitar, backing vocals Brad Whitford – guitar Tom Hamilton – bass, backing vocals Joey Kramer – drums John Webster – keyboards Bruce Fairbairn – backing vocals Bob Dowd – backing vocals Catherine Epps – spoken intro (Elevator Operator) Produced: Bruce Fairbairn Engineered: Michael Fraser, Ken Lomas Recorded at: Little Mountain Sound Studios, Vancouver, B.C., USA, 1989 KILL ME W S
AMAZING	Steven Tyler	1993	24	VIDEO	[Q] Steven Tyler: "Four years into his sobriety, I wanted to write with Richie [Supa] again because I remembered what good stuff we got with "Chip Away The Stone." But Tim and Joe Perry kept us apart, Joe from jealousy and Tim from his over cautious, mother-hen controlling thing where he was afraid that Steven and Richie, the two worst drug addicts anyone has ever known, were gonna get back into dope together. But Richie was sober and we did get together [in the summer of 1991]. When he came out of jail, he had nothing. The IRS had taken everything. I got him a keyboard and Joe gave him a guitar to help jump-start his creative juices. One day he called me up to thank me. We got into war stories--the old days-- and got so deep I could literally taste the coke in my mouth. My heart started pounding. We talked about what it feels like to shoot a load in your arm. Heroin is so hard to kick because you start to think about it and you get what's called "euphoric recall." I said, "Richie, a lot of people were afraid of us getting together because they thought we'd start using again. And now--look at this. Were fuckin' sober. Isn't it wonderful? Isn't it amazing?" And he says, "Yeah, I was at this meeting the other day and this black woman says, 'I kept the right ones out and let the wrong ones in.'" I said automatically, "Had an angel of mercy to see me through all my sins." That's how we wrote "Amazing" in four hours at my house in Boston, right at the beginning of the whole process that became Get A Grip." (Walk This Way autobiography) Richie Supa: "Music is all I was able to cling to when I was in my darkest times. I mean it’s the voice of angels. It’s the language of our soul. It saved my life. When I wrote Amazing with Steven Tyler, I think we wrote it in ‘92, and it came out in ‘93, it was the first song about recovery that was a huge, huge hit. " (Serene Scene) KILL ME [I] In this power ballad from 1993, frontman Steven Tyler sings about his troubled life and drug abuse after the band’s initial split. Co-written with songwriter Richie Supa, Tyler sings about the depths of his addiction and how he was “so sick and tired of living a lie/I was wishing that I would die.” But after going to rehab and getting clean, he declares that “it’s amazing with the blink of an eye you finally see the light/it’s amazing when the moment arrives that you know you’ll be all right.” The song was penned for the kids at the Caron Foundation, where Tyler entered treatment and gained sobriety in 1986. (The Fixx) KILL ME [P] (Steven Tyler, Richie Supa) Steven Tyler – lead vocals, keyboards, mandolin, harmonica, percussion Joe Perry – guitar, backing vocals Brad Whitford – guitar Tom Hamilton – bass Joey Kramer – drums Richard Supa – keyboards John Webster – keyboards David Campbell – orchestra arrangements Don Henley – background vocals Produced: Bruce Fairbairn Engineered: John Aguto, Ed Korengo, Ken Lomas, Mike Plotnikoff, David Thoener Recorded at: Little Mountain Sound Studios, Vancouver, B.C., Canada KILL ME W S
THE OTHER SIDE	Steven Tyler	1990	22	VIDEO	: "" () : "" () : "" () KILL ME [P] (Steven Tyler, Jim Vallance, Holland-Dozier-Holland) Steven Tyler – lead vocals, keyboards, harmonica Joe Perry – guitar, backing vocals Brad Whitford – guitar Tom Hamilton – bass Joey Kramer – drums Produced: Bruce Fairbairn Engineered: Michael Fraser, Ken Lomas Recorded at: Little Mountain Sound Studios, Vancouver, B.C., Canada, 1989 KILL ME W
LAST CHILD	Steven Tyler	1976	21	VIDEO	[Q] Brad Whitford: "After rehearsal one day, I played this riff and Steven yells, 'I love it!' and stared playing drums; he plays very different from Joey (Kramer) with a more jazzy approach, fun to work with. Joe (Perry) threw in a couple of chord changes, a D chord to an A, and then spiced up the chord a little." (Walk This Way biography) KILL ME [P] (Steven Tyler, Brad Whitford) Steven Tyler – lead vocals Joe Perry – guitars, backing vocals Brad Whitford – guitars Tom Hamilton – bass Joey Kramer – drums, percussion Paul Prestopino – banjo Produced: Jack Douglas Engineered: Jay Messina Recorded at: Wherehouse, Waltham, Mass, USA . & Record Plant Studios, New York City, New York, Feb-March, 1976 KILL ME W S
CAN'T STOP LOVING YOU	S. Tyler, Carrie Underwood	2013	--	VIDEO	[I] Aerosmith lead singer and songwriter Steven Tyler and frequent collaborator Marti Frederiksen wrote the song with the band during sessions for Music from Another Dimension!. Tyler sang it in an "emotional drawl" similar to the band's 1993 hit "Cryin'" and the song took on a romantic, country sound. KILL ME Tyler commented, "When it was done, it was discussed that I might have sang it a little too country. And all along we thought, should we get someone in?" Tyler contacted country singer Carrie Underwood, whom he had collaborated with in recent years, including a duet at a 2012 Country Music Television Special and a performance at the 2011 Academy of Country Music Awards, where Tyler and Underwood performed the Aerosmith classic "Walk This Way" together, as well as Underwood's song "Undo It", which was co-written by Frederiksen. The day Tyler contacted Underwood, she happened to be in town but had to leave the next morning, so Tyler asked her if she could come into record that night, and she agreed. (Wikipedia) KILL ME [P] (Steven Tyler, Marti Frederiksen, Tom Hamilton, Joey Kramer, Brad Whitford) Steven Tyler – lead vocals, drums Carrie Underwood – lead vocals Joe Perry – guitar, backing vocals Brad Whitford – guitar Tom Hamilton – bass Joey Kramer – drums, percussion Produced: Jack Douglas, Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, Marti Frederiksen Engineered: Warren Huart Recorded at: Pandora's Box, Poppy Studios, Spitfire Studio, Swing House Studios, 2011-2012 KILL ME W S
CRAZY	Steven Tyler	1994	17	VIDEO	[I] This song is about a guy whose girlfriend packs up her stuff and leaves, and just how much he misses her. ..... The trio had written "Crazy" in the late '80s around the same time they wrote "Angel." The songs were deemed too similar, so while "Angel" made the 1987 Permanent Vacation album, "Crazy" didn't appear until two albums later on Get A Grip. Big ballads were good to Aerosmith, but the group had to ration them in order to retain its status as a hard rock powerhouse. (Songfacts) KILL ME [P] (Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, Desmond Child) Steven Tyler – lead vocals, keyboards, mandolin, harmonica, additional percussion Joe Perry – guitar, backing vocals Brad Whitford – guitar Tom Hamilton – bass Joey Kramer – drums Desmond Child – keyboards David Campbell – orchestra arrangements Bruce Fairbairn – trumpet Tom Keenlyside – saxophone Ian Putz – baritone saxophone Bob Rogers – trombone John Webster – keyboards Produced: Bruce Fairbairn Recorded at: Little Mountain Sound Studios, Vancouver, B.C., Canada, 1989 KILL ME W S
TOYS IN THE ATTIC	Steven Tyler	1975	--	VIDEO	[Q] Joe Perry: "I wrote the original riff to "Toys In The Attic" at Black Angus Studios, Andy Paley's converted barn off Route 9 in Ashland, which is where we worked with Jack(Douglas) on that album before we moved to the Record Plant. This is where we started to come into our own in the studio, using it as our palette, writing more in the studio as opposed to them just turning on the machines for us to play. We started to become recording artists instead of having our albums being a record of us playing live." (Walk This Way autobiography) KILL ME : "" () : "" () : "" () KILL ME [P] (Steven Tyler, Joe Perry) Steven Tyler – lead vocals Joe Perry – guitar, backing vocals, slide guitar, acoustic guitar, percussion Brad Whitford – guitar Tom Hamilton – bass Joey Kramer – drums, percussion Produced: Jack Douglas Engineered: Jay Messina Recorded at: The Record Plant Studios, New York, New York, USA, Jan-Feb 1975 KILL ME W
RAG DOLL	Steven Tyler	1988	17	VIDEO	[Q] Jim Vallance: “I wrote "Rag Doll" with Steven [Tyler] and Joe [Perry] in March of 1987, on the day we met. Joe had the guitar riff, which was great, but it was a "one chord" thing, it didn't really go anywhere. So I added some bass notes under the riff, I think it was A-C-G, and that gave it some motion. The "middle eight" section followed, and by the end of the first day the song was nearly complete. After that, Steven and I worked on lyrics for a couple of days. At first the song was called "Rag Time", a title that John Kalodner [A&R executive at Geffen Records] hated, so he flew [songwriter] Holly Knight up from Los Angeles and she suggested changing the title to "Rag Doll".” (2012: Kickin' it Old School) KILL ME [I] The song's lyrics were primarily written by Tyler and Vallance, Perry originating the guitar riff, and Vallance writing the bass line. The song was originally titled "Rag Time" but John Kalodner didn't like that, so Holly Knight was called in to help change that lyric. She suggested "Rag Doll", which was actually another title Steven and Jim had thought of. (Wikipedia) KILL ME [P] (Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, Jim Vallance, Holly Knight) Steven Tyler – lead vocals, piano, harmonica Joe Perry – guitar, pedal steel guitar, backing vocals Brad Whitford – guitar Tom Hamilton – bass Joey Kramer – drums Morgan Rael – steel drums Jim Vallance – organ Tom Keenlyside – clarinet, tenor saxophone, horn arrangement Ian Putz – baritone saxophone Bob Rogers – trombone Henry Christian – trumpet Bruce Fairbairn – trumpet, cello, background vocals Scott Fairbairn – cello Mike Fraser – plunger mute Produced: Bruce Fairbairn Engineered: Mike Fraser, Bob Rock Recorded at: Little Mountain Sound Studios, Vancouver, B.C., Canada, 1989 KILL ME W S
WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN LOVE	Steven Tyler	2012	(22a)	VIDEO	[Q] Steven Tyler: "Marti and I had both been through divorce: Do you ever have feelings about that? Do you ever think about that? It started from there: 'What could have been love, it should have been the only thing that was ever meant to be, couldn't see what was right in front of me.' So many people are getting divorced now. When you've got kids, you still love the mother a little bit. Anyone worth their soul will admit it." (Rolling Stone.) : "" () : "" () : "" () KILL ME [P] (Marti Frederiksen, Russ Irwin, Steven Tyler) Produced: Engineered: Recorded at: KILL ME W S
PINK	Steven Tyler	1997	27	VIDEO	[I] : "" () : "" () : "" () KILL ME [P] (Steven Tyler, Richie Supa, Glen Ballard) Steven Tyler – lead vocals, keyboards, hand organ, piano, harmonica, hammer dulcimer, percussion Joe Perry – guitar, slide guitar, dulcimer, backing vocals Brad Whitford – guitar, acoustic guitar Tom Hamilton – bass, Chapman stick Joey Kramer – drums John Webster – keyboards, backing vocals David Campbell – arranger, conductor Ramesh Mishra – sarangi Suzie Katayama - strings, conductor Produced: Kevin Shirley, Aerosmith Engineered: Kevin Shirley Recorded at: Avatar Studios, New York, New Yor, USA, 1996 (formerly/more famously known as The Power Station) KILL ME W
DRAW THE LINE	Steven Tyler	1977	42	VIDEO	[Q] Joe Perry: "That was a case of trying to use an open tuning in a way that wasn't typical, that wasn't simply going to the sus4. That's kind of how I approach open tunings. A lot of times your fingers just naturally want to go in that direction, and that just calls attention to that open tuning, kind of the way Keith Richards plays it. As a guitar player, Richards grabbed that early on and made it his signature. There's something very distinctive and fun about playing with an open tuning, because you get all those open notes, and it just sounds great coming out of a guitar amp. But you don't want it to sound like the other guy who's using that same tuning. So I've always approached that with the attitude of, 'Well, I'm going to make this sound distinctive.' The Black Crowes used that tuning to great effect, but I could always tell what it was. I just shifted the tuning around a bit, and made it talk a little more, for my own tastes." (2007:Ultimate Guitar) Jack Douglas: (title indicative of what band was going through) "the coke lines, heroin lines, drawing symbolic lines, and crossing them - no matter what" Joe Perry: "we were drug addicts dabbling in music, rather than musicians dabbling in drugs." KILL ME : "" () : "" () : "" () KILL ME [P] (Steven Tyler, Joe Perry) Steven Tyler – lead vocals Joe Perry – guitar, backing vocals Brad Whitford – guitar Tom Hamilton – bass Joey Kramer – drums Produced: Jack Douglas Engineered: Jay Messina Recorded at: The Cenacle, Armonk, New York, USA KILL ME W S
FALLING IN LOVE (Is Hard on the Knees)	Steven Tyler	1997	35	VIDEO	[I] Lead singer Steven Tyler got the inspiration for the title off a bumper sticker he saw a few years previously. The line "But you like the way I hold the microphone" was a reference to an almost identical line in The Rolling Stones' 1965 song "The Spider and the Fly". (Wikipedia) KILL ME [P] (Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, Glen Ballard) Steven Tyler – lead vocals, keyboards, hand organ, piano, harmonica, hammer dulcimer, percussion Joe Perry – guitar, slide guitar, dulcimer, backing vocals Brad Whitford – guitar, acoustic guitar Tom Hamilton – bass, Chapman stick Joey Kramer – drums John Webster – keyboards, backing vocals David Campbell – arranger, conductor Ramesh Mishra – sarangi Suzie Katayama - strings, conductor Produced: Kevin Shirley, Aerosmith Engineered: Kevin Shirley Recorded at: Avatar Studios, New York, New Yor, USA, 1996 (formerly/more famously known as The Power Station) KILL ME W S
LEGENDARY CHILD	Steven Tyler	2012	(17r)	VIDEO	[I] The song was originally written and recorded in 1991 during the initial sessions for the Get a Grip album, but was never released. The song has since been re-worked and is now included on Aerosmith's fifteenth studio album, Music from Another Dimension!, which was released on November 6, 2012. It is set to appear in the film G.I. Joe: Retaliation, which was originally scheduled for theatrical release in the summer of 2012, but was released on March 28, 2013. (Wikipedia) KILL ME [P] (Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, Jim Vallance) Steven Tyler – lead vocals, drums Joe Perry – guitar, backing vocals Brad Whitford – guitar Tom Hamilton – bass Joey Kramer – drums, percussion Jack Douglas – backing vocals Warren Huart – backing vocals Produced: Jack Douglas, Steven Tyler, Joe Perry Engineered/Mixed: Warren Huart Recorded at: Pandora's Box, New York, New York, USA; .... Swing House Studios, Los Angeles, California, USA KILL ME W W
BIG TEN INCH RECORD	Steven Tyler	1975	--	VIDEO	[I] The first vinyl records, released around 1900, were 10-inch, 78 RPM records. This song is specifically about the Blues recordings found on those records that influenced the band, but also about the sexual connotation that the singer has a 10-inch p*s. ..... "Big Ten Inch Record" was composed by Fred Weismantel and became a big hit on the R&B charts during 1952 for tenor-sax player Bull Moose Jackson. (Songfacts) KILL ME [P] (Fred Weismantel) Produced: Engineered: Recorded at: KILL ME** S
LET THE MUSIC DO THE TALKING	Steven Tyler	1985	(18r)	VIDEO	[I] After guitarist Joe Perry left Aerosmith in 1979, he formed his solo project, aptly titled The Joe Perry Project. He released his first album, Let the Music Do the Talking in 1980. The song was included as the first song and title track of the record. ..... In 1984, Joe Perry and Brad Whitford rejoined Aerosmith. Aerosmith recorded the album Done with Mirrors in 1985. Lead singer Steven Tyler and the other band members were quite impressed with Perry's "Let the Music Do the Talking" and decided to include it on the album. The song was re-recorded by Aerosmith with new lyrics sung by Steven Tyler, and the running time was reduced by about a minute. The song was issued as a single shortly after the album's release. (Wikipedia) KILL ME [P] (Joe Perry, Steven Tyler) Steven Tyler – lead vocals Joe Perry – guitar, backing vocals Brad Whitford – guitar Tom Hamilton – bass Joey Kramer – drums Produced: Ted Templeman Engineered: Jeff Hendrickson Recorded at: Fantasy Studios, Berkeley, California, USA, 1984 KILL ME W S
LIGHTNING STRIKES	Steven Tyler	1982	(21r)	VIDEO	[I] Aerosmith guitarist Brad Whitford recorded his parts before leaving the band. (Wikipedia) KILL ME [P] (Steven Tyler, Jimmy Crespo, Richie Supa) Steven Tyler – lead vocals, keyboards, harmonica Jimmy Crespo – guitar, backing vocals Brad Whitford – rhythm guitar Tom Hamilton – bass Joey Kramer – drums Produced: Jack Douglas, Steven Tyler Engineered: Godfrey Diamond Recorded at: ?? KILL ME W

FIVE GREATEST ALBUMS

Toys in the Attic
1975

Pump
1989

Get a Grip
1993

Rocks
1976

Permanent Vacation
1987

TRIBUTE BANDS
Aerosmith Rocks Canada Website Touring

STATE OF THE ARTIST

ACTIVE
In Nov 2016, Aerosmith announced that they would be heading out on a farewell tour, the Aero-Vederci Baby! Tour. It began on May 17, 2017 in Tel Aviv, Israel. It won't end anytime soon as it could go on for one to five years, with the possibility of at least one more album. Sample Setlist 2017

THE ARTIST

From: Boston, Massachusetts, USA	Artist Website
Founded: 1970	Wikipedia Bio
Aerosmith Tours	Wikipedia Singles Discography
Aerosmith Discussion Board	Wikipedia Albums Discography
Rock N Roll Hall of Fame: 2001	Utube Bio
Rolling Stone List, 100 Greatest Acts of All Time: 57

AEROSMITH TIME COUNTRY
Mark I 1971 - 1979 Steven Tyler - V,K Joe Perry - G Brad Whitford - G Tom Hamilton - B Joey Kramer - D,P	Mark II 1979 - 1981 Steven Tyler - V,K Jimmy Crespo - G Brad Whitford - G Tom Hamilton - B Joey Kramer** - D,P	Mark III 1981 - 1984 Steven Tyler - V,K Jimmy Crespo - G Rick Dufay - G Tom Hamilton - B Joey Kramer** - D,P	Mark I 1984 - Pres Steven Tyler - V,K Joe Perry - G ++ Brad Whitford - G ++ Tom Hamilton - B Joey Kramer - D,P

RELATIONSHIPS

Steve Tyler / Joe Perry
After the initial success of the band and the accompanying sex/drug lifestyle, Perry began moving away from this, where Tyler continued to induldged in it. In the '90.s Tyler began looking to work with other songwriters outside of Aerosmith instead of working with Perry. This put further strain on the relationship, along with some of Tyler's outside projects like appearing as a judge on American Idol, and trying to be recruited as lead vocalist of a reformed Led Zeppelin. Through it all, tho, Aerosmith is one of the few bands to maintain a solid line-up spanning several decades, except for the brief period of 1979-1984.

HIDDEN GEM
MAKE IT	Steven Tyler	1973	--	VIDEO	[Q] Steven Tyler: "I wrote 'Make It' in a car driving from New Hampshire to Boston. There's that hill you come to and see the skyline of Boston, and I was sitting in the backseat thinking, What would be the greatest thing to sing for an audience if we were opening up for the...Stones? What would the lyrics say?" (Walk This Way memoir) [P] (Steven Tyler) Steven Tyler – lead vocals, keyboards, harmonica, flute, percussion Joe Perry – guitar, backing vocals Brad Whitford – guitar Tom Hamilton – bass Joey Kramer – drums Produced: Adrian Barber Engineered: Adrian Barber Recorded at: Intermedia Studios, Boston, MA, U.S.A. W

Aerosmith Rocks

Mark I

Mark II

Mark III

Mark I