BY MICHAEL GOODPASTER
(FOUR) BACK IN THE SADDLE
”Rocks”(1977) - Even if you don’t like Aerosmith, you MUST appreciate this song. The buildup, the hard groove, and the electricity of Steven Tyler’s voice are outstanding. Those first words shouted at us of “Baaaaaaaack In The Saddle Again” come at us as if we’re being snuck up on by rock and roll itself. In many ways, we were.
(THREE) LIVIN’ ON THE EDGE
”Get a Grip”(1993) - This whole album is pretty much classic now. I went with “Livin’ On The Edge” because it was the most explosive and rocked the most, but the album is strong as hell on the main ballads. “Cryin’”, “Amazing”, and “Crazy” three of the biggest rock ballads ever. There is rarely a day when you listen to a classic rock station and not hear at least one of these at least once. The videos were great and complimented the great songs just as well. There was the bluesy “Shut Up and Dance” that was awesome in “Wayne’s World 2” and “Eat the Rich” is a good one too. I just had to go with “Livin’ On The Edge”. It was the reason I got my parents to buy me the cassette and the main reason I want to get my hands on this album again.
(TWO) WALK THIS WAY
RUN-DMC’s ”Raising Hell”(1986) - The original version is good stuff, but when RUN DMC did their mix on this it became a great song. It’s iconic for so many reasons that I won’t even get into them all here. It’s the first song to combine rock and roll and hip hop music. It is just about single handily responsible for revolutionizing and blurring genre lines and pretty much brought Aerosmith back into the spotlight. As a kid my dad had the “Toys in the Attic” album that the original version was on. I wanted the RUN DMC version so I did what the guy in the music video did. I scratched it thinking I could magically make it sound like the 86 version. Yeah, no luck and if my dad asks, I still have no idea where that album is.
(ONE) SWEET EMOTION
”Toys In The Attic”(1975) - If you’ve seen a movie about the 70’s, smoked marijuana with old people, or ever listened to a rock and roll radio station then you’ve heard then song about a dozen million times. The guitar riffs, the bass line, the drumming, and the vocals are 100% perfect here. What happens in this song is magic. I’m not going to exaggerate when I say this is one of the greatest songs of all time. One of MANY “greatest songs of all time” by Aerosmith.
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