Other Great Metal Influences, Part 3, Aerosmith

Of all the rock bands that existed throughout the 70s and 80s, there has been no one to match the effect Aerosmtith have had. If you were to read their story without knowing them, you would be convinced that it was a totoal work of fiction. Aerosmith are the ultimate rock and roll story of fame to bust to fame again.

Aerosmith first appeared on the rock scene in 1973, with the hit "Dream On" which is still popular enough for them to play as an encore in their kick ass live shows. Throughout the mid to late 70s, they had a string of albums that established them as one of the top rock bands of the decade. For me, it was hearing the "Toys in the Attic" album which first turned me onto them and taught me that Aerosmith were for real.

Unfortuately, like a lot of great artists, Aerosmith fell into the trappings of stardom and slipped into the minefield of sex, drugs and rock and roll. By the band's own admission, by the late 70s, they were making records to pay their drug dealers. This led to their rapid decline in the very late 70s and early 80s. Of course during that time, was the infamous bottle incident where Aeromith said they would never come back to Philadelphia again.
During the period in the early to mid 80s where Aerosmith were almost banished to the realms of obscurity, they had a couple of line up changes which didn't help them either. However, in 1986, things got better for the band. First, the original line up reformed.

Steve Tyler- vocals

Joe Perry- lead guitar

Brad Whitman- guitar

Tom Hamilton- bass

Joey Kramer- drums

While the album "Done With Mirrors" did okay, it wasn't a best seller. However, it did introduce a new generation of metal heads to this classic band. It was on this tour, where I had the pleasure of seeing them live. Even though they hadn't quite forgiven Philadelphia for the bottle incident, they still played a killer show. However, their big break back to the big time came from a totally unexpected source, when they were asked by rap artists Run DMC to join them in recording a copy of the Aerosmith classic, "Walk This Way." Since then, Aerosmith have been unstoppable in their quest for world domination and stand alone on the plateau of great artists.

Many heavy metal acts since the 80s have sited these guys as one of their influences and acts still do. Aerosmith's contribution to rock and heavy metal has been beyond all comparison.

 Next post: Rush

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