Aerosmith 'Rocks' - the first punk-dub album?

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I've been addicted to "Nobody's Fault" for the past two weeks. Tyler's phrasing is incredible in this song. He really delivers the woozy drug lyric in an inimitable manner. And Perry - can't say enough about the guy. Tone central.

― Brooker Buckingham (Brooker B), Saturday, 15 April 2006 15:10 (eighteen years ago) link

Stormy otm re Joey Kramer. 'Get The Lead Out' is undeniable proof of Kramer's grooviness. He belongs up there with Charlie Watts and Phil Rudd in the 'My band would suck without me' club.

― dr lulu (dr lulu), Saturday, 15 April 2006 15:15 (eighteen years ago) link

Man, Rocks makes me cry every time I hear a new Aerosmith song on the radio... They were SO RIGHT and have gone SO WRONG.

― js (honestengine), Saturday, 15 April 2006 16:54 (eighteen years ago) link

the part (ok, "bridge") in "Sick As A Dog" when it all opens up ... just Joe and Joey .... such a breath of fresh air in this unrelenting album.

what the fuck is Tyler doing with his voice on "Nobody's Fault"? weird. he was kind of awesomely intelligent back in the day.

― Stormy Davis (diamond), Sunday, 16 April 2006 05:55 (eighteen years ago) link

Yes, Aerosmith made some good records in the distant past. However there is nothing punk about them and nary an iota in their catalog that could possibly pass for funk. So what if they cover JB? Are you gonna tell me that the Black Crows cover of hard to handle is "Soul" ?

Furthermore,their last twenty years of pop schlock material penned by hacks like Desmond Child completely cancels out whatever musical good the US Stones did in the 70s.

― Uncle Tom (Uncle Tom), Sunday, 16 April 2006 06:22 (eighteen years ago) link

However there is nothing punk about them and nary an iota in their catalog that could possibly pass for funk

oh, c'mon you can find punk, funk, metal or whatever in anything if you look hard enough. chuck eddy's made a career out of this!

― latebloomer: Ambassador With Training In Righteousness (latebloomer), Sunday, 16 April 2006 06:31 (eighteen years ago) link

thats not a dis btw

― latebloomer: Ambassador With Training In Righteousness (latebloomer), Sunday, 16 April 2006 06:32 (eighteen years ago) link

Uncle Tom, name me a funkier heavy gtr band than this lot.
Aerosmith are funky + AC/DC swing. Just is.

― dr lulu (dr lulu), Sunday, 16 April 2006 09:50 (eighteen years ago) link

Does anyone know where I might find a list of all Aerosmith gigs? I have this memory of seeing them in a very small venue in about 1986 and it's bugged me for years because common sense says that shouldn't have happened. Another thing is I have the memory that Fishbone opened for them, but it could be that was just another gig at the same venue.

― Porcupine Kiss, Novacaine Lips (Bimble...), Sunday, 16 April 2006 19:14 (eighteen years ago) link

Furthermore,their last twenty years of pop schlock material penned by hacks like Desmond Child completely cancels out whatever musical good the US Stones did in the 70s.

Funny thing, I don't feel this when I'm listening to Rocks or a Night in the Ruts super fuckin; loud. Yes, modern Aerosmith sux but nothing can diminish just how good they were for a good chunk of the '70s.

I've been on a big Peter Green-era Mac kick, and I realized that Aerosmith were really influenced by them.

― QuantumNoise (Justin Farrar), Monday, 17 April 2006 00:09 (eighteen years ago) link

Peter Green-era Mac is the FUCKING BOMB!

Yeah, Aerosmith really was a logical extension of the late-60s british blues boom, with some street funk thrown in to the mix.

― Brooker Buckingham (Brooker B), Monday, 17 April 2006 01:00 (eighteen years ago) link

one month passes...

OK, I can't get enough of this album. For every reason listed above, and more. It's like they were the most natural amalgam of funk, stones swagger, zep thud without the fairies and crowley. So there they are at the 70s end of "the" continuum - strains of 50s chess chicago blues, the rave up, the garage rock snear, yet somehow always managing to sidestep the excess of 70s rock. the bravado is there, but the nonsense and the indulgence is nowhere to be seen, musically speaking.

And then I can just picture little Westerberg and Malkmus listening to this and going "oh yeah".

Sick As A Dog? C'mon. What is going on there?

― Brooker Buckingham (Brooker B), Friday, 19 May 2006 00:47 (seventeen years ago) link

"Lick and a Promise"

― Chris Ott (Chris Ott), Friday, 19 May 2006 01:19 (seventeen years ago) link

Like the ideas. I appreciate the LP on a simpler, more conventional level. 70s hard rock was one of the purer strains of rock. Cut out every last extraneous element. Result: the single purest album of that pure form--and it's not even overly long. And then on the famously fitting cover, put a line of 'fishscale'...well maybe just a picture of 5 of the purest stones on earth onto black with just the band name and 'ROCKS'.

― Carlos Keith (Buck_Wilde), Friday, 19 May 2006 02:20 (seventeen years ago) link

Brooker you rock! every peep needs to recognize the genius of this lp

― Stormy Davis (diamond), Friday, 19 May 2006 04:24 (seventeen years ago) link

god, i mean the rave-up at the end of of "Rats in the Cellar" is just freaking mind-blowing. They thought they were their idols the Yardbirds with 20-foot stacks... which they were

― Stormy Davis (diamond), Friday, 19 May 2006 04:30 (seventeen years ago) link

listening ... this might be my fave rock album of all time ... this or Exile... wow

― Stormy Davis (diamond), Friday, 19 May 2006 04:41 (seventeen years ago) link

Sorry to be a month late with the response, but I was on tour.

Name a funkier heavy guitar band than Aerosmith? Are you frigging kidding me?

How about P-Funk for starters. Cosmic Slop is 1,000,000 times heavier or funkier than the former bad boys from beantown ever were.

― Uncle Tom (Uncle Tom), Friday, 19 May 2006 05:13 (seventeen years ago) link

listening on headphones the other night I discovered all this crazy shit going on just underthe music during "Back in the Saddle". Nice work Jack Douglas.

Also, Hamilton's bass playing is underrated. His work is exceptional on this record (as well as on "Toys in the Attic")

― kwhitehead (stephen schmidt), Friday, 19 May 2006 14:33 (seventeen years ago) link

"As to the weirdness of Rocks's mix: Has ANYBODY ever heard any (alleged) banjo ANYWHERE on this record? Credits say Paul Prestopino played one, yet there's nary a trace of one to be found, at least according to my ears...
-- Myonga Von Bontee (scottyfield...), April 14th, 2006."

The banjo's on 'Last Child' but mixed way low in the 'home sweet home' bits, it sounds a little like a voice. And it's played with a slide, just to confuse things a little more.

― dr lulu (dr lulu), Friday, 19 May 2006 14:40 (seventeen years ago) link

What is it about spring 2006??? It's like everyone received the brain-signal from deep under the mountain that it's time to listen to Rocks again - just two weeks ago me and some friends of mine put on the vinyl of the first album, Toys in the Attic, Draw the Line and Rocks and when we were finished we played them all again, we could NOT get enough.

― Tracey Hand (tracerhand), Friday, 19 May 2006 14:41 (seventeen years ago) link

Went out on my lunch break and bought the first four Aerosmith discs at Best Buy. Rocks, which I had never heard before in its entirety, is indeed pretty fucking great. These guys were great. What ever happened to them? Why'd they only put out five studio albums and that Live Bootleg thing?

― pdf (Phil Freeman), Friday, 19 May 2006 18:53 (seventeen years ago) link

Eh?

― Tracey Hand (tracerhand), Friday, 19 May 2006 19:07 (seventeen years ago) link

Eh?X2.

― kwhitehead (stephen schmidt), Friday, 19 May 2006 19:19 (seventeen years ago) link

Well, as near as I can tell, Aerosmith disappeared completely from the rock landscape sometime in 1979 or so. Which is confusing, because those five albums were great.

― pdf (Phil Freeman), Friday, 19 May 2006 19:24 (seventeen years ago) link

ten months pass...

I just bought a old vinyl copy of Draw the Line...damn this album smokes for some reason I thought it was supposed to be a dud, but this is great stuff! So coked out.

Does anyone have an opinion on Night in the Ruts? I know there's no Perry, but I've always been curious.

― M@tt He1ges0n, Tuesday, 10 April 2007 23:20 (seventeen years ago) link

Amazing - last time I saw this thread revived I was out of town, visiting parents. And here I am again! Thanks for the reply Dr. Lulu, if yr out there.

I like Draw The Line too, especially "Bright Light Fright" - maybe Joe Perry shoulda sung more. Or did vocals for his own Project. Never heard Right In The Nuts except for the two biggies. I can only WISH they'd vanished entirely after the 70s like Phil thuoght. (Tho Done With Mirrors was respectable.)

― Myonga Vön Bontee, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 00:20 (seventeen years ago) link

Rocks is a monster. I love how they're never satisfied to just have one or two riffs in a song. They always switch it up and throw in a few twists and turns, like at the end of "Combination"--shit just comes out of nowhere.

― Johnny Hotcox, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 00:33 (seventeen years ago) link

I agree with Myonga, Draw The Lineis better than even the bandmembers think, though I can understand their dismissing it now cause they were all coke-binged out at the time of recording. "the only thing on tv is the good morning news"

― m coleman, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 10:15 (seventeen years ago) link

Uncle Tom, name me a funkier heavy gtr band than this lot.
Aerosmith are funky + AC/DC swing. Just is.

-- dr lulu (dr lulu), Sunday, April 16, 2006 5:50 AM (11 months ago)

ZZ Top

― am0n, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 15:43 (seventeen years ago) link

Funkadelic duh.

― Dimension 5ive, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 15:54 (seventeen years ago) link

gygax! OTM

― Steve Shasta, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 16:25 (seventeen years ago) link

Funkadelic duh.

-- Dimension 5ive, Wednesday, April 11, 2007 11:54 AM (31 minutes ago)

read the thread DUH

How about P-Funk for starters. Cosmic Slop is 1,000,000 times heavier or funkier than the former bad boys from beantown ever were.

― am0n, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 16:27 (seventeen years ago) link

haha oops, missed that one

oh I have a good one: FUNKADELIC

― Dimension 5ive, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 16:31 (seventeen years ago) link

no fucking way is p-funk heavier than back in the saddle...or funkier than walk this way.

― M@tt He1ges0n, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 16:32 (seventeen years ago) link

oh dear lord...

― Steve Shasta, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 16:37 (seventeen years ago) link

Eli Eli Lama Sabacthani

― Dimension 5ive, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 16:39 (seventeen years ago) link

honestly, i'm not saying aerosmith is a super funk band but i just don't like funkadelic as much as i "should"...i should give them a try again. maybe i'll like it more.

― M@tt He1ges0n, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 16:49 (seventeen years ago) link

you dont have to like them m@tt but damn to say that they didnt rock as hard as aerosmith or werent as funky...that's just unusual, and means you might be talking more about parliament than funkadelic. get thee to a copy of 'maggot brain' tout de suite my friend!

― Dimension 5ive, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 16:59 (seventeen years ago) link

i've heard maggot brain the song...i mean, it's a cool guitar solo and everything.

yeah i might be wrong on this, sometimes i don't like stuff for years then i end up loving it...but one thing that really hit me in one chuck eddy book was where he was saying how basically no one admits how tedious p-funk can be at times.

*but i am no expert on them by any means.

― M@tt He1ges0n, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 17:08 (seventeen years ago) link

yeah but chuck is sometimes a doodyhead, and maybe i should have indicated maggot brain the album instead of "maggot brain" the song. also there are many other funkadelic songs that i could mention if i wanted to derail the thread but i don't

BECAUSE I ALSO LOVE AEROSMITH IN ALL THEIR GLORY AND I AM NOT HATING ON THEM BY ANY MEANS

― Dimension 5ive, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 17:24 (seventeen years ago) link

alright aerosmith is cool. let's focus on the issues.

would still be interested in any more opinions on night in the ruts.

i have done w/mirros on cassette somewhere, i remember it being good when i was a kid, i wonder if it holds up?

― M@tt He1ges0n, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 17:34 (seventeen years ago) link

i remember my friend sam and i being confused by the darkness of sound on 'night in the ruts,' but we loved the title haha lol

― Dimension 5ive, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 17:40 (seventeen years ago) link

M@tt, seek ye out Music For Your Mother...

http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:dvftxqugldhe

...the finest Funkadelic comp out there. And if you get nothing out of it, that's that.

And Chuck had a lot more praise for Funkadelic in his earlier book! And also in an '86 Creem Metal piece called "The REAL Black Metal". (First C.E. thing I ever read, I believe.)

― Myonga Vön Bontee, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 17:54 (seventeen years ago) link

If Aerosmith's done anything heavier than "Super Stupid" I haven't heard it.

― Bill Magill, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 21:59 (seventeen years ago) link

man you should check out "livin' on the edge"!

― M@tt He1ges0n, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 22:18 (seventeen years ago) link

man you should check out "standing on the verge"!

― Myonga Vön Bontee, Thursday, 12 April 2007 03:06 (seventeen years ago) link

i'm seeing the two bands playing on different stages, slowly coming together until they're both rocking out OMG METAL ZANADU

― Dimension 5ive, Thursday, 12 April 2007 04:37 (seventeen years ago) link

"Pink" or "Jaded" by Aerosmith may actually out-heavy "Super Stupid" and be in "Supernaut" or "Into the Void" territory though, on second thought.

― Bill Magill, Thursday, 12 April 2007 16:32 (seventeen years ago) link

still really digging draw the line...the cover of milk cow blues is really epic, all bad vibes and druggie dread.

― M@tt He1ges0n, Thursday, 12 April 2007 16:35 (seventeen years ago) link

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that houston show is just peak awesomeness. those guitars....man oh man. everyone sounds great. punk-dub echo on the vocals sound so cool. epic funky lord of the thighs.

― scott seward, Wednesday, 4 November 2015 15:17 (eight years ago) link

amateurist otm

― brimstead, Wednesday, 4 November 2015 18:48 (eight years ago) link

the guitar solos on "nobody's fault"... hell "nobody's fault" on its own is just ridiculous. and "sick as a dog" is punk as fuck, imo

― brimstead, Wednesday, 4 November 2015 18:50 (eight years ago) link

i think i said this in the other rocks thread but imo you can hear r.e.m. being born in "sick as a dog"

― insufficiently familiar with xgau's work to comment intelligently (BradNelson), Wednesday, 4 November 2015 18:53 (eight years ago) link

R.E.M. actually covered 'Toys In The Attic'!

Yeah, this album rules and this band were totally on fire in the '70s... that they didn't end up really getting much commercial success here in the UK until their best years were long behind them will always have me scratching my head.

― Turrican, Wednesday, 4 November 2015 19:10 (eight years ago) link

I think I'm gonna play this album really loudly when I get home today

― sleeve, Wednesday, 4 November 2015 19:16 (eight years ago) link

that houston show made my morning. i was almost late for work. so cool. i never really listen to aerosmith anymore. they are kinda just a part of my dna thanks to years of exposure. my brother worshipped them.

― scott seward, Wednesday, 4 November 2015 19:37 (eight years ago) link

my brother went to this show. it was the rock event of his summer.

http://theconcertdatabase.com/sites/theconcertdatabase.com/files/1978-08-06.jpg

― scott seward, Wednesday, 4 November 2015 19:39 (eight years ago) link

Not cheap!

― Three Word Username, Wednesday, 4 November 2015 19:50 (eight years ago) link

Seriously, I don't see a date on that poster, but that's mid '80s pricing, not '70s pricing. (Woulda been a hell of a show, though.)

― the top man in the language department (誤訳侮辱), Wednesday, 4 November 2015 20:06 (eight years ago) link

1978

― new noise, Wednesday, 4 November 2015 20:18 (eight years ago) link

yeah, '78. my dad took him. but would my dad take me to see maiden and priest in new haven in 1982? noooooooooo.....

― scott seward, Wednesday, 4 November 2015 20:31 (eight years ago) link

Just lost an evening to that '77 show upthread.

― Elvis Telecom, Thursday, 5 November 2015 08:09 (eight years ago) link

four years pass...

like what IS that thing at the end of "Back in the Saddle"? Apparently a 27-string bass, could just as well be a tuba or an exploding meth lab.

― "...And the Gods Socially Distanced" (C. Grisso/McCain), Thursday, 28 May 2020 23:55 (three years ago) link

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