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OT: The Music Thread: Part X

EvilDead

EvilDead

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Nov 6, 2014
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By the start of the 1980s, Aerosmith was in a bad spot. The band had experienced turmoil after singer Steven Tyler fired Joe Perry over a backstage incident in July of '79. They then saw their other main guitarist Brad Whitford up and leave the band mid recording of the 1982 Rock in a Hard Place album, an album that was utterly dreadful and caused the band to go on hiatus. Not that it mattered much because the Boston based rock band was seeing dwindling attendance numbers across the board by the beginning of the 1980s. And to make it even worse, Steven Tyler was deep in his demons due to his addictions to heroin. Even when the group reunited with the original members in '84, the Back in the Saddle Tour was plagued with incidents as many members of the band were struggling with personal addictions of varying degrees. After an average release in the 1985 release Done With Mirrors and making an agreement with their manager Tim Collins to get clean, the band got an unlikely rebirth in relevancy after doing a crossover with the hip hop group Run DMC and remixing their classic hit "Walk This Way". Already a record into their deal with Geffen, the band were in a bit of an odd spot and needed to figure out how to build on the success they were having. Then, at the request of John Kalodner, along came Bon Jovi's producer Bruce Fairbairn and his famed protege Bob Rock. Fairbairn and Rock came in with a simple premise: refresh your sound to match the bands who were inspired by you and hire some extra help to write the songs. The band, wisely, listened and then produced the best selling album they'd had in a decade in 1987's Permanent Vacation. Gone was the raw production sound, in was a more sleeker and heavy metal influenced sound that matched the decade they were in. Tyler's vocals never sounded better, Perry and Whitford sound great on the guitars, Joey Kramer's drums bring the thunderous punch, and Tom Hamilton's bass ties it all together with Fairbairn and Bob Rock's excellent production work. This album has many classics like "Rag Doll", "Dude (Looks Like a Lady)", and "Angel" as well as some second look gems like "Magic Touch", "Heart's Done Time", and the title track. If there's a complaint that I have about this album it is the need to leave in a cover of a Beatles' track in "I'm Down". We get it guys, you like the Beatles, but I want to listen to songs that aren't covers. Especially when the big hit of Done With Mirrors was a cover of a song done by Joe Perry's side project. Overall though? This was the start of an amazing three album run with Bruce Fairbairn that completely brought back Aerosmith into relevance that, in my opinion, is better than some of their earlier output.




 
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Raleighfern

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EvilDead said:
By the start of the 1980s, Aerosmith was in a bad spot. The band had experienced turmoil after singer Steven Tyler fired Joe Perry over a backstage incident in July of '79. They then saw their other main guitarist Brad Whitford up and leave the band mid recording of the 1982 Rock in a Hard Place album, an album that was utterly dreadful and caused the band to go on hiatus. Not that it mattered much because the Boston based rock band was seeing dwindling attendance numbers across the board by the beginning of the 1980s. And to make it even worse, Steven Tyler was deep in his demons due to his addictions to heroin. Even when the group reunited with the original members in '84, the Back in the Saddle Tour was plagued with incidents as many members of the band were struggling with personal addictions of varying degrees. After an average release in the 1985 release Done With Mirrors and making an agreement with their manager Tim Collins to get clean, the band got an unlikely rebirth in relevancy after doing a crossover with the hip hop group Run DMC and remixing their classic hit "Walk This Way". Already a record into their deal with Geffen, the band were in a bit of an odd spot and needed to figure out how to build on the success they were having. Then, at the request of John Kalodner, along came Bon Jovi's producer Bruce Fairbairn and his famed protege Bob Rock. Fairbairn and Rock came in with a simple premise: refresh your sound to match the bands who were inspired by you and hire some extra help to write the songs. The band, wisely, listened and then produced the best selling album they'd had in a decade in 1987's Permanent Vacation. Gone was the raw production sound, in was a more sleeker and heavy metal influenced sound that matched the decade they were in. Tyler's vocals never sounded better, Perry and Whitford sound great on the guitars, Joey Kramer's drums bring the thunderous punch, and Tom Hamilton's bass ties it all together with Fairbairn and Bob Rock's excellent production work. This album has many classics like "Rag Doll", "Dude (Looks Like a Lady)", and "Angel" as well as some second look gems like "Magic Touch", "Heart's Done Time", and the title track. If there's a complaint that I have about this album it is the need to leave in a cover of a Beatles' track in "I'm Down". We get it guys, you like the Beatles, but I want to listen to songs that aren't covers. Especially when the big hit of Done With Mirrors was a cover of a song done by Joe Perry's side project. Overall though? This was the start of an amazing three album run with Bruce Fairbairn that completely brought back Aerosmith into relevance that, in my opinion, is better than some of their earlier output.




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thanks for posting this. as a kid that grew up in Massachusetts in the early 70's we literally wore the grooves out of the 1st 4 records. I saw them once at the old garden in 78 or 79 (junior or senior year of high school) with Rick derringer and his great band opening and that band kicked ass...Aerosmith not so much. but I was and am a fan for sure.
 
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GordonHowe

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EvilDead said:
By the start of the 1980s, Aerosmith was in a bad spot. The band had experienced turmoil after singer Steven Tyler fired Joe Perry over a backstage incident in July of '79. They then saw their other main guitarist Brad Whitford up and leave the band mid recording of the 1982 Rock in a Hard Place album, an album that was utterly dreadful and caused the band to go on hiatus. Not that it mattered much because the Boston based rock band was seeing dwindling attendance numbers across the board by the beginning of the 1980s. And to make it even worse, Steven Tyler was deep in his demons due to his addictions to heroin. Even when the group reunited with the original members in '84, the Back in the Saddle Tour was plagued with incidents as many members of the band were struggling with personal addictions of varying degrees. After an average release in the 1985 release Done With Mirrors and making an agreement with their manager Tim Collins to get clean, the band got an unlikely rebirth in relevancy after doing a crossover with the hip hop group Run DMC and remixing their classic hit "Walk This Way". Already a record into their deal with Geffen, the band were in a bit of an odd spot and needed to figure out how to build on the success they were having. Then, at the request of John Kalodner, along came Bon Jovi's producer Bruce Fairbairn and his famed protege Bob Rock. Fairbairn and Rock came in with a simple premise: refresh your sound to match the bands who were inspired by you and hire some extra help to write the songs. The band, wisely, listened and then produced the best selling album they'd had in a decade in 1987's Permanent Vacation. Gone was the raw production sound, in was a more sleeker and heavy metal influenced sound that matched the decade they were in. Tyler's vocals never sounded better, Perry and Whitford sound great on the guitars, Joey Kramer's drums bring the thunderous punch, and Tom Hamilton's bass ties it all together with Fairbairn and Bob Rock's excellent production work. This album has many classics like "Rag Doll", "Dude (Looks Like a Lady)", and "Angel" as well as some second look gems like "Magic Touch", "Heart's Done Time", and the title track. If there's a complaint that I have about this album it is the need to leave in a cover of a Beatles' track in "I'm Down". We get it guys, you like the Beatles, but I want to listen to songs that aren't covers. Especially when the big hit of Done With Mirrors was a cover of a song done by Joe Perry's side project. Overall though? This was the start of an amazing three album run with Bruce Fairbairn that completely brought back Aerosmith into relevance that, in my opinion, is better than some of their earlier output.




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Thank you for a fine synopsis.

It is unfortunate you don't enjoy an occasional cover.

Like this one, a favorite,



 
GordonHowe

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Raleighfern said:
thanks for posting this. as a kid that grew up in Massachusetts in the early 70's we literally wore the grooves out of the 1st 4 records. I saw them once at the old garden in 78 or 79 (junior or senior year of high school) with Rick derringer and his great band opening and that band kicked ass...Aerosmith not so much. but I was and am a fan for sure.
Click to expand...



 
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