Incredibly, it’s been about 50 years since Aerosmith debuted, and almost 30 years since I was introduced to one of my timeless favorites. Below are my personal top hits from each album.
Aerosmith (1973)
Top hit: Movin’ Out
Runner-up: One Way Street
Though many will say the band got put on the map by a ballad (Dream On) that truly appealed to the lowest common denominator, what I believe jumpstarted their actual reputation as a pioneer of modern-era ‘hard rock’ are songs like Movin’ Out. It is well ahead of its time with a raw and highly original blend of blues and rock. The song is rich with solid, well-composed guitar riffs, excellent bass line, expansive progressions, and shows off Tyler’s incredible range on vocals. One Way Street is a close second. It’s got many of the same qualities on display with less heaviness and more mellowness.
Get Your Wings (1974)
Top hit: Train Kept A Rollin’
Runner-up: Seasons of Wither
This is probably my favorite Aerosmith album. I wish I could list all of its tracks as favorites, but I think Train Kept A Rollin’ takes the cake. Excellent riffs, scales, and rhythm guitar that just keep building throughout the song. It just embodies all the fundamentals of liberating but disciplined rock guitar.
Seasons of Wither is a close second, but for completely different reasons. It is quite simple but exceptionally ‘hooky’. Its use of sequential broken chords in the third bar has been subsequently copied by other bands countless times; it is especially common in many 80-90s ‘soft’ rock/pop tunes. Though the song itself is probably a derivative of something before its time, it is undoubtedly a beautifully-written ballad.
Toys in the Attic (1975)
Top hit: No More No More
Runner-up: You See Me Crying
This album contains a number of majorly underrated songs. No More No More is Aerosmith rock at its purest. An excellent arpeggio for an intro, an inventive base riff of bar chord progressions, and an epic 90 second outro define this catchy yet raw track.
You See Me Crying is an underrated ballad. The song contains very raw sounding instrumentals that elicits roller coaster emotions. If you don’t know why Tyler is an all-time great vocalist, this is a good track to get initiated.
As a side note, many rock fans probably would put Walk This Way and/or Sweet Emotion on their lists. But to nitpick, the relatively more repetitive and polished nature (especially with Walk This Way) bring them down a notch against other great tunes in this loaded album.
Rocks (1976)
Top hit: Sick As A Dog
Runner-up: Nobody’s Fault
Sick As A Dog is more of the awesome bass line and guitar riffs that defined the band in the first two albums. But unlike the earlier albums, this tune is quite smooth and refined in its transition from a blues-rock influence to pure rock n roll.
Nobody’s Fault is arguably the heaviest hard rock tune by Aerosmith. It was quite innovative at the time. To me, it is perhaps more influential than bigger hits like Back in the Saddle. In the years since, this song has been cited by a number of famous rock musicians as an all-time favorite, sort of serving as a precursor to some of the mainstream hard rock and heavy metal that came into focus in the 80s.
Draw The Line - Done With Mirrors (1977-1985)
Top hits: N/A
True to the opinion of many diehard fans, this time period was a lost era for Aerosmith, what with the drug abuse, infighting, and the departure of Perry and Whitford (heart and soul of their groove in my biased opinion as a guitar player). As such, I don’t have any qualified top hits to offer from this era.
Permanent Vacation (1987)
Top hit: Angel
Runner-up: Permanent Vacation
To me, this comeback album marks the band’s transition to pop music from blues & hard rock, as evidenced by the popular ballad Angel. The song is able to strike all the right emotions and becomes a recipe that would be ‘reused’ again and again in its subsequent albums.
Permanent Vacation, the album’s namesake, is an underrated return to its rock n roll roots. I certainly enjoy it more than the higher profile hits like Dude Looks Like a Lady and Rag Doll, which actually sound slightly annoying given their identity crisis (is it pop or rock??). My theory is those commercial hits were the necessary evils to make the band relevant again after the lost years.
Pump (1989)
Top hit: The Other Side
Runner-up: Janie’s Got A Gun
Pump was as close as the band would get to its old school rock n roll days in the ‘70s, in my opinion. The Other Side was exceptionally underrated given other catchier tracks. It’s one of those high energy tunes that is probably better experienced live in concert. There’s also a kick-ass solo to boot.
Janie’s Got A Gun may be technically barren and somewhat lacking in complexity, but it may also be the darkest (what a crazy plot!) and most unique Aerosmith song - i.e. it is a psychedelic and ‘sorta-progressive-but-not-quite’ rock tune - so it gets the nod from me here as a close second.
Get A Grip (1993)
Top hit: Living On The Edge
Runner-up: Shut Up and Dance
I think the Billboards got this one right. Living On The Edge as a rock tune is in a class of its own. It can easily be carved into 3 separate sections (maybe more) and I feel like I’m experiencing a series of progressively better plot twists within. Furthermore, the amount of anguish that the instrumentals are able to express is impressive.
Shut Up And Dance is your typical ‘wake up the crowd’ song. Loads of fun with bar chords, riffs, and provocative vocals to knock any rock or pop fan out of a stupor and back into the groove.
Nine Lives (1997)
Top hit: Hole in My Soul
This was not a tough choice as I believe Nine Lives was the band’s weakest album. Many of the ‘classic rock’ Aerosmith fans would probably find the album too much like experimental pop. Hole In My Soul evokes the memories of their prior successful and emotion-provoking power ballads just enough to warrant my pick.
Just Push Play (2001)
Top hit: Beyond Beautiful
The album overall was a bit of a bounce back from Nine Lives. Beyond Beautiful is like the Energizer Bunny of rock. It’s sneaky good with an excellent heavy bass line that had shades of Train Kept A Rollin’. The solo overlays were also very well done. There were definitely other solid tracks in this album, but to me none seemed close to challenging this hell of an opener. Besides, how do you say no to these lyrics:
“Yeah, she's a beyond beautiful… Yeah, she's never been nobody's fool that you could fuck with.”
Honking On Bobo (2004)
Top hit: The Grind
This one is an easy choice, since the rest of the album are covers of classic blues songs. Overall it’s a nice exploration of the band’s blues background and influence, especially from Joe Perry who co-wrote the track.
Music From Another Dimension (2012)
Top hit: What Could Have Been Love
Runner-up: Legendary Child
In their final studio album, I struggled to rank the above top two hits. I gave the edge to their final hit ballad because I believe it was vastly underrated at the time when in fact I think it truly measures up to the other late-80s and 90s hit ballads that (somewhat ironically) prolonged Aerosmith’s relevance and made them rock n roll immortals.
Speaking of legends, Legendary Child was an exceptional tune as well, but it falls victim to being a bit too familiar. It seems recycled from some of their 90s material. Still, this had plenty of signature Perry riffs and catchy melodies - not quite a return to the glorious 70s but still a great way to sign off.