#229 - Aerosmith - Toys in the Attic (1975)

MUSIC HISTORY COMPILED BY ADAM BERNARD:

BACKGROUND – AEROSMITH

Aerosmith is an American rock band, sometimes referred to as “The Bad Boys from Boston” and “America’s Greatest Rock and Roll Band.” Formed in 1970, its founding members are Steven Tyler (vocals, keyboards, harmonica), Tom Hamilton (bass), Joey Kramer (drums), Joe Perry (guitar, vocals) and Brad Whitford (guitar). The band released their debut studio album in 1973 featuring the single “Dream On,” which remains one of their most popular songs. Their next four albums made them rock stars across the US and Canada, spawning the hits “Sweet Emotion”, “Last Child”, “Walk This Way”, “Back In The Saddle”, “Draw The Line”, and a cover of “Come Together”. The primary songwriting team of Tyler and Perry are sometimes referred to as the "Toxic Twins". 

In 1964, Steven Tyler formed his own band called the Strangeurs—later Chain Reaction—in Yonkers, New York. Meanwhile, Perry and Hamilton formed the Jam Band (commonly known as "Joe Perry's Jam Band"), which was based on free-form and blues. Hamilton and Perry moved to Boston in 1969, and met Joey Kramer, a drummer from Yonkers. Kramer knew Tyler and had always hoped to play in a band with him. Kramer, a Berklee College of Music student, decided to leave the school, and joined Jam Band. In 1970, Chain Reaction and Jam Band played at the same gig. Tyler immediately loved Jam Band's sound, and wanted to combine the two bands. In October 1970, the bands met up again and considered the proposition. Tyler, who had been a drummer and backup singer in Chain Reaction, adamantly refused to play drums in this new band, insisting that he would take part only if he could be frontman and lead vocalist. The others agreed, and a new band was formed. The band moved into a home together in Boston, where they wrote and rehearsed music together. The members of the band reportedly spent afternoons getting high and watching Three Stooges reruns. One day, they had a post-Stooges meeting to try to come up with a name. Kramer said that, when he was in school, he would write the word "aerosmith" all over his notebooks. Initially, Kramer's bandmates were unimpressed; they all thought he was referring to the Sinclair Lewis novel they were required to read in high school English class. "No, not Arrowsmith," Kramer explained. "A-E-R-O...Aerosmith." The band settled upon this name after also considering "the Hookers" and "Spike Jones". They were also known as "Fox Chase" briefly. Aerosmith played their first gig in Mendon, Massachusetts at a High School in November 1970. 

After forming the band and finalizing the lineup in 1971, the band started to garner some local success doing live shows. The band soon signed a promotion deal and eventually secured a management deal in 1972. Managment invited Columbia Records President Clive Davis to see the band at Max's Kansas City in New York City. Aerosmith was not originally scheduled to play that night at the club, but they paid out of their own pockets to secure a place on the bill, reportedly the only band ever to do so at Max's. "No Surprize" from their Night in the Ruts album celebrated the moment their fame rose.

Aerosmith released their self titled debut album in January 1973, and peaked at number 166. The album was straightforward rock and roll with well-defined blues influences, laying the groundwork for Aerosmith's signature blues rock sound. Although the highest-charting single from the album was "Dream On" at number 59, several tracks, such as "Mama Kin" and "Walkin' the Dog", would become staples on rock radio, and the album went gold. After constant touring, the band released their second album Get Your Wings in 1974, the first of a string of multi-platinum albums produced by Jack Douglas. This album included the rock radio hits "Same Old Song and Dance" and "Train Kept A-Rollin'", a cover done previously by the Yardbirds. The album went on to sell over 3 million copies. In 1975, Aerosmith released their third album, Toys in the Attic, which established Aerosmith as international stars, competing with the likes of Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones. Originally derided as Rolling Stones knockoffs in part due to the physical resemblance between lead singers Steven Tyler and Mick Jagger, Toys in the Attic showed that Aerosmith was a unique and talented band in their own right. Today's album was an immediate success, starting with the single "Sweet Emotion", which became the band's first Top 40 hit. This was followed by a successful re-release of "Dream On" which hit No. 6, becoming their best charting single of the 1970s. "Walk This Way", re-released in 1976, reached the Top 10 in early 1977.  As a result of this success, both of the band's previous albums re-charted., with Toys in the Attic going on to become the band's bestselling studio album in the United States. The band toured in support of Toys in the Attic, where they started to get more recognition.

In 1976, Aerosmith's fourth album was Rocks, which has been described as "captur[ing] Aerosmith at their most raw and rocking". It went platinum swiftly and featured two Top 40 hits, "Last Child" and "Back in the Saddle" Both Toys in the Attic and Rocks are highly regarded, and are cited as influential by members of Guns N' Roses, Metallica, and Mötley Crüe. Kurt Cobain also listed Rocks as one of the albums he thought were most influential to Nirvana's sound in his journal in 1993. Soon after Rocks was released, the band continued to tour heavily, this time headlining their own shows, including large stadiums and rock festivals.

Before the release of their fifth album Draw The Line, the band’s substance abuse began to destroy them.Perry quit after a backstage fight with Tyler in 1979, and Whitfield left two years later. Despite moderate sales, the band’s fifth, sixth and seventh albums were considered flops when compared to the band’s past accomplishments. When Perry and Whitford returned in 1984, their eighth album Done With Mirrors was also deemed unsuccessful despite strong reviews, and also had started to become a little bit of a joke in the public eye. In 1986, Tyler & Perry were recruited for a collaboration with rap group Run DMC for a groundbreaking hip-hop-meets-rock reworking of “Walk This Way” – an idea of Run DMC’s label head/producer Rick Rubin. The song was a surprise international smash hit, reaching the top 10 in eight countries. This, combined with the band going clean & sober, and allowing help from outside songwriters, led to what’s been called ‘one of the most impressive career comebacks in rock history’ with their ninth album Permanent Vacation. The album spawned three top 20 US hits that also had a moderate impact overseas. A0erosmith’s next three albums Pump, Get A Grip and Nine Lives would rack up nine more top 40 US hits. And their 1998 Diane Warren-penned chart-topper “I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing” for the film Armageddon would propel the band even further into worldwide stardom, reaching the top 5 in eight countries.

Aerosmith is the best-selling American hard rock band of all time, having sold more than 150 million records worldwide, including over 85 million records in the United States. With 25 gold, 18 platinum, and 12 multi-platinum albums, they hold the record for the most total certifications by an American group. They have achieved twenty-one Top 40 hits on the US Hot 100, nine number-one Mainstream Rock hits, four Grammy Awards, six American Music Awards, and ten MTV Video Music Awards. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001. In 2013, Tyler and Perry were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and in 2020, the band received the MusiCares Person of the Year award. 

According to Perry, Eddie Van Halen once told him that his band Van Halen"started out on the suburban L.A. club circuit, playing Aerosmith songs".Aerosmith's influence was evident on the next generation of hard rockand heavy metal, with bands like Mötley Crüe, Guns N' Roses, L.A. Guns, Skid Row, the Black Crowes, Metallica, Stone Temple Pilots & Nirvana (among others) citing Aerosmith as an influence.  Especially, Guns N' Roses and Velvet Revolverguitarist Slash, who calls Aerosmith is his favorite band. Mötley Crüe's Nikki Sixxhas expressed massive admiration for the band and its early records.

ALBUM BACKGROUND – TOYS IN THE ATTIC

Toys in the Attic is the third studio album by American rock band Aerosmith, released in April 8 1975.  The album is the band's most commercially successful studio LP in the United States, with nine million copies sold, Toys in the Attic peaked at #11 on Billboard’s 200 chart. 

For Aerosmith's previous album, Get Your Wings, the band had begun working with record producer Jack Douglas, who co-produced that album with Ray Colcord. In the liner notes to the 1993 reissue of Greatest Hits, it was said by an unnamed member of the group that they "nailed" the album. According to Douglas, "Aerosmith was a different band when we started the third album. They'd been playing Get Your Wings on the road for a year and had become better players - different. It showed in the riffs that Joe [Perry] and Brad [Whitford] brought back from the road for the next album. Toys in the Attic was a much more sophisticated record than the other stuff they'd done." Joe Perry stated, "When we started to make Toys in the Attic, our confidence was built up from constant touring. Our first two albums were basically comprised of songs we'd been playing for years live in the clubs. With Toys, we started from scratch. Making this record, we learned to be recording artists and write songs on a deadline. In the process, we began to see just what Aerosmith could accomplish. With everyone throwing in ideas, Toys was our breakthrough. That breakthrough was facilitated by Jack Douglas... In the studio he moved into the slot of the sixth member of the band.

After nearly getting off the ground with Get Your Wings, Aerosmith finally perfected their mix of raunch and riffing with their third album, Toys in the Attic. The success of this album came from a combination of increased songwriting skills and an increased sense of purpose. Not only does Joe Perry turn out top-notch riffs like “Walk This Way,” “Toys in the Attic,” and “Sweet Emotion,” but Steven Tyler has fully embraced sleaziness as his artistic muse. Tyler taking his cue from the old dirty blues, and complemented by Joe Perry’s dirty, exaggerated riffing, that gives the album a greasy backing sound. No other hard rock band sounded like this. Aerosmith was a gritty, street-wise rock band who were in it for a good time.