If you love power ballads then you know who Aerosmith is. Power ballads are what made this band famous after all. The band began back in the seventies with the release of their first album, the self-titled Aerosmith. Originally, the band consisted of Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, Brad Whitford, Tom Hamilton and Joey Kramer and they had met in 1970 and played together for two years before finally landing a record deal.

Aerosmith was released in 1973 and contained the songs “Dream On”, “Walkin’ The Dog”, and “Mama Kin”. “Dream On” would be the band’s first hit single and performed well for the group for much of the 70’s. Tyler did an exceptional job performing this song and showed the world his impressive vocal range with it as well.

Their sound is bluesy but also has elements of pop infused within it. It was a definite rock sound for the time but is now considered to be more of a classic rock sound and feel. Aerosmith has always been good at making the power ballad, you know, the slow tempo complimented by long voiced notes. Much of their work is based on this principle.

The great thing about this band is the unforgettable lyrics and snazzy guitar playing. I mean, Aerosmith songs have that time-less appeal to them, not because they are extremely emotional but because they are good, solid songs.

Another great thing about this band is how diverse they were. They made ground breaking advances in music by combining and working with various styles of music.

They mixed genre’s complimenting R&B with a rock sound to create something people had never heard before. I don’t even know what you’d call it to tell you the truth because both Rock and R&B have a blues influence so you couldn’t call it the blues. It had too much of a dance feel to be blues anyway. An example of this would be “Walk This Way” which was also performed with hip-hop artists Run DMC.

After the release of their self-titled album the band began touring professionally and began work on their next album Get Your Wings which was released in 1974. Songs showcased on this record feature “Same Old Song and Dance”, “Lord of the Thighs” and “Pandora’s Box”. While this album was pretty solid, it only had a handful of rememberable tracks with “Same Old Song and Dance” being the most prominent.

The band continued to tour and then released yet another album the next year in ‘75 titled Toys in the Attic. Songs from this work feature “Walk this Way”, “Sweet Emotion”, and “Toys in the Attic”. “Sweet Emotion” is such a great song, the way the long intro just kind of tosses you into the otherwise choppy sounding lyrics. I really like the guitar in this song too and Joe Perry does an awesome job on this track.

The best thing about this band is their ability to tell a story even if sometimes the stories have a strange topic. Like “Dude Looks Like A Lady”, seriously, what’s up with that? I mean, it’s still a good song but it’s one of those songs that just make you want to go “What?”. Another good thing about this group is how they use Alicia Silverstone in most of their music videos. Great choice Aerosmith, really.

In 1976 the band releases their next album, this time calling the album Rocks. Songs on this album feature such works as “Back in the Saddle”, “Combination”, and “Get the Lead Out”. “Back in the Saddle” was another solid hit for the group as they continued to tour around the country and work on their next album.

This album arrived in 1977 in the form of Draw the Line. Songs on this album were “Get it Up”, “Bright Light Fright” and “Draw the Line”. This album didn’t do quite as well as their previous albums and was followed up with their next studio album titled Night in the Ruts.

Night in the Ruts would be the last album made by the band in the 70’s. By this time drug and alcohol abuse had taken its effect on the band and increased tension within the group lead to the departure of guitarist Joe Perry and rhythm guitarist Tom Hamilton. Songs on Night in the Ruts include “Think About It”, “Three Mile Smile” and “Cheese Cake”. 

With the guitarist leaving the group Steven and the remaining members of the band needed some more artists to play with so they recruited guitarists Jimmy Crespo and Rick Dufay to fill the now vacant spots.

Also during the change the band releases Aerosmith’s Greatest Hits which had all of their hits up to that point in the band’s career. Some of these songs include “Dream On”, “Sweet Emotion” and “Walk This Way”.

It would be two more years until the release of their next work which was titled Rock in a Hard Place. Songs on Rock in a Hard Place feature such songs as “Jig is Up”, “Lighting Strikes” and “Joanie’s Butterfly” along with “Rock in a Hard Place (Cheshire Cat)”. This album didn’t produce any hits for the band and isn’t considered to be one of their better albums.

In 1984 the band was once again re-united as Perry and Whitford once again joined the band. This would be the last time that the band would make any changes to the line-up of the group. They celebrated the reunion with their album Done with Mirrors. Songs on this album include “Let the Music do the Talking”, “She’s on Fire”, and “Darkness”. This album was pretty average but still an improvement to their recent streak of lackluster albums.

It' was also during this time that the band decides to undergo rehab for their addictions to drugs and alcohol. This was a great thing for the band because they were able to clear their heads and focus on what mattered the most to them, their music. During this time the band released their classic albums titled Classics I and Classics II. Songs on these album feature their hits thus far in their career. Some examples of these songs include “Back in the Saddle”, “Sweet Emotion”, “Let the Music do the Talking” and “Last Child”.

In 1987 the band re-invents themselves with Permanent Vacation, an awesome album from the band. Songs on Permanent Vacation include such hits as “Angel”, “Rag Doll”, and “Dude (Looks Like a Lady)”. This album is really one of their better albums and you can definitely hear the progression of the band since they attended rehab.

The hits don’t stop there for the cleaned up group of musicians. In 1989 they continue making hits with their album Pump. Songs featured on Pump include “Love in an Elevator”, “Janie’s Got a Gun” and “Young Lust”. This was another really good album and many of the songs are still favorites of long time fans of the band. The next year would also prove to be a milestone for the band as they appeared on television shows like SNL doing a bit on Wayne’s World and as cartoons in the long running Simpsons show. The band also won their first Grammy in 1990 for “Janie’s Got a Gun”.

Their next album would be probably the best album they ever made, in my opinion, and is called Get a Grip. This album is awesome and has some of their best work so far as a band. Examples of songs on this album include the popular “Livin’ on the Edge”, “Shut Up and Dance”, “Cryin’”, “Crazy” and “Eat the Rich”.

This album is chalked full of great tunes and won the band two more Grammy Awards for “Livin’ on the Edge” and “Crazy”. This is also when Alicia Silverstone starts appearing in their videos.

Their next album, Nine Lives, didn’t fare as well for the band and failed to capture the attention of the mainstream listeners. Songs on this album include “Pink”, “Fallen Angels” and “Nine Lives”. The only song that really got any airplay for the band was “Pink”, which one them another Grammy in 1998.

1998 was also the year that the band had their 1st #1 single in their career with their song “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” from the Armageddon soundtrack. This was a truly one of the greatest love songs ever written and received a ton of airplay The next year they also performed at the MTV music awards performing their song “Walk This Way” with Run DMC.

Their next album was called Just Push Play. Songs on this album include “Jaded”, “Luv Lies” and “Just Push Play”. “Jaded” performed well for the band this year and the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame later in the year.

The bands latest album is called Honkin’ on Bobo and was released in 2004. For this album the band has returned to their roots and it has a more bluesy sound to it. Songs on this album include “Jesus is on the Main Line”, “You Gotta Move”, and “Stop Messin’ Around”.