‘Back in the Saddle’: the Aerosmith song written on heroin
From day one, Aerosmith were never known as being the cleanest of rock stars. The band didn’t garner the nickname ‘The Bad Boys From Boston’ for no reason, and every single one of their albums was about exploring the wonders of sex, drugs, and rock and roll to the fullest extent. Although the band were willing to experiment up to a point in the studio, Joe Perry turned to hard drugs when they started working on their classics.
For most of the band’s early days, drugs were never off the table. Throughout the recording of albums like Toys in the Attic, Steven Tyler would discuss how notorious the band were for making songs while they were doing blow in the next room over. Although the band didn’t have a hit to their name then, this would be the album that turned the corner for them, with songs like ‘Sweet Emotion’ and ‘Walk This Way’ becoming fixtures of their setlist.
Since they had already trademarked their signature brand of boogie for the next few years, Rocks was the band’s chance to aim even bigger for their follow-up. Although the band took a similar approach to production, the riffs had much more edge behind them, reaching Led Zeppelin levels of intensity on tracks like ‘Nobody’s Fault’ and ‘Last Child’.
At the same time, Perry was going down a slippery slope with his drug intake. After moving out of the traditional studio environment, Perry began to succumb to heroin abuse while on the road for Toys in the Attic, leading to days when he was strung out and unwilling to make any music.
Although the sessions looked like they were going to be dreadful, Perry came out with one of the band’s greatest riffs when in his dazed state. Speaking to Classic Rock Stories, Perry said: “I was very high on heroin when I wrote ‘Back in the Saddle’. That riff just floated right through me. Drugs can be a shortcut to creativity. Ask any writer. You get to that place where your fingers are flying on the keyboard; you know the stuff is just flowing through you.”
Outside of his compromised state, Perry also gave some grit to ‘Back in the Saddle’ thanks to his choice of guitar. Rather than stick with the usual six-string that he had grown accustomed to, the main lick of the song is actually being played on a six-string bass, which turns into a massive wall of sound when paired with Tom Hamilton’s bass leading the charge.
Once the song reached Tyler, he was off on a story about the gun-toting rock star, with the saddle-sore journey being a perfect encapsulation of what life on the road is like for any musician. Although the band had briefly made things work, it would be a matter of time before it started caving in.
When working on the group’s next album, Draw the Line, the heroin started to eat away at Perry, resulting in weeks where nothing got done, leading to him quitting the band just a few albums later. While the band would reform after everyone got clean, Perry doesn’t recommend the lifestyle these days, saying, “With heroin, your body just caves in. After a while, all you care about is getting that buzz. So it ends up blocking your creativity rather than helping it.”
