The first Aerosmith song Steven Tyler didn’t sing lead vocals on
No one in Aerosmith had the right to argue with their vocal prowess compared to Steven Tyler. When he first opened his mouth, Tyler became one of the most prominent frontmen of all time, creating some of the most visceral screams the rock world had ever heard across tracks like ‘Dream On’ and ‘Walk This Way’. While Tyler could make any lyrics sound good, it wasn’t long before the rest of the band wanted a piece of the action.
Before Aerosmith had jammed for the first time, though, Tyler was already the group’s most accomplished musician. Having turned in time in outfits like Chain Reaction, Tyler initially got his start behind the drumkit before deciding he belonged at the front of the stage. After seeing a chance performance by a group called The Jam Band, Tyler was enamoured with what Joe Perry could do behind the fretboard.
Combining their love of blues and early rock and roll, Perry and Tyler became a songwriting team, with Perry being responsible for creating one iconic riff after another. Although the band would take some time to find their sound across their self-titled debut, it wasn’t until their sophomore release, Get Your Wings, that fans were introduced to the actual sound of Tyler’s register, creating amazing singalongs on tracks like ‘Same Old Song and Dance’.
While the new sound didn’t translate into record sales, the band’s relentless touring made them one of the most talked-about acts in the American rock scene, building momentum for their latest album, Toys in the Attic. Combining the sleaze of The Rolling Stones and the power of Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith struck gold on their third outing, making way for classics like ‘Sweet Emotion’.
Having conquered the rock world once, the mentality going into the band’s next record, Rocks, was to do it all over again… only heavier. From the opening stomp of ‘Back in the Saddle’, Rocks would become a fixture of the genre, inspiring legions of guitar players, from James Hetfield to Slash, to pick up the instrument.
While the group may have been able to hone their craft in the studio, ‘Combination’ was the first time that Tyler wouldn’t take the lead vocal on a song. Sung as a pseudo-duet, the deep cut would mark Perry’s vocal debut with the band, singing about both the fortunes and the dangers that can come with being in a massive rock and roll outfit.
Although Perry’s vocals pale in comparison to his accomplished backup singer, his vocal timbre is a lot closer to one of his idols from this time, Keith Richards. Just like Keef would occasionally step behind the microphone with The Stones, Perry’s voice suits the song perfectly, playing up the sleazy nature of what the music business entails.
Tyler even had high praise for the final track, pointing out that Perry wrote one of his favourite lyrics in any Aerosmith song about feeling gaunt while wearing expensive threads like Yves St Laurent. While ‘Combination’ may have made for a nice experiment, it would be far from the last time Perry took the lead on an Aerosmith song.
Joe Perry taking a turn at the mic also says a lot about the internal chemistry that made Aerosmith work in the first place. For all the mythology about Tyler as the irreplaceable focal point, the band were always at their best when they felt like a gang rather than a vehicle for a single star. Letting Perry sing was not a coup or a compromise so much as a reminder that the sleaze, swagger, and humour in those records came from a shared personality. The voice just happened to be one more texture they could throw into the mix.
And if Perry never sounded like a classic frontman, that is exactly why it suited him. His delivery has that half-spoken grit that makes the lyric feel like a confession from the side of the stage, the kind of line you hear at closing time rather than under a spotlight. In that sense, his vocals were never competing with Tyler’s, they were doing something different altogether. Tyler could turn a phrase into theatre, but Perry could make it feel lived-in, which is why those moments land even when you know the “real” singer is waiting in the wings.
Throughout the rest of their career, Perry would always find time to step into the vocal booth, contributing to songs like ‘Bright Light Fright’ off of Draw the Line, ‘Walk on Down’ from Get A Grip, and even ‘Something’ off of their final studio album, Music From Another Dimension. Tyler may embody everything that’s rock and roll whenever he sings, but his partner in crime can still hold down the fort without ‘The Demon of Screamin”.
