What was the first song ever downloaded?
At the dawn of the new millennium, the entire music scene was thrown for a loop with the advent of the Internet. Although the platform may have led to millions of musicians having better contact between themselves and their fans, the entire art of purchasing music was out the window once downloading songs became a big deal. While many artists had to wait years before realising the monetary value of their craft, one rock band could claim to be ahead of the curve when posting their first song to the Internet.
As the online boom of the late 1990s started, though, many artists ahead of the curve tended to be those already willing to explore. Rather than seeing the medium as a cheap marketing move, acts like the Grateful Dead were already used to discussing music over the web, often talking about the various bootlegs that had been found at different gigs.
By the time the Internet saw a massive boom, rock was also going through its kind of reinvention. In the wake of the grunge movement coming out of Seattle, many of the biggest bands in the world were ditching the old fashions of teased hair and makeup and bringing a more rootsy approach to their music, with Nirvana and Pearl Jam becoming the biggest acts in the world.
Although the Seattle scene may have ruled the airwaves with an iron fist, the old guard was still hanging around as well. For all of the great music emanating from rock titans like U2 around the same time, Aerosmith was riding high off the success of their album Get A Grip, boasting massive career highs for them off the strength of ballads like ‘Cryin’ and ‘Crazy’.
For all of the excellent material that made it onto the record, some fantastic cuts were left on the cutting room floor. Rather than throw out all of the work they put into it, ‘The Bad Boys from Boston’ became the first band to release a song exclusively as a downloadable single, premiering their song ‘Head First’ as a downloadable song.
Putting it out on the website CompuServe, Aerosmith would be well ahead of the curve of artists profiting off their music being released on the Internet. The song is also a decent look at where the band would be going next, marrying together various digitised sounds with their trademark grit that would be found on their next album, Nine Lives, all while Steven Tyler proves why he is one of the most resilient rock frontmen of all time.
Along with working in a new medium, CompuServe allowed the group to speak with their fans over the Internet, often either getting feedback on their latest songs or praise for their earlier work. Speaking about the experience later, bassist Tom Hamilton remembered how rewarding it felt talking to fans, saying, “I found it exhilarating to talk directly to Aerosmith fans”.
In the years following ‘Head First’, bands would make more significant strides to use the Internet as another marketing tool, including releasing videos as Internet exclusives and various demos online for the hardcore fans to hunt down. Although Aerosmith may not have been known as the newest kids on the block by 1994, their willingness to experiment with downloadable music helped lay the groundwork for the next phase of music history.
