How Alicia Silverstone helped make Aerosmith iconic
There’s no rulebook on how to create a proper comeback in music. Although it might seem like a small miracle to even get one’s foot in the door to begin with, being able to make people start paying attention all over again is the kind of thing that feels virtually impossible in the music industry. While Aerosmith had more than a few creative reinventions throughout their career, their turn as music video superstars in the 1990s came from Alicia Silverstone.
Before music videos had even been invented, Aerosmith was already bringing the sounds of sleazy rock to the masses. Although they never claimed to be the most subtle band in the world, some of their most celebrated material came from them making tunes that were designed to be the filthiest lyric sheets of all time, with Steven Tyler using different euphemisms to get his point across on songs like ‘Walk This Way’.
While the band literally floundered over spilt milk after a fight in 1979, Joe Perry’s return to the band after a long separation led to them getting sober and carrying on as rock superstars. The only problem was that no one cared…with their comeback album Done With Mirrors selling a fraction of what the band were used to.
Needing some help fast, the band’s decision to work with outside songwriters for the first time coincided with the rise of glam metal. Thanks to a collaboration with hip-hop icons Run-DMC, Aerosmith reminded the Poisons of the world where that sound originally came from, becoming superstars all over again thanks to tracks like ‘Rag Doll’ and ‘Love in an Elevator’.
While each music video featured one shameless case of rock and roll debauchery after the next, the 1990s gave Aerosmith company: the growing popularity of grunge. Even though there was no way that Steven Tyler was going to break out the flannel and start singing about his problems, the band’s music videos featured Silverstone front and centre throughout every storyline.
Hired while still in her teens, Silverstone was the love interest in the video for the song ‘Cryin’ off Get a Grip. Becoming one of the biggest hits the band ever had, Silverstone thought that the band had no choice but to ask her back, telling Rolling Stone, “Aerosmith made a hell of a lot of money off [“Cryin’”],” Their sales tripled or something. They would have been crazy not to ask me back.“.
Although Silverstone would have bit roles starring in shows like The Wonder Years and be the focus of the movie The Crush, her appearance in the videos gave her momentum to carry her own films, getting the lead role in Clueless just a few years after the music videos wrapped. If anyone benefited from the deal, it was Aerosmith’s marketing department, who finally had a formula for the band to appeal to the next generation of rock fans.
Even when the alternative movement was still going strong, Aerosmith continued to ride the wave of their successful videos, ‘Crazy’ would also plant the seeds for their biggest smash, leading to Liv starring in the film Armageddon, which featured dear ol’ dad singing on the soundtrack. Not all music videos are meant to hold up as classics, but getting Silverstone into the ‘Cryin’ video turned Aerosmith from potential has-beens to rock icons all over again.
