Lines of the Gods: Joe Perry on “the greatest riff ever written”
Joe Perry was never going to fit into the role of a typical guitar player. He had his times when he could grandstand with the best of them, like Jimmy Page. Still, throughout his time in Aerosmith, Perry was always looking to serve the riff at every opportunity, usually making his guitar sing when he locked in on a groove with drummer Joey Kramer. That kind of music always comes from a healthy backbeat, and Perry thought that the core ethos of rock and roll came from ‘Train Kept A’Rollin’’.
That is because before Aerosmith or rock and roll, the blues already had songs about inner pain covered. The greatest bands in the world, like The Rolling Stones, had already made their trade playing the kind of rock and roll tracks by the likes of Howlin’ Wolf and Muddy Waters, so why fix what isn’t broken?
When the members of Aerosmith were first coming up, though, the biggest influence for them was The Yardbirds. Featuring Eric Clapton in their first lineup alongside a baby version of Jimmy Page, the band were unstoppable on the English club scene, making the kind of straight-ahead blues rock that no one could touch.
Tyler may have shouted the band’s praises at every opportunity, but he made sure to keep the song ‘Train Kept A-Rollin’’ in his back pocket. He was already looking to make something much more rhythmic than the English players were doing, and once Kramer got behind the kit after playing in funk groups, the ‘Bad Boys From Boston’ had a sound they could call their own.
Even though Tiny Bradshaw wrote the core song, the band blew it up to mega proportions, featuring a relentless groove that felt like blues rock got a healthy dose of boogie. Perry doesn’t think that another riff comes close to it whenever he picks up a guitar.
When speaking to Nikki Sixx about the greatest riffs ever, Perry thought that ‘Train Kept A-Rollin’’ was one of the ultimate rock and roll guitar lines, saying, “That song, if you go back and listen to the swing version with Tiny Bradshaw, I think that guitar riff that they came up with for that song is one of the greatest rock and roll guitar riffs ever written. It just plays off the rhythm — so amazing. You just can’t top it.”
Aerosmith would have probably just told you that they were trying to emulate their heroes whenever they were playing that riff, but that emphasis on rhythm has also had a massive effect on the bands that came afterwards. While the world would have to wait a decade later, Slash took that same kind of rock and roll swagger and channelled it into almost every Guns N’ Roses song, making them feel like the long-lost children of Aerosmith.
That marriage of guitar riff and drums also was heaven for the first hip-hop acts, with Run-DMC unknowingly spitting over albums like Toys in the Attic before they had even realised what the band’s name was. So, without Bradshaw knocking down the doors, the music world would probably be a shell of what it is today without that guitar lick.
