“Like the Titanic coming into shore”: The most commercial song Aerosmith ever wrote
Hard rock is a genre that has always fought against the idea of mainstream commercialism and playing things safe. All the most iconic hard rock outfits in musical history have favoured an abrasive sound that appealed to rock fanatics rather than chart music devotees. Nevertheless, the genre certainly had its share of commercial success, leading to the formation of multiple hard rock bands that were hellbent on achieving mainstream attention. Aerosmith were among the most successful in that field.
When the Boston-based band first got together back in 1970, they came with a stunning repertoire of influences, including the likes of The Yardbirds, The Rolling Stones, and, of course, Led Zeppelin. As you might expect, therefore, their earlier material focused on blues-centric hard rock sounds that had been pioneered by figures like Jimmy Page. In the grand scheme of things, though, this era of Aerosmith did not last very long. The commercial attention that early songs ‘Dream On’ and ‘Sweet Emotion’ brought the group proved to be somewhat addictive.
In the years that followed those early hits, Aerosmith leaned further into their mainstream appeal, penning a variety of commercial-focused rock anthems that appealed to broad audiences across the United States. Along the way, Steven Tyler and the gang still explored a wide range of different sounds and influences, such as the budding world of hip-hop, which helped to revitalise the band’s stalling career during the 1980s when Run-DMC covered the track and earned a top-five single in the process.
This renewed relevance of Aerosmith during the 1980s fostered a deluge of new hit songs, including the likes of ‘Angel’ in 1988 and ‘Love In An Elevator’ the following year. While many groups would witness a decline in relevance after so many years together, Aerosmith only seemed to become successful during the 1980s and 1990s, regularly appearing within the musical mainstream. Seemingly, this was all done by design, with Steven Tyler deliberately writing songs to appeal to mass audiences.
“Radio is about cherry flavour,” the singer once revealed. “You lay out sixteen different flavours and what are most of the people going to grab first? Cherry. Not chocolate, cherry. So that’s what music’s like. Really, there’s only a few flavours that work for all the people.” Explaining this odd cherry-themed analogy, Tyler continued, “Hence, in comes the programme director, and the ‘duh’ factor goes up 6,000%; they want to find something that’s palatable for all the people.”
This manifesto for the mainstream appears to have been the key motivation behind Aerosmith’s biggest hit, ‘I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing’. Originally penned for the 1998 Bruce Willis sci-fi flick Armageddon, the song quickly took the number one spot on the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time in the band’s history. According to Tyler, the genius of the song lies within its opening line, “I could lie awake just to watch you sleep”.
Explaining its significance, the songwriter shared, “I mean how much in love with someone do you have to be to do that? But she nailed it. That’s one of the most precious opening lines of any song I’ve ever heard. And with a movie behind it, that’s like the Titanic coming into shore riding a five hundred-foot tidal wave.”
While Tyler might be at risk of overexaggerating the impact of Armageddon, it is difficult to dispute the commercial powerhouse that ‘I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing’ became upon its 1998 release. You could certainly argue that by deliberately creating a song with the sole intention of commercial success goes against the hard rock ethos of Aerosmith but, let’s be honest, the band have their own rollercoaster at Disney World; that ship sailed long ago.
