“Never a point”: The Aerosmith album that Joe Perry called his least favourite
The whole point behind any rock and roll hit is to have people mean what they’re saying. As much as people like the idea of listening to a catchy tune and being entertained, the whole reason why people relate to their favourite singers is that they can see the real human being behind everything as they’re playing. And while that did apply to Aerosmith most of the time during their 1970s prime, Joe Perry knew that there were a handful of records that didn’t need to be made at all.
When talking about Aerosmith, though, it comes down to which career renaissance they were going through at any given time. They were always known as the ultimate phoenix from the ashes when they rose to prominence again in the 1980s, but in an era that should have killed them like grunge, they still found time to work in some of their classic ballads like ‘Crazy’ on the radio alongside Pearl Jam.
But staying current also meant getting a little bit of help behind the scenes. They had spent their career trying to make the best rock and roll tunes they could, but something started to turn a corner once they hooked up with outside songwriters like Desmond Child. Child had given Bon Jovi some of their greatest hits, so it wasn’t out of the question for him to work the same magic for songs like ‘Angel’ as well.
Throughout the 1990s, things were still working well, but it was clear that some of their collaborations were starting to get out of hand. There came a point when their music started to sound further and further away from their bluesy roots, and when Diane Warren gave them a song like ‘I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing’, Steven Tyler seemed to take many of the wrong lessons when making the album Just Push Play.
When anyone has a number-one hit like that, they’re going to want to do it again, but whereas the first ballad was great, there are too many times when the overproduction suffocated the songs on this record. Even though a song like ‘Jaded’ sounded fine on the radio, it was clear that they were trying to rewrite the formula again when making their more forgettable ballads like ‘Fly Away From Here’.
And for Perry, it was enough for him to disown the record after a few years of distance, saying, “Just Push Play is my least favourite… When we recorded it there was never a point where all five members were in the room at the same time and Aerosmith’s major strength is playing together. It was a learning experience for me: it showed me how not to make an Aerosmith record.”
Even Perry’s own vocal showcase on the album, ‘Drop Dead Gorgeous’, sounds slightly off. Perry was always the Aerosmith equivalent of Keith Richards, so his song would have at least had some teeth, but the production of the guitars sounds too much like something that would have turned up on any other pop record from around that time.
Although some of the same sins would creep up on Music From Another Dimension a decade later, it was clear that they did have a bit of fire from playing off each other. Because for a band that’s as ingrained in playing together as Aerosmith is, the worst thing that you could do is separate them into their own corners.
