What’s That Sound? The three unique moments in Aerosmith’s ‘Sweet Emotion’
Aerosmith had witnessed more than most artists would ever see before they even had a hit single. After being glossed over by their label in favour of Bruce Springsteen on their first album, the band earned their stripes on the road by playing for some of the rock scene’s most ferocious crowds. When they set up shop to make what would become their groundbreaking album Toys in the Attic, hijinks in the studio led to their most psychedelic song.
While ‘Sweet Emotion’ was one of Aerosmith’s biggest hits, it was never supposed to be a part of the album. When discussing the idea for the song, bassist Tom Hamilton talked about it coming from his bass line, telling Classic Rock Stories: “I wrote that line on bass and realised I should think of some guitar parts for it. I didn’t think I ever would present it to the band. It was the end of the recording, and Jack {Douglas, producer} said ‘Tomorrow’s jam day, if anybody’s got a stray riff hanging around’. So I spent the day showing everybody and we took it from there, refining it into what it is”.
The original idea was to create a haziness before the main groove kicked in, which involved lots of feedback and echoed guitar. Since Tyler wasn’t singing, he played the vibraslap, which helped him create the signature percussive sound throughout the intro. The frontman later admitted to not being the most careful with the instrument and told Howard Stern that the final take features the sound of it breaking. “You can hear it break on the final recording. It went ‘doink’ and I went ‘Fuck’ when it broke,” he revealed to the radio host.
Tyler also wanted to lay down some maracas until he found out that the drum kit that was sent to them didn’t have any. Making the best of a bad situation, Tyler decided to make do with what he found in the studio. He explained to Stern: “We had an SIR drum kit with no maracas. We’re doing this song with no maracas! And I look down at the bottom of the kit and there was a sugar packet. I said ‘Jack, turn the mic up.’ He turned it up real loud and I just [imitates shaking]”.
Those sounds would only be the tip of the iceberg for the rest of the song. In the chorus of ‘Sweet Emotion’, the band played around with backward recording, with much of the percussion coming from the reverse sound of a drum being hit. In between the music, they also slipped in a message to one of their former managers, Frank Connolly, who helped them out in the early days. Depending on which band member is asked, the coded message either says, “Fuck you, Frank” or “Thank you, Frank”.
The track’s success also gave Aerosmith the incentive to put even more crazy effects into some of their next songs. For the rest of the 1970s, Aerosmith began shoehorning in different wild sounds into whatever area they could, from tambourines on Tyler’s boots on ‘Back in the Saddle’ to playing around with a sequencer before it turned into the iconic opening of ‘Dude Looks Like a Lady’.
