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Cut the Fat - Number 3

Posted on Sunday, August 8, 2010 at 12:01AM by Registered CommenterAllyson B. Crawford | Comments18 Comments

We're getting to the heart of the discussion now when it comes to cutting the fat off essential Glam records. Aerosmith is my favorite band but that doesn't mean I view and critique all their albums through rose colored glasses. Absolutely not. In fact, I'm the first person to say when a new Aerosmith album or track doesn't live up to the band's legacy. Whew. So, over the past couple of days, we've cut the fat from Motley Crue, Slaughter, Def Leppard and LA Guns. Now Aerosmith is on the block.

Get A Grip came out in 1993 and may just be the most important album of my lifetime. No, it's not my favorite album of all time - that's Aerosmith Rocks - but Get A Grip introduced me to the band, thanks in large part to the famous Alicia Silverstone video trilogy that was on MTV every 12 seconds between 1993 and 1994. Think about it: Get A Grip has "Cryin'" and "Livin' on the Edge." Imagine my young teenage surprise when I discovered Aerosmith's awesome back catalog all because of their modern "pop metal" hits.

I'm about to reveal a big secret: I've always thought "Crazy" to be a dud of a single. In fact, I think it ruins Get A Grip and I'd argue it was only a successful single because of the video featuring Alicia Silverstone and Liv Tyler. The video is hot - the song - not so much. I don't know if I can even adequately express why I don't like "Crazy." It has to be the too-slow pace for the lyrics and Tyler's voice on the tune. Oh, and the lyrics do kind of suck. I always hate when this song comes up in a live show - although not as much as "Don't Wanna Miss a Thing." That's another entire post.


Get A Grip track listing: 

Intro
Eat The Rich
Get A Grip
Fever
Livin' On The Edge
Flesh
Walk On Down
Shut Up And Dance
Cryin'
Gotta Love It
Crazy
Line Up
Amazing
Boogie Man

Agree? Disagree? Thoughts?

Reader Comments (18)

I used to hate all the ballads on this album. Now, I just think that three was too many, one good ballad per album is more than enough. I agree that Cryin' is a better song than Crazy, but I don't especially hate either, and I LOVE this CD, I got given it by a neighbour and played it to death forever, it was kind of the album that got me seriously in to Aerosmith, too. I can't remember how Amazing goes without putting it on. OK, it's on. I am a bit older now, so I don't mind a good ballad. I'm not sure if I think Cryin' is worse than Amazing, I just think that three ballads is a sign of Aerosmiths obvious desire to chase chart success instead of being a rock band.
August 8, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterChristian
The single, absolute worst album cover of all time by any band in any genre in the entire history of recorded music. Yuuuuuuuuuuck!!!!! Who the hell approved this????
August 8, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterBB
One of the worst Aerosmith records, maybe they were bigger than back before break-up but only 2 good albums after reunion are "Permanent Vacation" and "Pump" it went downhill when they had whole bunch of outside songwriters writing songs for them. Aerosmith have been becoming more and more commercial with every year. Seen them live in 2010 on the same festival as Guns N' Roses, and GN'R looked like real badass band, Aerosmith with guys filming themselves, some stupid Guitar Hero screens looked like poor copy of original Aerosmith
August 8, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterPeter
I have to agree with Christian on this one - three ballads (all which sound so similar to each other) is just way too many for one album. I don't know if I could pick one over the others as the best or worst.

The rest of the album has some good songs. "Eat The Rich" is probably my favorite single, and I love "Walk On Down" and "Gotta Love It." On the whole, though, this was a disappointing record, due in large part to the overabundance of sappy ballads.
August 8, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterJT
I have not listened to this group in a long long time. Kinda got sick of the overexposure. Now with all the press lately...ugh.. No interest.
August 8, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterBrian L
I have to agree with both BB and Peter I think this was the death nail in the recording history a once GREAT band
August 8, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterGlenn
I haven't heard the album in full so I can't really comment on that, but I do agree with the statement of "Don't wanna miss a thing". God I hate that song.
August 8, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterMartin
"Walk On Down" , "Shut Up & Dance" & "Boogie Man" could all have been left off & I'd not have missed them.
August 8, 2010 | Unregistered Commenterace steele
I've always loved Aerosmith, but this isn't one of my favorite albums. I agree that the success of the single came from the video. The songs on this album just aren't up to par with the older, deeper cuts from previous albums.
August 8, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterHilari
You know I can't even sing Crazy now off the top of my head. I keep singing Cryin' which is a great, great song with or without a video. Livin on the Edge is an amazing song, Eat The Rich is cool and fun. Amazing is actually a song about sobriety which the band has long struggled with, so it really does have a place in their catalog. Maybe having Crazy does take away from how great Cryin and Amazing are, so kudos Allyson, you picked a good one here.
August 9, 2010 | Unregistered CommenternirVrana
Where to start? Toys in the Attic was the first rock n roll record (and yes, I mean vinyl) that I ever owned. In a nutshell, everything this band recorded in the 70s is far superior to what they've done since they returned with Done with Mirrors. Permenant Vacation and Pump are the only records that even come close. As far as Get a Grip is concerned, the Crazy-Amazing-Crying trilogy was the death knell of the band, and you don't know how much it pains me to say that.

As far as Don't Want to Miss a Thing is concerned - awful. What happened to the raunchy rock band from Boston that I grew up listening to? That band that did Rats in the Cellar, Nobody's Fault, Toys in the Attic, Lord of the Thighs, Kings and Queens, and the list goes on and on. Heck, Lighting Strikes and Chiquita are way better than anything on Get a Grip.

I don't know why the band went away from the Tyler-Perry songwriting combination and started to include clowns like Desmond Child and Jim Vallance, but it ruined the band. I still love this band and will continue to listen to Rocks, Get Your Wings, Toys, and the rest of their classic work, but I'm done with the latest incarnation of this band.
August 9, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterRich
Done With Mirrors, with it's sole saving grace, a ruckus and slightly rewritten (True to form, Tyler just couldn't leave well enough alone) lead track, the Perry penned, "Let The Music Do The Talking" (originally from the same titled Joe Perry Project album) was decent.

I thought that song was gonna be the battlecry of their comeback and then...

Pfffffffftttttttt!!!

Hate this album except "Shut Up And Dance", which would have been a lot better with the guitars cranked back up to Aerosmith's old setting of 11.

Still, they are unbeatable LIVE! I saw 'em not too long ago and they were absolutely STUNNING! Tyler even held his mike out for me to sing back ups on "Jaded" twice. I know I bring that up everytime, but it was so cool.

And so are they.

Except on all those crap albums after the 1/2 record of "Done With Mirrors"...

Where oh where, is "Rocks II" (working title)...

p.s. Desmond Child is by no means a clown, Rich. The real Kevorkian for Aerosmith was A&R butcher, Jon Kolodner (that freaky looking dude who should have really been wearing a Brooks Brothers suit, he was such a corporate stooge). It was this guy's job to make sure Aerosmith handed in a POP record and, well, MISSION ACCOMPLISHED, to borrow a phrase. Check his web site and it will become all too clear to you what happened to Aerojones. Also watch the "Dude Looks Like A Lady." vid on YouTube. That's Klodnerd in the wedding dress.
August 10, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterMetalboy!
I didn't see any songwriting credits for Desmond Child or Jim Vallance on their debut record, or Get Your Wings, or Toys in the Attic, or Rocks, or Draw the Line, or Night in the Ruts, or Rock in a Hard Place. And there was plenty of great music there, so did Tyler-Perry just run out of ideas, or did they need some "pop" sensibilities to get them on the crap that passes for radio now days (not to mention MTV)? I'm going to guess the latter, and as a lifelong Aerosmith fan I have to hold it against the band that they sold out enough to bring these guys in so we could have nuggets like Don't Wanna Miss a Thing. So yeah - Barnum and Bailey called and they want Desmond Child back!!!!
August 11, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterRich
Cut Boogie Man, Gotta Love It and Walk On Down. I love all the ballads, though it is fair to say they may be shouldn't all be on the same album as it ruins the vibe. It's no Pump, and certainly no Rocks.
August 11, 2010 | Unregistered Commenterahappypunk
Well, Rich, we're kind of in agreement here, but Desmond Child CAN write a killer song, look at the crap he did with Bon Jovi. Nope, I'm not going to blame the hired killer here, for the formula backfiring here.

I blame Aerosmith solely. Particularly Tyler. Probably the ideas Tyler brought Child were crap and all Child could do was polish them for him. And, as I mentioned before, you can blame Aerosmith's resident A&R Svengali and Babysitter, Jon Kolodner, who just "De-Rocks" everything he ever touches.

We call this on Madison Avenue, "Polishing T*rds"... where you have a crap idea and can shine that thing up with famous actors, hit music and a famous director to hide the mediocre idea you may have on your hands.

And Aerosmith's ideas were all mediocre (except maybe, "Shut Up And Dance" and "Jaded") after Perry's supplied "Let The Music Do The Talking", which they, of course, as I said earlier here in the comments, did not...

Platinum, Shmatinum...

p.s. Hey, Happy Punk, 'Pump' suxx and 'Rocks' is one of the greatest Glam Metal albums of all time.
August 12, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterMetalboy!
There is something we can definitely agree on, because I blame Steven Tyler as well. You know, if I could hang out with someone in Aerosmith and have a beer, it would be Tom Hamilton or maybe even Brad Whitford, but not Tyler. Eddie Van Halen was onto something when he talked about LSD - Lead Singers Disease. It's ruined and in some cases split up many bands over the years, to name a few - Journey, REO Speedwagon, Aerosmith, Styx, Van Halen, and Guns and Roses.
August 12, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterRich
Then again, I go see Tyler with Aerosmith and the 80's crap isn't half as bad live and they play enough of the 70's stuff to have it lean more toward a hard rock show, at least this is how it was a couple of years ago.

As much as Tyler pis*es me off, he's still one of the most talented Rockers alive today, and someone you just know can still come up with the ideas ("Jaded"), so here's his chance to totally redeem himself...

Project Codename: Rocks II !
August 14, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterMetalboy!
im not a huge fan of crazy, but get a grip is one of my favorite aerosmith recods, every other song on their is great.
September 16, 2012 | Unregistered CommenterDj

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