Geffen 24455
Producer: Bruce Fairbairn
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
May 8, 1993
1 week
In their 23 years, Aerosmith had literally been there and back — from a Boston garage to the top of the rock heap to a rock-bottom, drug-induced haze. Yet one place the band had never been was atop the Billboard album chart — until the release of Get a Grip.
Aerosmith was born in 1970, playing a mix of hard rock, R&B, and the blues. The band’s first two albums were regional hits but hardly noticed outside of Boston, as singer Steven Tyler and guitarist Joe Perry were written off as Mick Jagger-Keith Richards clones. That all changed with the 1975 release of Toys in the Attic, their third album. “Dream On,” a ballad from the band’s 1973 debut album was re-released and climbed to number six. Then came “Walk This Way,” with its irresistible guitar riff and lyrics full of sexual innuendo — it became Aerosmith’s second top 10 hit. With 1976’s Rocks, the band reached new heights, both artistically and commercially. The album climbed to number three and Aerosmith was America’s premiere hard-rock band. Then the bottom fell out.
The excesses of success took their toll as internal squabbles and drug abuse led to Perry’s departure in 1979, with rhythm guitarist Brad Whitford following in 1981. Tyler, bassist Tom Hamilton, and drummer Joey Kramer continued, but it wasn’t the same.
The original line-up regrouped in 1984, but it was a series of drug-rehab stints and Tyler and Perry’s participation in a 1986 cover of “Walk This Way” by rap crew Run-D.M.C. that relit the band’s creative fuse. Permanent Vacation introduced the band to a new generation of fans and climbed to number 11 in the fall of 1987. In 1989, Pump hit number five and sold more than five million copies, prompting Columbia Records to woo the band back to the label with a deal reportedly worth $30 million, even though Aerosmith still owed Geffen two more albums.
Get a Grip, Aerosmith’s penultimate album for Geffen, was initially recorded at A&M Studios in Los Angeles. But the band wasn’t completely satisfied with the results and ventured to Little Mountain Sound Studio in Vancouver, British Columbia, to complete the project. “Usually you’re up against the ceiling,” says Tyler. “You have a due date, you know it’s going to be six pounds, five ounces, everybody’s ready, and the clothes are out. This time, we said, ‘Wait a minute,’ and we got a second wind.”
In cuts like “Eat the Rich,” the band returned to the harder, driving guitar sound that marked their earlier work. Says Tyler, “In the beginning it was ‘Back in the Saddle’ and ‘Train Kept Rollin’,’ and that was the side that always got me off.”
The album also marked some new collaborations. Lenny Kravitz guested and co-wrote “Line Up,” ex-Eagle Dc-Henley sang back-up on “Amazing,” and Mark Hudson, from the ’70s TV group the Hudson Brothers, co-wrote “Livin’ on the Edge.” The latter track has been interpreted as a commentary or the 1992 L.A. riots, but Tyler says it’s much more personal: “It was inspired by finding out that I’m addicted to adrenalin and the way I am is the way I am, so let’s just celebrate it and sing about it.”
The band had more to celebrate when Get a Grip temporarily dethroned The Bodyguard by debuting at Number One.
THE TOP FIVE
Week of May 8, 1993
1. Get a Grip, Aerosmith
2. The Bodyguard, Soundtrack
3. Breathless, Kenny G
4. Pocket Full of Kryptonite, Spin Doctors
5. Unplugged, Eric Clapton