Aerosmith

Certain Songs #3: Aerosmith – “Sick As a Dog”

October 24, 2014 by Jim Connelly

Album: Rocks.
Year: 1976

I thought for a second when I started this project whether or not I was going to limit it to one song per artist. And almost instantly, Aerosmith made me realize how stupid and limiting that woulda been.

Cos it’s my long-held belief that Aerosmith’s Rocks is the greatest American hard rock (non-punk division) album of at least the 1970s, and quite possibly ever (give or take a Use Your Illusion II or Superunknown),so there was no way I was going to ignore the track from that record that has always killed me the most.

In the early 1980s, my friend Jim McNew had a theory that this album was a musical cousin to Never Mind The Bollocks, Here’s The Sex Pistols because of the way both albums incorporated distortion into their basic sound, as well as how they would use the coda to take the song that much higher.

And “Sick As A Dog,” with its pleading verses, dirty guitars, insanely catchy chorus and amazing ending – said ending a stone reminder that handclaps always make a good song into a great song and a great song into a classic song – is the epitome of that theory.

More proof: during that coda as their guitars start to shred over said handclaps and Steven Tyler just gives up and says goodnight, either Whitford or Perry tosses in a recontextualized Chuck Berry lick in the same way Steve Jones would kick off Pistols songs with one.

It’s such a great song that even the otherwise abysmal Live Bootleg has a pretty good version.

“Sick As A Dog” on Spotify

My Certain Songs Playlist on Spotify

Every “Certain Song” Ever

Certain Songs #1: Aerosmith – “Sweet Emotion”

October 21, 2014 by Jim Connelly

Album: Toys in the Attic

Year: 1975

I know that even back in the day, “Walk This Way” was the single that got all of the acclaim, but this is the song that caused 12-year-old me to make Toys in the Attic one of the first albums I ever purchased.

With the bass-driven intro, weird phased-out harmonies and guitar riffs circling back upon themselves on top a sneakily funky beat, it didn’t even matter that the words were basically rock star bullshit.

As a matter of fact, to a 12-year-old boy in 1975, it was a boon that the words were basically rock star bullshit. Steven Tyler has long since become a parody of himself, but it’s clear that he pretty much chose that route from the very first.

But who cares? For at least two albums, Aerosmith was so completely overflowing with musical ideas that the coda to this song – a Top 40 single, remember – is a completely different beast, full of Joey Kramer trying to rip a hole in the fabric of the universe while Joe Perry & Brad Whitford’s guitars barely contain him.

Oh and one more thing: when I first got the album, the difference between the “scary-ass beckoning toys” drawing on the front cover and the plain “chest of inanimate objects” photo on the back always freaked me the fuck out.

“Sweet Emotion”

My Certain Songs Playlist on Spotify

Every “Certain Song” Ever

22 Musical Moments To Die For

November 14, 2008 by Jim Connelly

You can talk about genres, artists, albums, or even songs, but sometimes what keeps us coming back to music is the discovery of the transcendent musical moment. For me, “the moment” is the part of the song that fully and utterly engages me; the reason that I keep coming back to it.

I’m not necessarily talking about hooks here, because the purpose of a hook is the draw you into a song. I’m really talking more about traps: the part of a song that that keeps you there.

The is the fourth in a series. The first one had 25, the second one has 24, the third one had 23.

And good news! The latest version of Flash solves the problem that was going on with Windows, Flash and Firefox. You might wanna download it.

Every single moment I’ve listed below kills me single every time I hear it.

Oh, and this isn’t in any kind of order, despite the numbering.