Aerosmith: When did they start to go sour?

[Zzzptm]

I heard "Janie's Got a Gun" on the radio today and thought to myself... wow, I hate that song. That's from about the time when they really started to make me barf.

While I like their first 4 albums fine enough and enjoy about half of Draw the Line, Night in the Ruts really disappointed me and they went down after that. Done with Mirrors and Permanent Vacation were OK by me, but Pump just drove it into the ditch and they never got out, as far as I was concerned.

What do you think about Aerosmith?

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

While Pump is a little patchy it has some good songs on it, Janie's Got A Gun, HooDoo VooDoo Medicine Man and Love in an Elevator are my favourites.

The only early one I have is Toys in the Attic but I never got into it.

They definitely went shit after Pump though.

[Typhon]

I own 7 of their albums.  My favorites being Rocks, Toys In The Attic and Done With Mirrors.  They are one of those bands where I put one of their songs on each of my mix cds.  I don't care to hear each album in its entirety, like I do Sabbath.  Actually, there are very few bands that I do.

[Vyn]

Aerosmith, aerosmith, where for art thou my aerosmith?

Gone. Left no forwarding address.

They were good as a party band, but I liked J.Geils better in that regard.

Aerosmith shit the bed when they sold their collective soul to the almighty dollar. Which I can't blame them for, but their music was no longer to my liking. Mr. Geils & Co. did the same thing.

I thought they were good in the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band movie.

[Zzzptm]

... and it's so ironic that their biggest success in record sales came pretty much in the time span when we were all turning them off...

I'm also not a fan of the orchestral arrangement for "Dream On". I always felt that song was best with a traditional rock combo arrangement.

[Charger]

I have never been an Aerosmith fan personally...too soft poppy rock for my liking. But at the same time I do understand why they became so big. They do have the big radio friendly sound and their lyrics are typical for that kind of stuff.

The version of Dream On with Ronnie James Dio and Yngwie is good though.

[Jack the Stripper]

Toys In The Attic and Rocks are the only albums I really bother with. I don't mind songs here and there after that but the 80's/90's output onwards largely just doesn't cut it with me. They were never a band I really liked that much anyway. A little weak and not riffy enough for my liking.

[Zzzptm]

^ I like that, "not riffy enough". Sums up a lot of their output.

[Ted Sallis]

For me, Aerosmith declined considerably with Draw the Line.  Night in the Ruts was somewhat better, then I consider their next album, Rock in a Hard Place to be one of their best, along with Toys in the Attic.  They went downhill again with Done With Mirrors and except for Get a Grip they never really recovered again, in my view.

Ted

[Zzzptm]

For me, Aerosmith declined considerably with Draw the Line.  Night in the Ruts was somewhat better, then I consider their next album, Rock in a Hard Place to be one of their best, along with Toys in the Attic.  They went downhill again with Done With Mirrors and except for Get a Grip they never really recovered again, in my view.

Ted

Good comments, and hey, it's Ted Sallis! Good to see you again!