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A lot of good choices and great songs on this thread. For me, I would probably go with Aerosmith's "Dream On" as the single best rock ballad that I've ever heard. It isn't just a phenomenal ballad, it is simply one of the greatest songs in the history of popular music. Absolutely timeless.
Just thinking this is so far from Aerosmith now...
Just thinking this is so far from Aerosmith now...
Yes, it is. I am a big Aerosmith fan but it basically is like two different bands. Geffen Records signed Aerosmith in 1985 and released their "Done with Mirrors" album that same year and it went gold but didn't meet Geffen's sales expectations. Geffen's executives basically laid the law down to Aerosmith and said that they would be dropped from the label if they didn't record their next album Geffen's way. Geffen's way was to bring in outside songwriters to make more radio-friendly material. If Aerosmith didn't like it, then too bad.
Aerosmith went along with it because they didn't want the embarrassment of being dropped from a major label like Geffen. They did their next album ("Permanent Vacation") Geffen's way with outside songwriters and an emphasis on radio-friendly rock and pop material rather than the traditional Aerosmith sound from their best 70s-era rock. The Permanent Vacation album came out in August of 1987 and got big-time airplay on the radio and on MTV basically right away. It charted multiple hit singles and ended up selling 5 million copies in the U.S. and millions more elsewhere. It put Aerosmith back not only in Geffen's good graces but also made them a huge priority at what was then a major record label. It also made them millions and millions of dollars between record sales, concert ticket sales and merchandise; basically, more money than they had ever made before. It helped that the band spent a good bit of time in late '86 & early '87 getting sober (Steven Tyler & Joe Perry in particular).
The ship had left the shore unfortunately, after the major success of that album and there was no going back and Aerosmith has stuck to that formula (using outside writers & focusing on what can get radio airplay) ever since. It has been very controversial and they have taken plenty of lumps from people who viewed them as sellouts but I think the band basically viewed it as what they needed to do to continue to make money and play to arena-sized crowds. Many of their contemporaries are playing in smaller venues for smaller audiences because they refused to change. Aerosmith grudgingly changed and basically made what I would call the single biggest comeback in popular music history (at least commercially-speaking).
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