Aerosmith Biography

In its nearly three decade-long career, Aerosmith has literally been there and back--from a Boston garage to the top of the rock heap to a rock-bottom drug-induced haze--and has come out of it all as one of the most durable and successful American rock acts in history.

The quintet was born in 1970 playing a mix of hard rock, R&B and 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, Aerosmith's third album.

"Dream On," a ballad from the band's 1973 debut, was re-released and became a hit. Then came "Walk This Way" which, with its irresistible guitar riff and lyrics full of sexual innuendo, became Aerosmith's second top 10 hit. With 1976's Rocks, the band reached new heights, both artistically and commercially. 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 lineup regrouped in 1984, but it was Tyler's and Perry's participation in a 1986 remake of "Walk This Way" by rap crew Run-DMC that relit the band's creative fuse. Permanent Vacation introduced the band to a new generation of fans in 1987. In 1989, Pump hit No. 5 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, despite the fact that Aerosmith still owed Geffen two more albums.

Aerosmith's first album recorded under the new Columbia deal, Nine Lives, hasn't proven to be the big hit that their past few releases were, but as the millennium approaches, the band continues to score with new fans while defying the logic that kids will not respond to men in their forties singing about teen themes. Aerosmith even recently won the Best Rock Band trophy at Nickelodeon's Kids' Choice Awards, sharing the stage with Hanson. This is especially impressive considering that the ages of Isaac, Taylor and Zachary Hanson combined is still a smaller figure than Steven Tyler's age.

 AC\DC Biography

1976 was a fine year for the rock world. At one end of the planetary axis the Ramones made their debut, and at the metallic pole AC/DC unleashed their first album, High Voltage. But unlike the Ramones, these gnarly Aussies--Young brothers Angus and Malcolm, bassist Mark Evans, drummer Phil Rudd and singer Brian Johnson (who replaced original frontman Bon Scott when he died in 1980)--have never won critical respect. Working with a similarly limited palette of chords, AC/DC tapped into the same primal rock vein as the Ramones, but whipped their take on the trusty old I-IV-V into a much raunchier rhythmic pitch and imbued it with an irrepressibly (often hilariously) libidinous outlook. The music is raw, monomaniacal and full of essential rock spunk.

AC/DC's prodigious discography (they've recorded some 15 albums in 21 years) has its high points and its fair-to-middling moments, but by and large the disparity isn't that big. Even their weakest albums are energetically executed and usually pack at least one memorable song. The exception to that rule is Back In Black, an absolutely pristine slab of rock 'n' roll no matter how you slice it. The songwriting is as acute as the playing, the production keeps it all in line without damping the sizzle, and for a band whose stock-in-trade is yer basic down 'n' dirty bump-and-grind, the material is amazingly diverse--ranging from the saucy anthemic thrash of the title track to the most "sensitive" song AC/DC has ever recorded, "You Shook Me All Night Long," an oddly moving combination of luggish double entendre and poignant melodicism.nks

Over the years AC/DC's albums have continued to sell consistently and the band remains a solid concert draw. The '90s were particularly kind to the band--its two decade efforts, 1990's The Razor's Edge and 1995's Ballbreaker, hit No. 2 and No. 4, respectively on the Billboard 200. Additionally, a boxed set, Bonfire, was released in 1997; the set featured five discs of live and rare tracks, including a special edition of Back In Black. The band is continuing to shake into the Millennium and shows no sign of stopping: In February of 2000, AC/DC released Stiff Upper Lip, which was well-received by rock radio and fans alike.