Maps of Music

Aerosmith (1973)

Where the lyrics of Aerosmith take you, and where it was really made.

This debut flopped when it came out in 1973; its success came only after "Dream On" was re-released in 1975.

Key places

Where the debut album was recorded (1973)

Recording site Synchro Sound Studios — The group recorded its debut album at Intermedia Studios in Boston with producer Adrian Barber. The pin marks the city centre, not the exact studio building. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Debut studio album by the American rock band Aerosmith
• Released January 5, 1973, by Columbia Records
• Sometimes erroneously referred to as Make It after the album's first track
• "Dream On" was first released as a single in 1973
• Peaked at number 21 on the US Billboard 200 in 1976

Background

• The band entered a partnership with Frank Connelly; David Krebs and Steve Leber invited Atlantic and Columbia representatives to a Max's Kansas City concert
• Clive Davis, Columbia's president, was impressed, and the band signed with Columbia in summer 1972
• Lead singer Steven Tyler had been in several previous groups, but most band members had never been in a studio before
• The band was heavily influenced by 1960s British blues/rock bands, including the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, the Yardbirds, and Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac
• Tyler wrote most of the songs, as the other members were not interested at that stage

Recording

• Recorded at Intermedia Studios, 331 Newbury Street, Boston, Massachusetts
• Producer: Adrian Barber, who is also credited with engineering
• Caryl Weinstock is credited as engineer, and Robert Stoughton as assistant engineer
• Production is sparse and dry: two guitars, bass, drums, a singer, and occasionally piano
• Tyler later said he changed his voice during the final vocals because he did not like how it sounded

Cover

• The original cover misprinted "Walkin' the Dog" as "Walkin' the Dig"
• A second pressing corrected the error
• A third cover, sometime after June 1973 and before January 1975, added the 'Featuring "Dream On"' text and removed the biography on the back

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · es.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Formed in Boston in 1970 by Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, Tom Hamilton, Joey Kramer, and Brad Whitford after the Jam Band and Chain Reaction merged.
• The name was suggested by Joey Kramer, who had seen the word "aerosmith" in his school notebooks.
• Their first gig was at Nipmuc Regional High School in Mendon, Massachusetts, on November 6, 1970.

Members

• Current lineup: Steven Tyler (lead vocals), Joe Perry and Brad Whitford (guitars), Tom Hamilton (bass), Joey Kramer (drums).
• Perry and Whitford left in 1979 and 1981 and returned in 1984; the original five were reunited from 1984 onward.
• Tyler and Perry are the main songwriting team, nicknamed the "Toxic Twins".

Career

• Debut album in 1973 and Toys in the Attic (1975) and Rocks (1976) established their blues-based hard rock sound.
• The 1986 Run-D.M.C. collaboration on "Walk This Way" revived their career, followed by Permanent Vacation (1987), Pump (1989), and Get a Grip (1993).
• "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" (1998) was their only Billboard Hot 100 number one.
• Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001; sold more than 150 million records worldwide.
• Retired from touring in 2024 after Tyler's vocal injury; released the EP One More Time with Yungblud in 2025.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• The album was not a success when it was released on January 5, 1973
• Rolling Stone did not review the album, to the band's disappointment
• Columbia released Aerosmith at the same time as Bruce Springsteen's debut album, Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J., which received a greater promotional effort
• Critics compared the band unfavorably to the Rolling Stones and the New York Dolls
• Radio stations gave the album a lukewarm reception; bassist Tom Hamilton recalled the general response that the band were a "Kmart version of the Stones"
• The band was told that unless the next album was better, the label would drop them

Reappraisal

• AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine described Aerosmith as truly an American band, sounding like the best bar band in a local town, cranking out hard-edged rock
• Erlewine considered "Dream On" the blueprint for all power ballads and the album a worthy debut
• Erlewine said the band's sleazoid blues-rock sound is fully present here but not yet perfected as on the next album
• Canadian journalist Martin Popoff called the album raw and dirty, with squalid integrity, but noted that each later release sounded far ahead in production and songcraft
• Guns N' Roses guitarist Izzy Stradlin said he loved the band while growing up in Indiana
• Aerosmith is considered a big influence on Guns N' Roses and helped shape their sound
• Slash called the album underrated, citing its great playing and its low production values compared with other rock records of the time

Records

• Peaked at number 21 on the US Billboard 200 in 1976
• The 1973 single of "Dream On" peaked at number 59 nationally
• The album version of "Dream On" was re-issued in late 1975 and debuted at number 81 on the Billboard Hot 100 on January 10, 1976
• The re-issue peaked at number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 on April 10, 1976
• In Boston, "Dream On" was the number 1 single of the year on WVBZ-FM and number 5 on WRKO-AM

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · es.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• The album was sometimes referred to as Make It after the first track, which is an erroneous name
• The album closes with a cover of Rufus Thomas's "Walkin' the Dog", which replaced an original psychedelic pop song, "Major Barbara"
• The cover misprint of "Walkin' the Dig" was corrected on a later pressing, while the label spelling was always correct
• Tom Hamilton recalled the album was done so fast that he barely remembers anything beyond overdubbing some tracks
• Tyler said he changed his voice to sound more like a blues singer, comparing it to Kermit the Frog

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · www.discogs.com

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