Maps of Music

Honkin' on Bobo (2003)

Where the lyrics of Honkin' on Bobo take you, and where it was really made.

Aerosmith made a blues album, and its title came from a phrase Steven Tyler had heard before and used to amuse the band.

Place unknown

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Honkin' on Bobo: fourteenth studio album by American rock band Aerosmith
Released March 30, 2004 on Columbia Records
Eleven covers of blues and blues rock songs from the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, plus one new song, The Grind
Produced by Jack Douglas, Aerosmith's producer on most of their 1970s output
Pays tribute to the band's earliest influences with a rawer sound than their more recent commercial albums

After leaving Geffen Records in 1994, the band wanted its next record to be a blues album
Tyler said the band learned that Clapton was also making a blues album
The album title was suggested by Steven Tyler, who had heard the phrase before and amused the band with it
Stop Messin' Around, a Fleetwood Mac cover sung by Joe Perry, had never before appeared on an Aerosmith album

Recorded at Joe Perry's ranch near Boston
The band committed to playing only when they were in a good mood
Many tracks feature Steven Tyler's harmonica, including Little Walter's Temperature
Johnnie Johnson plays piano on Shame, Shame, Shame and Temperature
Jack Douglas credited as producer, with Marti Frederiksen credited for production, mixing and engineering

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.

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".

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.

Metacritic: generally favorable reviews, based on a weighted average score of 69 out of 100 from 12 critic scores
AllMusic (Stephen Thomas Erlewine): the best album the band has done since Pump in 1989, and a rock album rather than a blues album
Blender (Jon Pareles): instead of respectable cover versions, the band made unrespectable covers such as You Gotta Move, which to him proves Aerosmith can still rock
Entertainment Weekly (Chris Willman): too loud and short of what it should be, though some songs are good
Rolling Stone (David Fricke): compares it with Eric Clapton's Me and Mr. Johnson, saying Clapton's album is mostly about pain while this one is about sex and running from lovers
Rolling Stone (David Fricke): reads it as a double tribute to the original musicians and to 1960s blues-rock bands, and calls it overdone, which he notes is what Aerosmith is good at

Tyler suggested the title, a phrase he had heard before and that amused the band
The title may come from a song by Canadian country/bluegrass band The Good Brothers
A provisional cover put the harmonica into a model's denim cutoffs; Tyler vetoed it because the band had four other members
The limited-edition version came with a harmonica keychain, which was included when the release first came out
Stop Messin' Around had been a staple of the band's concerts for more than ten years before it reached an Aerosmith album