Maps of Music

Pump (1989)

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

The chrome truck logos on the cover were replaced with the letters F.I.N.E., which the liner notes gloss as a profane phrase.

Key places

Little Mountain Sound Studios, Vancouver (1989)

Recording site Little Mountain Sound Studios — Aerosmith recorded Pump in Vancouver at Little Mountain Sound Studios from January to June 1989. Producer Bruce Fairbairn and engineers Mike Fraser and Ken Lomas worked there. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Pump: tenth studio album by the American rock band Aerosmith
• Released 12 September 1989 by Geffen Records
• Peaked at No. 5 on the US charts
• Singles Love in an Elevator, The Other Side, What It Takes, and Janie's Got a Gun all entered the Hot 100 Top 40

Background

• Band rehearsed and wrote new songs in December 1988 at Rik Tinory Productions in Cohasset, Massachusetts
• Band chose the isolated studio because they believed it would help their creativity
• Over 19 songs were written, split into an A-list of likely hits and a B-list of songs still in development
• Producer Bruce Fairbairn focused on getting as many hooks into the songs as possible
• Several proposed songs were never released in their original form, including Girl's Got Somethin' and Sedona Sunrise
• Many songs had alternate titles at first; Voodoo Medicine Man was originally titled Buried Alive
• Band moved to Vancouver in January 1989 to record again at Fairbairn's Little Mountain Sound, where he had produced Bon Jovi's Slippery When Wet
• Steven Tyler said the band did not listen to Bon Jovi before going there
• Mötley Crüe recorded Dr. Feelgood at the same studio at the same time, and Steven Tyler and the Margarita Horns added vocals and instruments to several of its tracks
• The album aimed to explore a rawness that had been glossed over for a commercial sound on Permanent Vacation

Recording

• Recording ran about six months, from January to June 1989
• The first three months were spent in Massachusetts and the last three in Vancouver
• Vancouver sessions took place at Little Mountain Sound Studios
• Producer Bruce Fairbairn worked with engineers Mike Fraser and Ken Lomas
• Instrumental interludes were made with musician Randy Raine-Reusch, who played unusual instruments
• Steven Tyler regretted that lyrics were left out of the album booklet

Cover

• Black and white photo of a smaller International K Series truck on top of a larger International KB Series truck, both with cargo beds removed
• Chrome International markings on the hoods were replaced with the letters F.I.N.E.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · fr.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

• Released 12 September 1989 and reached No. 5 on the US charts
• Reception was mostly positive, and many critics noted its more classic hard rock sound than the pop metal of its predecessor
• Rolling Stone called Aerosmith the reigning king of the hard-rock double entendre, and said Pump has more going for it than locker-room laughs
• Q noted that Aerosmith, as hoary old stagers, came up with the year's best metal album while younger bands were chasing the metal crown
• Robert Christgau wrote that the first side's loud and acrid sound keeps coming, and wanted more of Janie's Got a Gun
• Hi-Fi News & Record Review wrote that Tyler and Perry had cleaned up their act and come up with a stonker

Reappraisal

• Spin placed the album at No. 279 on its list of The 300 Best Albums of the Past 30 Years
• The album was included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die
• Loudwire ranked it fourth among Aerosmith albums, citing glossy productions like Love in an Elevator and the Grammy-winning Janie's Got a Gun

Records

• US peak: No. 5
• Certified 7x Platinum by the RIAA in 1995
• US certified sales of seven million copies, tied with Get a Grip as the band's second best-selling studio album in the US
• UK: certified Silver by the BPI (60,000 units) in September 1989, the band's second Silver album there
• Fourth best-selling album of 1990
• Janie's Got a Gun brought the band its first Grammy Award
• Love in an Elevator became the first Aerosmith song to hit number one on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart

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

Trivia

• Two video documentaries on the recording, Things That Go Pump in the Night and The Making of Pump, came out on VHS and LaserDisc in 1990.
• A small rock band named Pump sued Aerosmith's management company for service mark infringement, and Aerosmith won the case.
• Brad Whitford explained the album title on a 1989 MTV special with a line about being off drugs and pumped up.
• The album helped the band win its first Grammy, and it is listed in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
• Steven Tyler regretted not putting lyrics in the album booklet, because Geffen feared the Parents Music Resource Center would protest over sex and drug references.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · pt.wikipedia.org

Maps of Ages ↗ (mapsofages.com)

Privacy · Contact