Aerosmith represent heavy metal before heavy metal, when the genre was still an imitation of the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin: a rowdy spectacle and a hymn to wild emotions, but without the pretension of making it into a cult of masculine power, without hyper-amplified exhibitionism, and ultimately still in the vein of 1960s blues-rock (blues harmonicas, soul horns), albeit in an excessively raucous way. Aerosmith as eclectic and down-to-earth as Kiss were monotonous and pedantic.

Formed in 1970 in New Hampshire, Aerosmith cut their teeth in the rhythm and blues clubs of Boston, where Steve Tyler mimicked Mick Jagger (but, if possible, even more raucous and vibrant), and their twin-guitar boogie (Joe Perry, Brad Whitford) set fire to their covers of the old beat repertoire. Their first two albums, Aerosmith (Columbia, 1973) and Get Your Wings (1974), further cemented their image as lascivious rebels rather than a truly personal sound. They became famous for the piano-and-orchestral ballad Dream On (1973), which basically replicated the idea of Led Zeppelin’s Stairway To Heaven, but more representative of their bar-band spirit were the anthem Mama Kin (1973), the seven minutes of guitar duels in One Way Street (1973), the majestic truculence of Lord Of The Tights (1974), the powerful blows of Same Old Song And Dance (1974), the abrasive lasciviousness of Pandora's Box (1974), and Seasons Of Wither (1974).

For that raw and telluric sound, the album Toys in the Attic (1975) even got them compared to the Yardbirds, and two singles climbed the charts: the frantic boogie of Walk This Way and the Eastern-tinged soul of Sweet Emotion. With two visceral, hard-hitting rhythm and blues numbers like Back In The Saddle and Sick As A Dog, the album Rocks (1976) closed out their classic period.

Draw The Line (1977), with the epileptic rock and roll of Draw The Line, Night In The Ruts (1979), with the Southern boogie Chiquita, and Rock In A Hard Place (1982), which contains Jailbait but lacks the two original guitarists, already sounded tired and repetitive.

After a period of detox from alcohol and drugs, Aerosmith came back more vulgar and raucous than ever with Done With Mirrors (Geffen, 1985), which includes Gypsy Boots and reintroduced the original lineup, and with Permanent Vacation (1987), which contains Dude Looks Like a Lady, another vulgar spectacle, and Rag Doll, the quintessence of their brash, sarcastic, and rough ballad style. Aerosmith’s rebirth was in fact also due to the contribution of external songwriters.

Buoyed by the heavily censored Love in an Elevator, the complex and melodramatic ballad about incest Janie’s Got a Gun, the melodic and passionate What It Takes, and the noisy rhythm and blues of The Other Side, the album Pump (1989) confirmed the band’s state of grace with a sound that borrowed from Black shouters their most provocative inflections and instrumental bacchanals, accelerating them with the rhythms of the less predictable heavy metal and slashing through with criminal guitar work.

Get A Grip (1993) offered generous portions of boogie (Fever, Get A Grip, Eat The Rich) and balladry (Cryin, Amazing), but neither set was as accomplished as the songs on Pump, and the sociopolitical Livin' On The Edge sounded insincere at best.

Big Ones (1994) is an anthology of 1985-1993. A Little South of Sanity (1998) is a double-CD career retrospective.

As Aerosmith became part of the establishment, their albums Nine Lives (Columbia, 1997) and Just Push Play (2001) and the hit single I Don't Want To Miss A Thing (1998) began catering to the jet-set rather than to the blue-collar kids of their youth.

Honkin' on Bobo (2004) is an old-style album of blues numbers.