Rocks (album)

Rocks is the fourth album by American rock band Aerosmith, released May 3, 1976. Allmusic described Rocks as having "captured Aerosmith at their most raw and rocking".[1] Rocks also ranked #176 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time and is also noted in musician Kurt Cobain's top 50 favorite albums in his journals.[2] Additionally, it has greatly influenced several people in the hard rock and heavy metal community, including members of Guns N' Roses and Metallica.[3] [4]

The album was also a commercial success, charting Four singles on the Billboard Hot 100, two of which reached the Top 40 ("Back in the Saddle" and "Last Child"). The album also was one of the first albums to ship platinum when it was released. The album has since gone quadruple platinum.[5]

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Contents
[hide]*1 Track listing
 * 1.1 Side one
 * 1.2 Side two
 * 2 Song information
 * 2.1 "Back in the Saddle"
 * 2.2 "Last Child"
 * 2.3 "Rats in the Cellar"
 * 2.4 "Combination"
 * 2.5 "Sick as a Dog"
 * 2.6 "Nobody's Fault"
 * 2.7 "Get the Lead Out"
 * 2.8 "Lick and a Promise"
 * 2.9 "Home Tonight"
 * 3 Influence in music
 * 4 Appearances in other media
 * 5 Personnel
 * 5.1 Additional personnel
 * 6 Production
 * 7 Charts
 * 8 Certifications
 * 9 References
 * 10 External links
 * }

edit] "Back in the Saddle"
Claimed to have been written by Joe Perry on a six-string bass, the instrument gives the song its distinctive "growl". Although written with the simple idea of cowboys and sex, this song took on new meaning after Aerosmith reunited in 1984 and embarked on their Back In The Saddle Tour. Brad Whitford plays the lead guitar part.

edit] "Last Child"
It is said that Brad Whitford created the riff after listening to The Meters, and that the band wrote the rest in the studio. Live, Whitford plays lead guitar on the song.

edit] "Rats in the Cellar"
Written as Tom Hamilton describes it, "taking this thing The Yardbirds created, and making it balls to the wall", it was also conceived as a counterpart to Toys in the Attic.

edit] "Combination"
Joe Perry's first solo writing effort for the band. The song is a vocal duel between lead singer Steven Tyler and Joe Perry, In the song the lead vocals and backing vocals change back and forth. The song has been played a total of 19 times live.

edit] "Sick as a Dog"
A guitar part is by bassist Tom Hamilton, who also co-wrote the song. When recording the song, for the first half of the song, Joe Perry played the electric bass; after the last chorus, during the rhythm guitar break, Perry handed the bass over to Steven Tyler to play, and picked up his guitar to play the solo during the finale.[6] This song is said to be about Tyler's less than spectacular first meeting of Mick Jagger.

edit] "Nobody's Fault"
With "Back in the Saddle", one of the heaviest songs on the album (as "Round and Round" had been on the previous one), this is one of former Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash's favorite Aerosmith songs, as well as that of Metallica leader James Hetfield. Thrash metal band Testament covered this song on their 1988 album, The New Order, as well as L.A. Guns contributing a cover of the song for their 2004 covers album Rips the Covers Off. This song is an important contribution to the band's catalogue by Brad Whitford, who cites it as his favorite Aerosmith song. The song was covered by System of a Down as a B-side to their "Innervision" single. It has also been said that the song is about earthquakes.[7]

edit] "Get the Lead Out"
Bluesey song inspired by a country song (Hank Williams' "Hey Good Lookin'").

edit] "Lick and a Promise"
Hard Rocking song about "going out there and putting on a great show", the song was featured on the 1988 greatest hits album Gems.

edit] "Home Tonight"
The song is played with a steel guitar and is supported by strong background vocals. The song has only ever been played live once in history.

edit] Influence in music

 * Slash says that "Rocks" was the album that changed his life.[3]
 * Rocks was one of Kurt Cobain's favorite albums, as he listed in his Journals.[8]
 * In 2003, the album was ranked number 176 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.[9]
 * Mötley Crüe songwriter and bassist Nikki Sixx refers to it frequently in his book The Heroin Diaries.

edit] Appearances in other media

 * The song "Last Child" is a playable song in the video game Guitar Hero II.
 * Also released as a 4-channel quadraphonic mix.
 * "Back in the Saddle", "Nobody's Fault", "Rats in the Cellar" and "Combination" are playable songs on Guitar Hero: Aerosmith.

edit] Personnel

 * Steven Tyler - lead vocals, percussion
 * Joe Perry - guitar, lead on tracks 3,5, backing vocals, 6-string bass on track 1
 * Brad Whitford - guitar, lead on tracks 1,2,4,6,7,8,9
 * Tom Hamilton - bass, guitar on track 5
 * Joey Kramer - drums, percussion

edit] Additional personnel

 * Paul Prestopino - banjo

edit] Production

 * Producers: Aerosmith, Jack Douglas
 * Engineer: Jay Messina
 * Assistant engineers: Sam Ginsberg, Rod O'Brien
 * Arrangers: Aerosmith, Jack Douglas, David Hewitt
 * Directors: David Krebs, Steve Leber
 * Photography: Fin Costello, Scott Enyart, Tom Hamilton, Ron Pownall, Brad Whitford

edit] Charts
Album - Billboard (North America)

Singles - Billboard (North America)