Rocks (1976)

Rocks is the fourth studio album by American rock band Aerosmith, released on May 13, 1976, through Columbia.

AllMusic described Rocks as having "captured Aerosmith at their most raw and rocking." Rocks was ranked number 366 on the updated Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time in 2020. It has influenced many hard rock and heavy metal artists, including Guns N' Roses, Metallica, and Nirvana.

The album was a commercial success, charting three singles on the Billboard Hot 100, two of which reached the Top 40 ("Back in the Saddle" and "Last Child").

The album was one of the first to ship platinum when it was released, and has since gone quadruple platinum.

Background

Previously, Aerosmith had recorded three albums: Aerosmith (1973), Get Your Wings (1974), and their breakthrough Toys in the Attic (1975), which produced the hits "Walk This Way" and "Sweet Emotion".

Although often derided by critics, the band had amassed a loyal fanbase from relentless touring and their ferocious live shows. Producer Douglas explains, "The only thing we were talking about a few months before Rocks was that it was going to be a real hard-rock album. And we might go back to the format of the first album, which was to rock out on every tune. And again, keep it real raw. And make it as live sounding as we possibly could."

By the time of the album's sessions, the group had already begun living the rock-and-roll lifestyle to the hilt, indulging their already considerable appetite for drugs. However, their hedonistic lifestyle did not appear to hamper them creatively; Rocks was considered by many fans, critics, and fellow musicians to be one of the highlights of their career. Guitarist Joe Perry later recalled, "There's no doubt we were doing a lot of drugs by then, but whatever we were doing, it was still working for us."

Writing

In the 1997 band memoir Walk This Way, guitarist Brad Whitford states that the band began work on the album by backing the Record Plant's mobile recording truck into their rehearsal space, named the Wherehouse, and "let fly ... We were living the high life and not paying attention to anything except making this record. I had the beginnings of "Last Child" and "Nobody's Fault."

Tom had "Uncle Tom's Cabin" that became "Sick as a Dog." We had 'Tit for Tat' ... which turned into 'Rats in the Cellar.' We cut all the basic tracks except two there."

Producer Jack Douglas later insisted: Rocks was the album where Tom and Brad had a lot more input and songs ... This was a big album for Aerosmith. It had to make a big statement about how loud and hard they were, how unapologetic they felt about being who they were – this brash, rude, sexual, hard-core rock band.

The album's opening track, "Back in the Saddle" was written by Perry on six-string bass.

In 1997, Perry explained to Alan Di Perna of Guitar World that he was inspired by Peter Green to write the riff on a Fender Bass VI and admitted that he was "very high on heroin when I wrote 'Back in the Saddle.' That riff just floated right through me." He further describes it as "the kind of riff and instrumentation that falls outside the normal formula of a rock song. I wrote it on a six string bass. It was one of those songs that really opened things up for us."

Tyler explains that the song uses the "saddle image as a way of saying, 'Here's another album, folks, and we're gonna rock out and I've really got my spurs on'." He continues in his memoir, "Back in the Saddle" I hoped would be nostalgic, hearkening to the spirit of every Spaghetti Western I ever saw. The band played like the gods they were. Jack mixed it with Jay in the way you hear it today."

"Last Child" is credited to guitarist Brad Whitford and Tyler. Tyler explains, "Brad wrote, 'Take me back to sweet Tallahassee, home sweet home…'" recalled Tyler. "Whatever he put into 'Last Child', that's his moment. He can take that, and that's his, forever." The song evolved from a riff Whitford titled "Soul Saver", a recording of which was released on Pandora's Box in 1991.

"Sick as a Dog" is credited to Tyler and Tom Hamilton. The bassist explains, "I think I came up with the verse part first. And then I did the parts for the intro, the B to E part, and then came up with this little, jangling arpeggio thing ... I'm such a Byrds fan; it comes from that."

As Hamilton later remembered, it was "Mr. Tambourine Man" that was especially influential on him personally when it came to his eventual contributions to the song that became "Sick as a Dog." "It really embedded in my mind that love of hearing [guitar sounds like that], especially when it was combined with a hard rock beat.

Perry shared how they ended up dividing things up instrumentally in the studio: "Tom played rhythm guitar on "Sick as a Dog." I played bass for the first half of the song. Then I put the bass down and played guitar in the end, and Steven picked up the bass and played it for the rest of the song – all live in the studio! One take.