Aerosmith Fan Club

Nominated for a 1998 Grammy award for Best Rock Album and featuring the single, “Falling in Love (Is Hard on the Knees),” nominated for a Best Rock Performance, Nine Lives is Aerosmith’s first album in their lucrative re-signing to Columbia Records. Together over 25 years, the Boston band has always been known for their gritty sex anthems, hard-buckling rhythms, and bic-flicking power ballads. Not nearly as flat-out rock as previous releases, Pump or Get A Grip, Nine Lives experiments with a multitude of instruments, including hammered dulcimer, Indian fiddle, and Chapman stick. This Noah’s Ark approach allows the band to experiment within its rock parameters with the appropriately titled “A Taste of India.” They haven’t sworn off the ballads (“Fallen Angels” is what you’d expect) and they still riff like the Aerosmith of old (“Crash”). –Rob O’Connor

Aerosmith’s 12th Album from 1997 was the First Marking their “re-debut” with Sony/Columbia Music, the Labe (more…)

In 1991, Aerosmith went back to Columbia Records/Sony Music by signing a whopping 30 million dollar contract, however their contractual obligations to their previous record label, Geffen Records, was not yet fulfilled.  The contract that Aerosmith signed with Geffen Records stipulated that the band needed to record six albums.  Done with Mirrors, Permanent Vacation, Pump, Get a Grip and Big Ones were all recorded under Geffen Records, but that meant that there still was one missing album before Aerosmith could begin recording under their new record label, Columbia Records/Sony Music.  Soon after the release of Big Ones, the band released a live compilation for Geffen.  This live compilation fulfilled Aerosmith’s contractual obligations, which meant that they could commence work for Columbia Records.

Before the production of their next album, Aerosmith took some time off to be with their families.  Their next album, “Nine Lives” was released in March of 1997.  During the production of the album, Aerosmith fired their manager, Tim Collins, and changed their album’s producer from Glen Ballard to Kevin Shirley.

Nine Lives was not the big hit album that many fans were waiting for, but it did go on to sell over 2 million copies in the United States alone.  The album also produced Aerosmith’s fourth Grammy award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal in 1999 with the smash hit, Pink.

Soon after the release of Nine Lives, Aerosmith commenced a concert tour that lasted two years.  During this two year period, the band experienced many problems, including a bizarre accident involving Joey Kramer.  Kramer suffered second degree burns after his car caught fire at a gas station.  Steven Tyler also injured his leg while performing at one of the concerts.

In 1998, a highly marketed film by the name of Armageddon and starring Steven Tyler’s daughter, Liv, was released.  Aerosmith produced the love theme for the movie.  “I don’t want to miss a thing” was a big hit and  went on to be Aerosmith’s only number one single to date.  It remained at the top of the record charts for four weeks, and was later nominated for an Academy Award.

Aerosmith also released a double live album in 1998.  “A Little South of Sanity” was the product of performances from the Get a Grip and Nines Lives concert tours.  The album went platinum soon after it’s release.

The band continued touring to promote the Nine Lives album and their smash hit single, I don’t want to miss a thing.

Aerosmith was featured in the Disney Hollywood Studios, at Walt Disney World and later at Disneyland in Paris in 1999.  The Rock ‘n Roller Coaster in Paris had an Aerosmith soundtrack and theme.  In the fall of 1999, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry were joined by Run D.M.C and Kid Rock for a live performance of “Walk this Way, at the MTV music awards.

The band took a brief sabbatical from the music studio before recording their next studio album. The concert tour in support of “Pump” had been incredibly successful and the band needed a break to recharge their batteries.

Although music  in the early 1990’s was undergoing a deep shift in trend with the youth dance and hip hop craze, Aerosmith stayed true to their Rock and Blues  roots and recorded “Get A Grip” in 1993.

Get A Grip was a major commercial success, despite the shifting trends in mainstream music, and became Aerosmith’s first album to debut number 1 on the charts.  It quickly went platinum and sold an incredible seven million copies in just a two and a half year span, but it would eventually sell over 15 million copies world wide.

Get a Grip had many hits, including 1994 and 1995 Grammy winning songs for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal: for “Livin’ on the Edge” and “Crazy”.

The gripping lyrics and story telling videos featuring a young Alicia Silverstone propelled the songs ” Crazy, Amazing and Cryin” into the hearts of many music fans.   These three songs received the most ‘love’ from MTV and Radio.

The Get a Grip album was a test in many ways because while the album was in it’s beginning stages, management and record company brass brought in songwriting collaborators to assist in the making of more commercially appealing lyrics, and because of the big success of “Get A Grip”, the band continued to use the services of songwriter collaborators until the early 2000’s.  Hard core Aerosmith fans were not pleased with the band’s choices of using outsiders to write lyrics for Aerosmith and  accused of the band of  ’selling out’ throughout the 1990’s.

With the success of ‘Get A Grip’, came a world tour in support of the album which lasted an incredible 18 months.

Aside from the Rock Band’s grueling time schedule after the release of Get A Grip, the band also found time to launch themselves into the world of youth culture.  They appeared in the Wayne’s World 2 movie and had themselves included in the video game RevolutionX and Quest for Fame.  In 1994, Aerosmith performed at Woodstock ‘94, opened their own club “The Mama Kin Music Hall in Boston and released the music compilation “Big Ones”.  Big Ones featured the biggest hits from Permanent Vacation, Pump and Get A Grip.  They also included three new songs on the compilation album, “Deuces Are Wild”, “Blind Man”, and “Walk on Water”.