When Aerosmith Tried to Carry On With ‘Rock in a Hard Place’
Aptly named, Rock in a Hard Place found Aerosmith recording without founding guitarist Joe Perry for the first time.
Perry left the group in the middle of the previous album, 1979's Night in the Ruts, after relations between he and his bandmates – particularly frontman Steven Tyler, and partially because of everybody's drug and alcohol abuse – had broken down to the degree where they could no longer get anything done together.
"After a certain point," Perry told Creem (via Aerosmith: the Ultimate Illustrated History of the Boston Bad Boys) in 1980, "I said, 'No, I'm not going back to New York and just sit around and not do anything.'"
By the time Rock in a Hard Place arrived in August 1982, Aerosmith had actually lost both of their founding guitarists: Brad Whitford left partway through the sessions for the album, also frustrated with the lack of progress allegedly caused by Tyler's rampant heroin addiction: "I wasn't the cog in the wheel that wasn't working."
Jimmy Crespo and, toward the end, Rick Dufay took over axe duties while Tyler, drummer Joey Kramer and bassist Tom Hamilton somehow managed to put a pretty good record together. Highlights include the quicksilver opening track "Jailbait" and lead single "Lightning Strikes," which emerges from a spacey keyboard intro to reveal itself as a gritty, tastefully understated riff-rocker.
Watch Aerosmith Perform 'Lightning Strikes'
There's also the straight-up blues of "Cry Me a River," the blistering, swaggering "Jig Is Up," and the stunningly beautiful "Joanie's Butterfly," a psychedelic, acoustic-guitar based song that turns Exile on Main Street-era Rolling Stones into something more expansive and poppy.
Unfortunately, the record failed to make much of a dent on the charts, and the new-look band struggled to fill venues much smaller than the arenas they were accustomed to packing in their not-that-distant heyday. Joe Perry's solo career similarly fizzled, and over the next few years, the original members of Aerosmith reconciled.
Their first comeback album, 1985's Done With Mirrors, died an undeservedly early death, but Tyler and Perry's smash-hit re-recording of "Walk This Way" with rappers Run D.M.C. in 1986 re-ignited interest in the group.
Wisely, Aerosmith collectively decided to capitalize on the moment by entering rehab and counseling, eventually getting their drug and alcohol abuse in check. They then used this new-found sobriety and unity to build one of the most successful comeback albums in recent rock history, 1987's Permanent Vacation.
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