The music world has taken to social media to pay tribute to Tina Turner, who has died at the age of 83. Her death was announced by her publicist, who said, “Tina Turner, the ‘Queen of Rock’n Roll’ has died peacefully today at the age of 83 after a long illness in her home in Kusnacht near Zurich, Switzerland. With her, the world loses a music legend and a role model.”
A second tribute was posted on Turner’s Facebook page. It read: “With her music and her boundless passion for life, she enchanted millions of fans around the world and inspired the stars of tomorrow. Today we say goodbye to a dear friend who leaves us all her greatest work: her music. All our heartfelt compassion goes out to her family. Tina, we will miss you dearly.”
Fellow musicians were swift to pay tribute.
“I’m so saddened by the passing of my wonderful friend Tina Turner,” said Mick Jagger. “She was truly an enormously talented performer and singer. She was inspiring, warm, funny and generous. She helped me so much when I was young and I will never forget her.”
“God bless you Tina,” added fellow Stone Ronnie Wood. “The Queen Of Rock And Soul and a dear friend to our family. Love and prayers to all of Tina’s family, friends and loved ones.”
“Sad to hear of Tina Turner passing,” wrote Black Sabbath‘s Geezer Butler. “I saw her on her first major tour, supporting The Rolling Stones at Birmingham Odeon on 1966 and became an instant fan. RIP.”
“We have lost one of the world’s most exciting and electric performers,” wrote Elton John in an Instagram post. “A total legend on record and on stage. She was untouchable. Condolences to Erwin and her family. The saddest news.”
“I was a benefactor of the energy, creativity and talents of Tina Turner,” wrote Blondie‘s Debbie Harry. “A woman who started in rural Nutbush, TN cotton fields and worked her way to the very top. Tina was a great inspiration to me when I was starting out and remains so to this day. Love you Tina. RIP.”
“The world just lost one of the greatest performers of all time,” tweeted Bryan Adams, who duetted with Turner on It’s Only Love in 1985. “I’ll be forever grateful for the time we spent together on tour, in the studio and as friends. Thank you for being the inspiration to millions of people around the world for speaking your truth and giving us the gift of your incredible voice.”
Ringo Starr tweeted, “God bless Tina turner, peace and love to all her family Ringo, peace and love.”
Creedence Clearwater Revival’s John Fogerty wrote, “So deeply sad to hear about Tina Turner’s passing. I loved her version of Proud Mary! It was different and fantastic. I was also so happy because she chose my song and it was her breakthrough record.
Living Colour’s Vernon Reid said it was, “Impossible to overstate Tina Turner’s importance to rock’n’roll stagecraft, aside and apart from her incredible vocal primacy.”
“My darling Tina Turner. I’ve been loving you so long,” Garbage‘s Shirley Manson wrote on Twitter. “So much to thank you for. Love you eternally. Can’t believe this awful news. Can’t believe you are gone.”
Stevie Van Zant said, “RIP Tina Turner. One of our greatest rock’n’soul voices, performers, and stories. She lives forever in the Underground Garage.”
Billy Bragg wrote, “Tina Turner starred on my first TV appearance on The Tube, October 1983. When she performed all the other artists – Eurythmics, PiL, Paul Young and myself – came onto the studio floor to watch her. She was incredible. This is what immortality sounds like. RIP Tina.”
“I’m so sad to hear that Tina Turner has left us,” wrote Jimmy Barnes, who recorded a duet version of (Simply) The Best with Turner in 1993. “It was such an honour to work with someone so talented, strong and giving. It was certainly a highlight of my career to have sung and shared the stage with such a wonderful human being. Thank you and R.I.P.”
Longtime Billy Idol guitarist Steve Stevens wrote, “There are music giants, there are legends and then there’s Tina Turner. Put on our planet to do exactly what she accomplished… everything.”
Away from the music world, NASA tweeted “Simply the best. Music legend Tina Turner sparkled across the stage and into millions of hearts as the Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll. Her legacy will forever live among the stars”, while the NAACP wrote, “The NAACP mourns the loss of the queen of rock’n’roll, Tina Turner, whose pioneering artistry and triumphant life story have inspired millions for decades. Her impact will be felt for generations to come in the music industry and beyond.”
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Online Editor at Louder/Classic Rock magazinesince 2014. 37 years in music industry, online for 24. Also bylines for: Metal Hammer, Prog Magazine, The Word Magazine, The Guardian, The New Statesman, Saga, Music365. Former Head of Music at Xfm Radio, A&R at Fiction Records, early blogger, ex-roadie, published author. Once appeared in a Cure video dressed as a cowboy, and thinks any situation can be improved by the introduction of cats. Favourite Serbian trumpeter: Dejan Petrović.
Singer, dancer, actress and author Tina Turner, often referred to as the “Queen Of Rock ‘N’ Roll” has passed away after a long illness. She was 83.
Tina Turner’s social media team shared the sad news via her Facebook page, writing: “It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Tina Turner. With her music and her boundless passion for life, she enchanted millions of fans around the world and inspired the stars of tomorrow. Today we say goodbye to a dear friend who leaves us all her greatest work: her music. All our heartfelt compassion goes out to her family. Tina, we will miss you dearly.”
Reuters is reporting that Turner died peacefully after a long illness in her home in Küsnacht near Zurich, Switzerland, according to her representative.
Tina Turner began her career in the 1950s during the early years of rock and roll and evolved into an MTV phenomenon.
In the video for her chart-topping song, “What’s Love Got To Do With It,” in which she called love a “second-hand emotion,” Turner epitomized 1980s style as she strutted through New York City streets with her spiky blond hair, wearing a cropped jean jacket, mini skirt, and stiletto heels.
With her taste for musical experimentation and bluntly-worded ballads, Turner gelled perfectly with a 1980s pop landscape in which music fans valued electronically-produced sounds and scorned hippie-era idealism.
Sometimes nicknamed the “Queen Of Rock ‘N’ Roll,” Turner won six of her eight Grammy Awards in the 1980s. The decade saw her land a dozen songs on the Top 40, including “Typical Male,” “The Best,” “Private Dancer” and “Better Be Good To Me.” Her 1988 show in Rio de Janeiro drew 180,000 people, which remains one of the largest concert audiences for any single performer.
By then, Turner had been free from her marriage to guitarist Ike Turner for a decade.
The superstar was forthcoming about the abuse she suffered from her former husband during their marital and musical partnership in the 1960s and 1970s. She described bruised eyes, busted lips, a broken jaw and other injuries that repeatedly sent her to the emergency room.
The family of Tom Petty is pursuing legal action against RR Auction House for selling what they believe to be stolen personal property from the late rocker’s secured archive.
The auction company recently listed dozens of items from Petty’s vaults, including jackets, vests, shirts, hats, jeans, footwear, duffle bags, guitar straps, posters, CDs and vinyl, some of which are autographed.
At the time of this writing, a black-and-white striped satin jacket from 1977 is sitting just above $5,700 with 25 bids. A space-themed vest similar to the one Petty wore at Live Aid is up to $1,000 with 14 bids. Other high-dollar items include his blue and white denim jackets, a 1987 Guns N’ Roses tour jacket featuring a customized name tag (“Tom — I’m With Axl“), a signed vinyl promo poster from 1978’s You’re Gonna Get It! album and a pair of black Zodiac boots.
Petty’s family, however, is fighting for the immediate return of these items and encouraging fans and collectors to refrain from bidding on them until the issue is settled.
“We believe RR Auction, headquartered in Boston, is offering stolen Tom Petty memorabilia with a completely false provenance inaccurate to fact and in complete denial of clear evidence they have been presented,” the family said in a statement. “They will not disclose the cosigner who has provided these items or how they were acquired. But they are clearly stolen, there is no other word for it.”
“These items have irreplaceable sentimental and educational value for the family and legacy of Tom Petty and we look forward to their safe return,” they added.
For now, the Petty auction lot is scheduled to end on June 22.
Tom Petty Albums Ranked
He’s a rock ‘n’ roll rarity: an artist who was consistent until the very end.
Whitesnake returned in 2008 with Good To Be Bad, the band’s 10th studio album and its first in over a decade. Fans embraced the comeback, pushing the album into the Top 10 in the UK and flocking to shows on the band’s massive world tour. Today, album tracks like “Best Years” and “Summer Rain” have taken their place in the band’s live repertoire alongside global hits like “Here I Go Again” and “Still Of The Night.”
The band has released the official live video for the above-mentioned “Best Years”. Watch below:
Whitesnake explores the group’s 2008 return with the legacy retrospective, Still Good To Be Bad. The collection is now available in different configurations. The first collection is a 4-CD/Blu-ray with two new versions of the original album (one remastered and the other newly remixed), a selection of rare and unreleased studio and live recordings from the period, and videos all the music videos, interviews, and electrifying live performances from the Good To Be Bad world tour.
Three other versions of Still Good To Be Bad are also available. The album’s 2023 Remix is released on vinyl as a double-LP and a single CD. Still Good To Be Bad also comes as a 2-CD set that includes the remixed and remastered versions of the album. The new alternate mixes also feature new background vocals from the “Hook City Harlots,” Cami Thompson, Misty Rae & Jackie Landrum, plus the “Hook City Horns” with Rick Metz on saxes and the trumpet of Joshua Reed.
Whitesnake founder and lead singer David Coverdale played an integral role in making the new collection, serving as its executive producer. In the set’s liner notes, Coverdale traces the creative spark for Good to Be Bad back to 2003 when he reconvened Whitesnake for a tour celebrating the band’s 25th anniversary.
“We went out for two months and came back nine months later, and I had a big smile on my face and felt really energized…. I thought—‘Wow! I’ve got thirty years of music here that I can go out and play, and I don’t have to promote a new record…I can just have fun out there.’”
The anniversary ended, but the tour buses kept rolling as Whitesnake remained in demand on the road. As a result, in 2006, the band released Live…In The Shadow Of The Blues, a concert album that also introduced four new studio recordings. Those songs raised fans’ hopes for a new Whitesnake studio album, the first since 1997’s Restless Heart.
Coverdale enjoyed a newly forged creative friendship with electrifying guitarist Doug Aldrich…After initially saying he wasn’t interested in new projects…after three years of touring, he felt the need for new music…not only for the fans, but also to reinvigorate himself.
He found the perfect writing partner with Doug Aldrich. Not only as a co-writer but, as a co-producer, too…
“Doug & I got on so well, I suggested we sit down with our acoustic guitars & see what unfolded…I was thrilled how effortless it was to create new Whitesnake music with him…”
So, it was that in 2007, Coverdale, guitarists Doug Aldrich and Reb Beach, keyboardist Timothy Drury, bassist Uriah Duffy, and drummer Chris Frazier began recording tracks for Whitesnake’s 10th studio album, Good to Be Bad. Celebrated by both fans and critics, the record was named “Album of the Year” at the 2008 Classic Rock Awards.
Still Good To Be Bad explores the creative process behind the record with 28 different mixes and alternate versions of album tracks, all but one of them previously unreleased. High points include “If You Want Me,” backed by the Hook City Harlots and Horns and a version of “All For Love” that features a different guitar solo by Aldrich. The collection also includes “Evolutions”, a disc of unreleased recordings that presents a guide through the genesis of each song, from initial ideas with rough vocal melodies, lyrics and riffs through to finished demos and full band production versions.
The Blu-ray delivers a variety of Whitesnake video footage, including live tracks from the band’s 2008 European tour, acoustic performances from the era, and an interview by Eddie Trunk. New songs like “Best Years,” “A Fool In Love,” and “Can You Hear The Wind Blow” come to life in these incredible live performances. The Blu-ray also features promo videos for “Ready To Rock” and “Lay Down Your Love.”
CD 1: New Remix “Best Years” “Can You Hear The Wind Blow” “Lay Down Your Love” “If You Want Me” “All I Want All I Need” “Call On Me” “Ready To Rock” “Summer Rain” “Good To Be Bad” “All For Love” “All I Want Is You” “Got What You Need” “A Fool In Love” “Dog” “‘Til The End Of Time”
CD 2: New Remaster “Best Years” “Can You Hear The Wind Blow” “Lay Down Your Love” “If You Want Me” “All I Want All I Need” “Call On Me” “Ready To Rock” “Summer Rain” “Good To Be Bad” “All For Love” “All I Want Is You” “Got What You Need” “A Fool In Love” “Dog” “‘Til The End Of Time”
CD 3: Alt Mixes and Various Versions “Lay Down Your Love” w/ Hook City Harlots “If You Want Me”:w/ Hook City Harlots “Call On Me” w/ Hook City Harlots “Good To Be Bad” w/ Hook City Harlots “All For Love” w/ Hook City Harlots “Got What You Need” w/ Hook City Harlots “A Fool In Love” w/ Hook City Harlots “If You Want Me” Tommy Aldridge drums “Ready To Rock” Tommy Aldridge drums “All I Want Is You” Tommy Aldridge drums “Dog” Tommy Aldridge drums “All For Love” Doug Aldridge alternate solo “Summer Rain” Unzipped
CD 4: Evolutions “Best Years” “Can You Hear The Wind Blow” “Lay Down Your Love” “If You Want Me” “All I Want All I Need” “Call On Me” “Ready To Rock” “Summer Rain” “Good To Be Bad” “All For Love” “All I Want Is You” “Got What You Need” “A Fool In Love” “Dog” “‘Til The End Of Time”
Disc 5: Blu-ray / DVD “Ready To Rock” (Promo Video) “Lay Down Your Love” (Promo Video) “Best Years” (Mini Concert From 2008) “Can You Hear The Wind Blow” (Mini Concert From 2008) “Lay Down Your Love” (Mini Concert From 2008) “A Fool In Love” (Mini Concert From 2008) “Got What You Need” (Purplesnake Video) “Call On Me” (Purplesnake Video) “Can You Hear The Wind Blow” (Purplesnake Video) “All For Love” (Purplesnake Video) “Best Years” (Purplesnake Video) “Can You Hear The Wind Blow” (Cutting Room NY Live Acoustic) “All I Want All I Need” (Cutting Room NY Live Acoustic) “Lay Down Your Love” (Cutting Room NY Live Acoustic)
The B-52’s singer and co-founder Cindy Wilson will release her second solo album, Realms, on Aug. 25, just one week before the band plays its final scheduled shows.
Wilson is previewing Realms with the dance floor-ready single “Midnight.” You can hear the song and see the full album track listing below. Realms arrives six years after Wilson’s full-length solo debut, Changes, which was preceded by a pair of EPs, 2016’s Sunrise and 2017’s Supernatural. The album is available to preorder now in a variety of formats. The singer once again teamed up with Changes producer Suny Lyons, detailing the creative process in a statement.
“Being in the B-52’s has been a playful and creative endeavor,” Wilson said in a press release. “Doing the solo project with Suny Lyons has been too. I worked with Suny on a previous effort called Changes and enjoyed working with him, so I asked him to do the next one, Realms. I feel the techno vibe mixed with other elements is modern and unexpected, which is beautiful. I got to use my strong voice emotions with the tender, and I love it. The first song, ‘Midnight,’ goes through the realms of midnight. It’s an upbeat dance dream of love at a magical hour, inviting the listener to come along. Let’s go!”
As she prepares the release of Realms, Wilson will also fulfill her final live obligations with the B-52’s. The new wave hitmakers announced their farewell tour last year and have since extended the trek, with seven dates — including a five-show stint at Las Vegas’ Venetian Theatre — between June and September.
“Prove It All Night,” which preceded his fourth LP by 10 days in May 1978, was a straightforward, four-minute rock anthem in its studio form dubbed by Rolling Stone as “the lightest item” on Darkness. It reached No. 33 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, becoming only Springsteen’s second Top 40 single but 10 points lower than “Born to Run” three years earlier.
When Springsteen and the E Street Band hit the road to support Darkness on the Edge of Town, however, “Prove it All Night” turned into an epic that could run from seven to nearly 12 minutes, with a lengthy, improvised solo by Springsteen on guitar and Roy Bittan on a piano that would build in intensity before crashing into the song proper.
“When the introduction gives way to the melody of the song, ‘Prove It’ is transformed from something potentially slight and dismissible into an emotional crucible,” admirer Dave Marsh wrote in Rolling Stone. “Hearing it, you may wonder if ‘Prove It All Night’ is a hit single, but you know it’s a great song.”
Listen to Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Prove It All Night’
According to Springsteen, the song began in the back of a New York City cab, with help from a particularly loquacious driver. “I only knew this guy was about 45 years old and he was just raving about how all day long you gotta prove it to your boss, driving around in a cab, and all night you gotta go home and prove it to your wife,” Springsteen said during an August 1978 concert in Largo, Md. “On weekends you gotta prove it to your kids. It never lets up, you know. … Anyway, I wrote this song. Sometimes you gotta prove it all night.”
Springsteen and company recorded “Prove It All Night” during September 1977 sessions at the Record Plant in New York City, initially using lyrics that subsequently appeared in “Something in the Night” before honing in to focus on a couple preparing to take a step forward in their relationship.
The sessions for Darkness on the Edge of Town were not easy, encumbered in part by lawsuits between Springsteen and his soon-to-be former manager-producer Mike Appel – and also by Springsteen’s stated desire “to sound leaner and less grand than ‘Born to Run,'” as he wrote in his 1998 lyrics book Songs.
“That sound wouldn’t suit these songs or the people I was now writing up,” Springsteen added, saluting engineer Chuck Plotkin for helping to achieve “a tighter, more modern mix.”
Listen to Bruce Springsteen Perform ‘Prove It All Night’ in 1978
Sonics aside, Springsteen also said, “The songs were difficult to write. I remember spending hours trying to come up with a single verse. ‘Badlands,’ ‘Prove It All Night’ and ‘Promised Land’ all had a chorus but few lyrics. I was searching for a tone somewhere between Born to Run‘s spiritual hopefulness and ’70s cynicism. … I intentionally steered away from any hint of escapism and set my characters down in the middle of a community under siege. Weeks, even months went by before I had something that felt right.”
As “Prove It All Night” came into its own onstage, the idea of a promotional single for radio was broached with a seven-minute and 45-second live take from Berkeley, Calif., on the A-side and the studio version on the other. Springsteen scuttled that plan, however, as well as suggestions for a live album to capitalize on the popularity of his concert performances.
The galvanizing 1978 arrangement of “Prove It All Night” was curiously left off the Live/1975-85 box set, but is readily available via the Darkness tour concert recordings in the Live Springsteen official “bootleg” series. He also played the arrangement during rare moments early during The River tour in 1980, and it surfaced occasionally during subsequent tours.
The version on 2001’s Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band: Live in New York City doesn’t include the 1978 intro but is extended with a long guitar jam on the song’s back end. In whatever form, “Prove It All Night” remained a staple of Springsteen’s concert sets.
Top 100 Live Albums
These are more than just concert souvenirs or stage documents from that awesome show you saw last summer.
Why Bruce Springsteen Called Killers Collaboration ‘Cathartic’
Throughout the evening, Beck’s catalog was on full display, ranging from early Yardbirds songs like “Shapes of Things” (featuring Clapton singing lead), “Heart Full of Soul” and “Beck’s Bolero” to later solo songs like “Freeway Jam” and “Going Down.” Many artists performed songs they had performed with Beck, like Gibbons, who played ZZ Top‘s “Rough Boy” and Stewart, who began his mini-set with “Infatuation.”
“I never thought I’d be here playing a concert and it’s a tribute to my dear old pal, Jeff Beck,” Stewart said from the stage, warning the crowd that his band had about only an hour of rehearsal. “But we’re here and we’re gonna do him proud.”
You can see footage from the show below.
Watch Rod Stewart Perform ‘Infatuation’
Watch Eric Clapton and Ronnie Wood Perform ‘Beck’s Bolero’
Beck died in January at the age of 78 after contracting bacterial meningitis. An outpouring of condolences from fellow artists subsequently appeared online. “I feel like one of my band of brothers has left this world, and I’m going to dearly miss him,” Wood tweeted following the news.
Clapton also recently released a cover of “Moon River,” which he recorded with Beck not long before his death. The song first appeared in 1961’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s, sung by Audrey Hepburn. The guitarists’ version will be released on vinyl as a double A-side with “How Could We Know” on July 14.
A second Beck tribute concert at the Royal Albert Hall is scheduled to take place Tuesday.
Watch Rod Stewart, Ronnie Wood, Eric Clapton and Gary Clark Jr. Perform ‘People Get Ready’
Watch the Jeff Beck Tribute Concert Finale ‘Going Down’
Jeff Beck Photos: Highlights From the Guitar Virtuoso’s Career
Few other artists made such a seismic impact on the medium.
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Aerosmith: Rocks
(Image credit: Columbia)
Back in the Saddle Last Child Rats in the Cellar Combination Sick as a Dog Nobody’s Fault Get the Lead Out Lick and a Promise Home Tonight
1976’s Rocks – and its predecessor, Toys In The Attic – were Aerosmith’s great one-two punch. But where the latter found them in full showboating mode, the former doubled down on the kind of nasty, druggy rock’n’roll that that their idols the Rolling Stones had once owned the patent on.
Rocks is sleazier than a Boston back alley and sharper than a hypodermic needle. Back In The Saddle and Last Child ooze chemically enhanced confidence, the hyper-speed blues of Rats In The Cellar sounds like it’s just mainlined a kilo of Columbia’s finest, while Combination is the greatest Aerosmith song nobody ever talks about:
Rocks was Peak 70s Aerosmith. They wouldn’t hit the same artistic or commercial heights for more than a decade, by which time they were largely clean if not serene.
“The first record that changed my life in a huge way was Aerosmith’s Rocks,” Godsmack’s Sully Erna told us. “I’d been a musician since I was three-and-a-half years old, and I was raised on blues and more jazzy music: Buddy Rich, Ray Charles, Etta James and a lot of old-school stuff. But then I discovered Joe Perry and Aerosmith. A friend played me Last Child from Rocks. I think it was the first time I smoked a joint, and it was a really life-changing point for me, because it really lured me into the world of rock. It was super-cool for a young kid.”
Every week, Album of the Week Club listens to and discusses the album in question, votes on how good it is, and publishes our findings, with the aim of giving people reliable reviews and the wider rock community the chance to contribute.
Tales of Mystery and Imagination – The Alan Parsons Project
What they said…
“Despite hard drug use escalating among band members, Aerosmith produced a superb follow-up to their masterwork Toys in the Attic, nearly topping it in the process. Many Aero fans will point to Toys as the band’s quintessential album (it contained two radio/concert standards after all, Walk This Way and Sweet Emotion), but out of all their albums, Rocks did the best job of capturing Aerosmith at their most raw and rocking. (AllMusic)
“The best performances here – Lick And A Promise, Sick As A Dog and Rats In The Cellar – are essentially remakes of the highlights of the relatively flat Toys in the Attic. The songs have all the band’s trademarks and while they can be accused of neither profundity nor originality, Aerosmith’s stylized hard-rock image and sound pack a high-energy punch most other heavy metal bands lack.” (Rolling Stone)
“Steven Tyler is the band’s obvious focal point, a distinction earned primarily by his adaptation of the sexual stance that missed the young Jack Flash. On the rockers, his delivery is polished and commanding and sufficiently enthusiastic to disguise the general innnocuousness of the lyrics. On the riff-dominated songs, though, such as Last Child or Back in the Saddle, he is prone to shrieks that don’t bear repetition. Unlike Jagger, his vocal performance cannot save otherwise mediocre material.” (Super Seventies)
What you said…
John Naples: My all time favourite album, and Aerosmith’s best album ever! Still listen to this today. Love their first six albums, the sixth being the Live! Bootleg album. That was my first Aerosmith concert, the Live! Bootleg tour at MSG in NYC, November 24, 1978. Excellent!
John Davidson: My first introduction to Aerosmith was the highly inauspicious Night In The Ruts so its perhaps no surprise that I didn’t really delve into their back catalog at the time.
They seemed more like an amped up Stones than an American Led Zeppelin and there were plenty of other bands around that played to my SF/Fantasy interests in Rush and Rainbow and then the whole NWOBHM.
So having neglected their best albums of the 70s I didn’t really listen to Aerosmith again until they started having hits in the MTV years and didn’t explore their back catalogue at all until I met my wife (who was a big fan).
On its own merits, without the nostalgia kick of remembering this from the 70s I still like this album. It has a real groove to it and some great riffs but it doesn’t quite have that ‘epic’ feel to it that I enjoy most about heavy rock (though Nobody’s Fault comes closest ).
A solid 8/10 and there’s not a bad track on the album so it’s definitely going on my playlist for further spins.
Mark Herrington: A welcome opportunity to reacquaint myself with an album I hadn’t listened to for many a year. First off, it has travelled the years extremely well and sounds almost timeless , which is a tribute to its rocking consistency. This is crunchy, funky good-time rock with a dark centre. An ideal disc to get a party going.
It’s hard to have favourites on an album that charges along so seamlessly, but if pushed I’d pick the almost metal sounding Nobody’s Fault. One of the darkest , densest tracks on here, it has an almost Sabbath-like groove.
Looking back, the album clearly had influences on hard rock and metal in the following decade, the 80s. A great album.
Uli Hassinger: I know that many rate Rocks as Aerosmith best album, but I do not agree. For me it’s just an average rock album with no killing tune. The best one is Nobodys Fault. Last Child, Sick As A Dog and Combination are decent songs too. Rats In The Cellar, Get The Lead Out and Lick And A Promise, on the other hand, are pure crap.
In my opinion Aerosmith had their best run at the end of the 80s and beginning of the 90s with Permanant Vacation, Pump and Get A Grip, all brilliant records. In the 70s they had a few good songs, but that’s it. To me it’s only 5/10.
Chris Elliott: I must be listening to a different album. It’s okay but not much more. This album always left me cold. It’s not that heavy. There’s no great track that hooks you. It plods along doing blues rock with no great spark.
There’s no nostalgia. I never quite got 70s American heavy rock in general, so it’s battling an uphill slope. Even so, it still seems the weakest of their “classic” albums. Mind you, it probably makes more sense in a country with Corvettes rather than the Vauxhall Viva.
Evan Sanders: Having grown up outside of Boston, we believe that Aerosmith are rock gods, and it’s common to know people who have been friends with the band members over the years. It’s hard to write anything bad about this album. Every song is strong, and they seemed determined to show that there would be no fourth album slump after their debut, Get Your Wings, and Toys In The Attic.
Back In The Saddle may be one of the most iconic album openers ever, setting a tone similar to Whole Lotta Love or Immigrant Song on Led Zeppelin II and III. The only criticism is that Rocks isn’t quite at the level of the three albums that came before it, which is like dissing on Led Zeppelin’s Houses of the Holy as being not as good as the four before it. Alas, the slump did indeed come with their next album Draw The Line, as the consequences of their lifestyle took their toll. 8/10.
Richard Cardenas: I remember being disappointed when this came out. To me it lacked the rawness of the original three. As time has passed, it has grown on me but it will never ascend higher then fourth for me. Still, it’s better than anything they put out after. 8/10.
Wade Babineau: Not a bad track in the bunch. I was 14 in 1984 when the video for Let the Music Do the Talking came on MuchMusic and I had heard of Aerosmith from friends, but had not acquired any music from them. Purchased the Done With Mirrors album and the record store guy asked if I had heard any of their older material. I said no and he recommended I start with Toys in The Attic and this album. I was not disappointed and they remain in heavy rotation in my playlists. Easily give this album a 10.
Greg Schwepe: Wow. So, where to begin with Rocks? For starters, it’s where I began with Aerosmith. I remember pedalling my bike to Finder’s Records in ’76 or ’77-ish to buy this after seeing (and most likely hearing) at my friend Bob’s house. First Aerosmith album I ever bought (I asked for Toys In The Attic for my birthday the next year, didn’t always get albums in order back then!). This one defined me (and the band) and set me down the right musical path. Every line, riff, lick and drumbeat is permanently etched in my brain.
Raunchy. Ratty. Defining. Devastating. Dark. The heaviest Aerosmith album. Ever. Being a guitar player and buying the corresponding music book later, I found out that all the songs are tuned down a half step. Now that made even more sense as to why this sounded so “heavy.”
Rocks kicks off with the Joey Kramer’s rhythmic tribal drumming and the minor sounding guitar riffs of Perry and Whitford. And all that crescendos to Steven Tyler’s welcoming call, “I’m baaaaaaaack!” as Back In The Saddle instantly cements itself as an Aerosmith classic. And that low, throbbing guitar riff? Well, made even heavier because it’s actually Joe Perry using a six-string bass.
Before you have a chance to catch your breath, Last Child kicks in with Brad Whitford’s funky groove after the slightly haunting intro. Two songs into Rocks and you have two Aerosmith all time classics.
And the album just ramps up from there. Rats In The Cellar take it to another level. Then Combination rounds out side one with more deadly riffs. The psychotic, feedback-laced whammy bar filled breakdown at the end leaves you spinning.
Now strap in for side two, because you’re gonna need your seatbelt. The Tyler/Hamilton entry Sick As A Dog, with yet another guitar breakdown. The apocalyptic lyrics of Nobody’s Fault. And then even more riff-filled pyrotechnics with Get The Lead Out and Lick And A Promise. Again, as a teenager listening in my bedroom, those guitar sounds were just burned into my head.
The piano ballad Home Tonight finishes out the album and finally gives you a little reprieve and you can catch your breath. Whew!
And there you have it, the defining album by Aerosmith. And this one gets the vote in my personal, annual “Which is better; Rocks or Toys?” polling (by a nose). And we later learn of the “Toxic Twins” activities which gave them that moniker, and how those “activities” made Draw The Line and Night In The Ruts difficult to make. And there we saw the downward spiral of the band at the end of the 70s. But everyone likes a comeback story, and Aerosmith was able to climb back into the saddle (sorry!) again in the 80s.
A lot of 10s for me on this album. 10 out of 10 rating. Is on my own personal Top 10 list of favourite albums. And will be seeing them for the 10th time on their final upcoming Peace Out tour.
Troy Geitman: I know many fans feel this was their best, but I disagree. The production was muddy and some of these songs weren’t their best or ready. That doesn’t mean there weren’t good tracks on here I just prefer Toys over this by a mile
Jack Morse: The first four Aerosmith albums are fantastic. The debut, Get Your Wings, Toys In The Attic, Rocks. What a way to start a career.
The sound of 70s production is music to my ears. Not only Aerosmith, but most music from that era: ZZ Top, Kiss, Grand Funk, Rush, Yes, Queen, Zeppelin, UFO, Uriah Heep, the list is long.
As for this record, the band really sound great. Every song is a classic. After this they ended up experimenting a bit too much with certain things (not music related), but up to this point they were fantastic as a band. The groove, Tyler’s voice evolving, Perrys guitar sound, it all came together on this record.
Andrew Cumming: Brilliant brilliant album chock full of classics. Rats In The Cellar, Lick And A Promise, Sick As A Dog etc. And probably their greatest deep cut, Combination. It’s fair to say I like this one!
Nigel Taylor: The Verve famously sang The Drugs Don’t Work and Rocks is proof that they are completely wrong. By far and and away Aerosmith’s greatest album, full of great songs with a real dark heavy swagger about it.
Now if someone can get them in the studio again and load them up with hard drugs, we could get one more album – something like this – instead of the awful pop rock they churn out now. Rocks is utterly essential, and the best track on it, well that would be Nobody’s Fault.
Jeff Buckridge: Rocks is certainly their best fulltilt rock album. Besides the obvious hits like Back In The Saddle and Last Child, rockers like Rats In The Cellar, Lick And A Promise and Sick As A Dog are all top notch. The stoner tunes like Get The Lead Out and Combination are great midtempo rockers, and Nobody’s Fault is the closest they ever come to heavy metal and it’s pretty damn good. Even the token ballad works great as a closer. Love this album so much.
Roy Bish: An all time classic in the true sense, from the start of Back In The Saddle to the end of Home Tonight it’s a high octane ride of sheer classic rock-defining moments. In my opinion one of the greatest albums ever released.
Bill Griffin: I simply don’t have enough good things to say about this album. It was my first Aerosmith record and, although the first four all have their charms (Toys is probably the most varied and their artistic zenith), it is my favourite. From Back In The Saddle through Lick And A Promise it never lets up and none of them sound the same. Even Home Tonight rocks. No wimpy ballad there.
Oddly, I saw them live three times in the next few years and was very disappointed each time (to the point that I haven’t seen them since), but I’ve recently gotten live recordings from that era and they sound great on all of them.
Gary Claydon: If Toys In The Attic was the album that broke Aerosmith into the big league, then Rocks was the one that cemented their place there. I reckon it’s a coin toss between the two for the honour of being the band’s best but, for me, it’s Rocks, thanks to it’s slightly more ‘raw’ feel.
Standout tracks are opener Back In The Saddle and Nobody’s Fault, the latter demonstrating Brad Whitford’s value as a songwriter.
Rocks has all the elements that made Aerosmith so good when they were on top of their game. It has sass, it has groove and it has a chunk of funk. More than anything, though, it does exactly what it says on the cover.
Adam McCann: Stone-cold classic, Aerosmith at their sleazy, blues driven best.
Bryan Aguilar: 10/10 album. Every song, all 9 out of 9, are brilliant.
Troy David Nickerson: Probably the greatest American hard rock album of the 70’s.
Eric Nicholas Andrews: To some, their last great album, as the tour-record-repeat treadmill was starting to take its toll by then. Draw The Line (1977)’s reputation has improved over the years, but it was the first sign of cracks in their foundation.
Darren Burris: An amazing album. Aerosmith at their finest (along with Toys). Every song on this album is great. Possibly a 10/10!
Andrew Bramah: The only Aerosmith album you need. At their sleazy, ragged best. Long before they became cheesy ballad merchants.
Joshua Nelson: Their best album and one of the greatest hard rock albums of all time. It really needs to be listened to as a whole to fully be appreciated as the masterpiece it is.
Stan Bowers: The greatest album ever recorded.
Shawn Stewart: Their best. Peak Aerosmith.
James McCurrach: Good, but Get Your Wings is better.
Chris Layton: The greatest Aerosmith album ever, and that’s saying something, because the first five albums were killer.
Todd Schuster: I recently tried to put together a playlist of Aerosmith “deep cuts”: one track from every album that are great songs and definitive of their sound. While I did have to make a couple difficult choices on a few albums, picking one from Rocks proved impossible as all seven of them are worthy (Back In The Saddle and Last Child aren’t deep cuts from my perspective.)
I got my first stereo for my 10th birthday in spring of ’76 – and my neighbourhood friends all shared our records and 8-tracks. One of them lent me his Toys In The Attic record and I loved it so much I wanted to trade him for it, but he wanted it back after a week. I bugged my parents for a Toys In The Attic 8-track for Christmas, but was initially disappointed when I opened the gift wrap and saw it was their new release Rocks… until I played it a couple times! Ironically, Toys ended up being the last ’70s album of theirs that I bought.
Final score: 8.32 (275 votes cast, total score 1510)
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On May 17th, Skid Row were forced to cancel their live date at The Triffid in Brisbane, Australia due to frontman Erik Grönwall coming down with the flu. On May 20th, the band announced they were cancelling the remaining dates on the tour – Adelaide and Melbourne – due to Grönwall’s ongoing health issues.
Earlier today, May 22nd, Skid Row announced they were cancelling their first tour of Japan in over ten years, due to Grönwall’s continued health issues.
Skid Row and Buckcherry recently announced that due to multiple sold-out shows and high demand from fans around the country – they are adding two more legs to their “The Gang’s All Here” co-headline tour.
The first leg in spring of 2023 wrapped with most dates selling out including Tampa Bay, Atlanta, Myrtle Beach and Huntsville. The second leg, which starts in late August, is tracking towards multiple sell-outs across the board.
Skid Row and Buckcherry are now thrilled to take their tour even further into the year with twenty-two additional shows along the west coast and across the border into Canada. “The Gang’s All Here Tour” will also be making a stop at the Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles on Saturday, December 9; this will mark Skid Row’s first live appearance in Los Angeles in a decade.
Tour dates:
August 31 – Dallas, TX – House of Blues
September 1 – Pryor, OK – Rocklahoma 2023 ^ 2 – San Antonio, TX – Aztec Theatre 6 – Huber Heights, OH – Rose Music Center 8 – Montclair, NJ – Wellmont Theater 9 – Huntington, NY – The Paramount 10 – Lynn, MA – Lynn Auditorium 12 – Portland, ME – State Theatre 13 – Glenside, PA – Keswick Theatre 15 – Paducah, KY – Carson Center 16 – Cleveland, OH – MGM Northfield Park 19 – East Moline, IL – The Rust Belt 20 – Joliet, IL – Rialto Square Theatre 22 – Welch, MN – Island Event Center 23 – Fort Yates, ND – Prairie Knights Casino 24 – Deadwood, SD – Deadwood Mountain Grand
October 5 – Eugene, OR – McDonald Theatre* 6 – Suquamish, WA – Suquamish Clearwater Casino Resort* 10 – Penticton, BC – Penticton Trade and Event Centre* 12 – Enoch, AB – – The Venue at River Cree Resort and Casino* 13 – Dawson Creek, BC – Ovintiv Event Centre* 16 – Lethbridge, AB – ENMAX Centre* 17 – Saskatoon, SK – TCU Place* 19 – Calgary, AB – Grey Eagle Casino* 20 – Moose Jaw, SK – Moose Jaw Event Center* 21 – Brandon, MB – Westoba Place* 23 – Winnipeg, MB – Burton Cummings Theatre* 24 – Thunder Bay, ON – Thunder Bay Community Auditorium* 27 – Green Bay, WI – Epic Event Center* 28 – Sault Ste. Marie, MI – Kewadin Casino*
December 2 – Tucson, AZ – Rialto Theater* 5 – San Diego, CA – House of Blues* 6 – Anaheim, CA – House of Blues* 8 – Phoenix, AZ – The Van Buren* 9 – Los Angeles, CA – The Fonda Theatre* 12 – Denver, CO – Ogden Theatre* 14 – Boise, ID – Revolution Concert House* 15 – Reno, NV – Nugget Casino Resort*
“Some of you may remember this fitness challenge from previous years – a place for our community, the rock and metal fans, to get healthy, meet some awesome friends along the way and – oh yeah – win some awesome prizes including an all expenses paid trip to work out with me at 1st Phorm HQ, a signed JIVA guitar, a Marshall amp and more,” says guitarist Nita Strauss (Alice Cooper).
“Body Shred 5 will be an 8 week challenge, starting May 29 and ending July 24. All participants will get an e-book written by me which includes a workout plan to follow, recipes, nutrition tips and printable assets. There is also the option to create a customized macro plan through the 1st Phorm app for those who are serious about making a change (and winning a guitar!).”
