Top 5 Riffs of Aerosmith

Aerosmith and the Global Warming Tour are coming to the Times Union Center on June 29th. For over 40 years Brad Whitford and Joe Perry have created some incredible riffs.  To get you pumped up for the show, here is a list of a top 5 Riff driven Aerosmith songs. 

5.  SWEET EMOTION

This song from 1975 Toy's in the Attic was Aerosmith's big break through with a large blues riff.  Joe and Brad's twined guitars make this tune rock as well as the entrance of the show with Joe Perry's talk Box.

4. WALK THIS WAY

Another song from 1975's Toy's in the Attic.  This song peaked at number 10. The title phrase was plucked from Marty Feldman in Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein, but the storyline is pure adolescent male fantasy. Musically, except for Perry’s wailing blues solo, the tune’s a giant rhythm machine, with Perry, Whitford and bassist Tom Hamilton working in lockstep over Joey Kramer’s aggressively hammering drumbeat. Eleven years later it crossed over and became a top 40 hit with rap stars RUN DMC.

3. BACK IN THE SADDLE

The song is a Steven Tyler/Joe Perry composition, Whitford keeps this song grounded with his crunching rhythm playing – until he steps to the foreground and takes the menacing lead. It’s all sex and danger compressed into four-minutes-and-forty-two-seconds.

2. MAMA KIN

This song was released three years before Punk exploded on the scene. Joe Perry and Brad Whitford play twin buzz-saw guitars through the simple three-chord progression as Tyler lays down a bratty vocal line.

1. SAME OLD SONG AND DANCE

This song come from “Get Your Wings” and is a power-blues-rock combination, crunchy, grinding and raw. More than any other original Aerosmith tune, “Same Old Song and Dance” gets to the depth of their musical roots and inspiration in blues, R&B and vaudeville.