| First posted 3/28/2011; updated 10/17/2020. |
Toys in the Attic |
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Released: April 8, 1975 Charted: April 26, 1975 Peak: 11 US, -- UK, 7 CN, 79 AU Sales (in millions): 8.0 US, -- UK, 11.0 world (includes US and UK) Genre: classic rock |
Tracks: (Click for codes to singles charts.)
Total Running Time: 37:08 The Players:
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Rating:
 4.389 out of 5.00 (average of 9 ratings)
Awards:
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About the Album: On their first two albums, Aerosmith established themselves as “a gritty, street-wise hard rock band who played their blues as blooze and were in it for a good time; Toys in the Attic crystallizes that attitude.” AMG Previously, they “didn’t have any of the menace of their influences, nor any of their mystique,” AMG but here they “finally perfected their mix of Stonesy raunch and Zeppelin-esque riffing.” AMG Guitarist Joe Perry said, “our first two albums were basically comprised of songs we’d been playing for years live in the clubs. With Toys, we started from scratch.” JP He called the album their “breakthrough,” facilitated by producer Jack Douglas, who “moved into the slot of the sixth member of the band.” JP Douglas credited the band’s year on the road supporting the previous album with making them better players. “It showed in the riffs that Joe and Brad brought back…for the next album. Toys in the Attic was a much more sophisticated record than the other stuff they’d done.” SD “The success of the album derives from a combination of an increased sense of songwriting skills and purpose.” AMG Singer Steven Tyler “has fully embraced sleaziness as his artistic muse” AMG writing “with a gleeful impishness about sex throughout Toys in the Attic, whether it’s the teenage heavy petting of Walk This Way, the promiscuous Sweet Emotion, or the double-entendres of Uncle Salty and Adam’s Apple.” AMG “Sweet Emotion” and “Walk This Way,” both marked by “indelible riffs” AMG by Joe Perry, went on to become staples of classic rock radio. The former gave the band their first top 40 hit on the Billboard pop charts. 15 years after its initial release, a reissue of the song landed on the album rock chart. “Walk This Way,” with its rapid-fire lyrics about a highschooler losing his virginity, was an even bigger hit, landing in the top ten of the pop charts, not once, but twice. The first time was in 1976 when the song was reissued after the success of the band’s Rocks album. A decade later, rap group Run-D.M.C. did a remake of the song with Tyler and Perry guesting. It was even more successful, going all the way to #4 on the pop charts. The band also covered “the old dirty blues Big Ten Inch Record,” AMG a song first recorded by Bullmoose Jackson in 1952. The band heard it via Dr. Demento’s radio show. They stayed largely true to the original, right “down to its jazz-style instrumentation.” WK The “most ambitious recording on the album” WK is probably You See Me Crying, “a complex piano ballad” accompanied by a symphony orchestra conducted by Mike Mainieri. The band was frustrated with the time it took to record the song because of its complex drum and guitar parts. WK It was released as the album’s third single, but didn’t chart. In 1984, when Tyler was suffering memory loss from years of drug use, he heard the song and didn’t realize it was Aerosmith and suggested to the band that they cover it. WK |
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