A half-century is a long, long time. Especially in rock years. For the Get Your Wings Anniversary, some renewed Aerosmith appreciation.
I have a complicated history with Aerosmith. I grew up north of Boston, so it stands to reason I should be a fan, right? They’re my big, hometown rock band, baby! Sadly, it’s not that simple. My parents were rockers; they still are. And they loved Aerosmith. They’d play their records all the time. And for whatever reason, those records were some of the ones I just didn’t like as a kid.
Flash-forward to middle school. It’s Christmas, 1989. My Auntie Carol and Uncle Kenny gifted me two pretty important cassette tapes: The Cure‘s Disintegration and Aerosmith’s Pump. Those were two of the stand-out albums of ’89. I dove head-first into Disintegration and it changed my young musical life. When I finally got around to Pump, I thought it was…fine.
Get Your Wings Anniversary: Aerosmith’s Underrated Second Album
And that’s been my prevailing take on Boston’s Bad Boys over the years: they’re fine. But recently, that take has evolved. Last year, when I wrote about Aerosmith’s debut at 50, I wrote about how much stronger the album was then I remembered it being. It’s almost as if my young, shitty, teenaged self was–wait for it–wrong about something! But that’s impossible! Teenagers know everything!
I had a similar experience when going back to Get Your Wings 50 years on. This is a damn good, mid-’70s rock album. It yielded three singles, none of which charted. Hence the “underrated” tag. A few of those songs are among the band’s best. I’ve highlighted them below so you can check them out again. Because, again, a half-century is a long time. And it’s always a good time to put a fresh perspective on some good ol’ rock ‘n’ roll.
