With Steven Tyler on vocals, Joe Perry and Brad Whitford on guitars, Tom Hamilton on bass, and Joey Kramer on drums, Aerosmith has outlasted all the trends and fads of rock and roll to become one of the most powerful and electrifying forces in popular music, selling in excess of 100 million albums since their inception in Boston, MA circa 1970.

In the era of sex, drugs and rock & roll, Aerosmith arrived with a sexy swagger and thrusts of metal, glam and boogie woogie. Tyler’s lyrics laced with double entendres and witty humor perfectly complimented the group’s raunchy, bluesy backdrops. Beyond driving rock and roll tunes, Aerosmith also created quintessential power ballads, a dual skill which helped the band yield a string of gold and platinum albums.

Aerosmith was on a serious roll when they issued Rocks in 1976, a raw and rocking 9-song set that proved to be as equally compelling and essential as their 1975 masterpiece Toys In The Attic. With producer Jack Douglas once again in tow, Aerosmith churned out more monster riff-heavy cuts and catalog favorites like “Back in the Saddle” and “Last Child,” coming into their own as songwriters and overshooting their influences once and for all in the process. 180g vinyl pressing from Legacy Recordings.

“After Toys in the Attic proved that Aerosmith were more than a Stones caricature, the band flexed its muscles on the boastfully (and aptly) named Rocks, a buffalo stampede of rave-ups and boogies. In an era of arena bombast, songs like “Back in the Saddle” and “Last Child” kept it low to the ground and swinging.” – #176 on Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time