Hosts: Neil & Chris
Duration: ~58 minutes
Release: 23 September 2024
This time in The Monster Shop, Neil and Chris head to 1987 and the moment when Aerosmith stopped being a half forgotten seventies blues rock band and roared back as glossy, MTV ready titans with Permanent Vacation. One host admits that, until this era, Aerosmith mostly lived in the blind spot between Sabbath, thrash and grunge, while the other traces how the Run DMC version of Walk This Way suddenly made the band visible to an entire new generation of kids watching music television. That collision of old school riffs, hip hop and big hair excess becomes the jumping off point for a full album deep dive.
Across the episode they pull on threads that run from Toys in the Attic to Mrs Doubtfire, from seventies club grit to Hollywood power ballads and asteroid destroying movie anthems. Along the way they use interview clips with Steven Tyler and Joe Perry to explore the toxic twins myth, the breakup and reunion, and how working with producer Bruce Fairbairn in Vancouver's legendary Little Mountain Sound, plus outside writers like Desmond Child, reshaped Aerosmith into a slick but still swaggering hard rock machine. It is equal parts love letter to a comeback, production nerdery session, and hang out with two British metal fans who cannot quite believe these guys are now in their seventies and still standing.
The focus tracks here are the big three singles and the way they balance swagger, melody and sheer studio sheen. Neil and Chris zero in on how Dude (Looks Like a Lady) grew from throwaway joke to era defining hit, pulling apart the bluesy undercurrent beneath the shout along chorus and the horn stabs that make it strut. With Angel, they dissect the token power ballad that almost got left off the record, listening for Fairbairn's layered vocals, enormous drums and the sort of chorus that made eighties rock radio programmers weep with joy.
They also spend time with Rag Doll and other deep cuts, listening for the swing, the twos and fours and the rhythm and blues feel that Steven Tyler insists still sits at the heart of Aerosmith. Production nerds get plenty to chew on, from stories about cranking compressors at Little Mountain to the way multiple guitar layers, harmonies and studio gloss manage to stay just this side of ridiculous. Throughout, the pair keep asking where the line sits between authentic blues rock and big haired cartoon, and whether Permanent Vacation lands on the right side of it.
Beyond the big singles and movie placements, Neil and Chris argue that Permanent Vacation is a textbook case of how a classic rock band can reinvent itself without completely losing its roots. The album drags seventies club band Aerosmith into a late eighties world of glossy production, big ballads and cross genre collaborations, yet the swing, the blues phrasing and the ragged attitude are still there if you listen closely. That mix of risk taking, outside songwriters and savvy production helped define the sound of mainstream hard rock for the rest of the decade.
For the hosts, it is also a reminder that comebacks are rarely tidy. Between tales of the toxic twins, millions blown on drugs and the long road back from internal turmoil, the record becomes a lens on addiction, ego and survival in the rock business. By the time they are guessing the band members' ages and marvelling that men born in the late forties are still belting out these songs, you get a sense of just how far Aerosmith travelled between Toys in the Attic and Permanent Vacation.
Perfect for: Fans who discovered Aerosmith through Run DMC, eighties rock lovers who adore big choruses and bigger hair, production geeks obsessed with Little Mountain era compression, and anyone curious how a supposedly washed up band built one of the great hard rock comebacks.