Rocks (1976)

This album has had complete hold of me since I was about 12 years old. I remember making the decision to sit down with this album. Up until then I was mostly a "greatest hits" guy. I had a lot of the later Aerosmith albums and several compilations and live recordings. Through this, I was familiar with the first two tracks, "Back in the Saddle" and "Last Child," which will be discussed soon. I was 12 years old and just getting into the internet and would read reviews on sites like Allmusic, which pointed to Rocks as the definitive peak of the band's early career. Maybe it was my age, but the way the world seemed to open up before me after "Last Child" ended and "Rats in the Cellar" began was a feeling that will always remain with me.

There's no escape on this album. There's no moment of breath. There's no safety or comfort. It is a gloomy, hectic, extremely crushing album. Whereas the previous one was built on levity, and a desire to transcend, Rocks feels stuck on Earth, mired in darkness. There's a lot of angst, dissatisfaction with one's situation and other people, consequences to negative actions, regret, fear, panic... it's the dark side of a good time, something the band would've been well acquainted with by 1976.

It's not exactly a lecture on morality. It's a great album because the points, such as they are, are demonstrated through the music itself, through mood and execution. I've praised the songwriting up until now as very in-the-moment, very modernist, very point of view. They're not telling stories, they're capturing moments. That's a very powerful thing to do, and is rarely done to such a great degree in rock music, then or now.

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