"Sick as a Dog" & "Nobody's Fault"

All of Aerosmith's best albums (and some of their lesser ones) are stocked with great lesser-known tracks. "Sick as a Dog" epitomizes the weariness that permeates the album, pleading to an unknown woman in a tone that is both desperate and accusatory: whatever happened, both are to blame. The lyrics are again very distant and vague, which is to the song's advantage as whatever situation being described probably wouldn't lend itself to a detailed synopsis in rock lyrics. You're left to imagine what could be so desperate to say pleeeeeeease in that way.

"Sick as a Dog" featured Tom Hamilton on lead guitar, for which he crafted this Joe Perry handles bass, until the end where the lead drops out, then Perry tossed the bass to Steven Tyler, and grabbed his own guitar to do the solo, which seems to fade in out of nowhere. A lot of songs on this album, including this one, tend to drone out at length, either fading out or reaching an abrupt stopping point - they deny closure in a way.



Here it is. The big showpiece of the album. The four-and-a-half minute heart attack. Steven Tyler, once the dreamer, sees the world going up in flames, mankind paying for its wickedness, cruelty, vanity. It's a metal trip to the underworld that is uncharacteristically pessimistic for this normally very lighthearted band. Everything on this song is up to eleven - the thundering drums, churning riffs (Brad Whitford, reprising his metal mastery from 1975's "Round & Round") to Steven Tyler's Satanic fire and brimstone sermon delivery.