"Sweet Emotion" & "Walk This Way"

For all the raving I do about Steven Tyler's lyrics and Joe Perry's guitars, there are times I need to point out that what Aerosmith is, is an awesome band. Five guys playing together, always on the same page. "Sweet Emotion" has a great part for everyone, from Tom Hamilton's superstar bassline, and Joe Perry's ethereal talkbox, to the tight groovy percussion, (including drums that appear to be backmasked) to the singalong chorus and the explosive coda. It's one of those songs that's more of an atmosphere than a statement. You just kinda go along with the feeling. As great as the lyrics are, they're almost afterthoughts, decoration, there to interchange with the guitar riff that drives the piece. They're delivered with a bit of fire, a bit of smack-talk, but the chorus delivers relief. It's a yin-yang thing.



"Walk This Way" is a quintessential rock song, in the oldest tradition, talking about a teenage loser learning how to hang with the cool kids and get laid. It's the rock and roll fantasy, the music can somehow make you cool enough to get noticed by the hot chicks at your school.

Dig the guitars. For one, the outro to the song has one of the best dual-guitar interactions on record. Then there's three main riffs in the song: The intro, which is a classic tease, like "Satisfaction." Then there's the one under Tyler's prototypic-rap verses, which is skittering and anxious. Then finally there's the one that accompanies the chorus, echoing out like fanfare. It's actually meant to simulate a brass section. After the bluster of thoughts unreeled in the verses, the solution comes so simple: Walk this way! Talk this way! Walk this way (da-da-da!) Talkthis way! (da-da-da!) And that's what rock and roll is, the escape from a complicated world into a simple moment of clarity. "Walk This Way" isn't a phrase that pops immediately to mind when this subject comes up, but it seems to say so much anyway.

This song is one of those moments in rock where everything just fucking works.