"Jailbait" & "Lightning Strikes"

Even if this isn't one of the classic Aerosmtih songs, it's written in a very Aerosmith way. Ostensibly it's an ode to sex with an underage partner, that much you can tell from the repeated cries of "J-j-j-j-j-j-j-Jailbait!" But it's not exactly Winger's "Seventeen" or Warrant's "Cherry Pie" in a straightforward (morally contemptible) narrative. All through the Aerosmith discography, Steven Tyler writes his stream-of-consciousness impressionistic lyrics so that many songs are hardly even about what they're about, whether it's "Sweet Emotion" or "Lord of the Thighs" or any number of 70's classics. Thing is, when you're on top of your game, it's a work of art. When you're at the bottom, and your worse urges get the better of you - as they do all through this album - it becomes a confusing mess. We say a bit of this on Draw the Line ("Sight For Sore Eyes" is a bit of a headfuck, among others.) Night in the Ruts never quite got that crazy, but they really cut loose here, and the lyrics sheet of this album frequently seems like the incoherent ramblings of a diseased mind.

But it's that level of wholehearted insanity that helps salvage this album. When Steven Tyler goes nuts, he goes nuts with his whole body and soul. Right from those howling shrieks that open the album, you know you're getting something insane, but if the album could sustain that from 10 tracks it might've been a more rewarding listen than even Draw the Line. But the thing about that level of insanity is that it can't possibly be maintained - by its very nature it burns hot and fast, and by the end of the album we'll see the whole enterprise up in smoke. But for a few tracks - and more than you'd expect - there's something cooking on this album.



It's not that I think these two cuts are rock and roll classics, or even among Aerosmith's top 50 songs ever. I praise them, though. By reputation, they are supposed to be some of the worst songs ever, and they're not. "Lightning Strikes," written by "Chip Away At The Stone" scribe Richie Supa, is the rare moment of focus on this album, where things really come together and you think the album can't be all bad. With a little bit of professionalism and a little bit of room to go crazy, the band sounds like a revitalized version of its old self. There's nothing quite this dynamic on the earlier albums, and we get a taste of what a Tyler/Crespo/Dufay Aerosmith could have sounded like at its best. It must be said that, all through the album, Crespo and Dufay are not bad guitarists. It's not much of an insult to observe that they're not Joe Perry and Brad Whitford, because anyway they weren't in a position where they were going to get the best material anyway, what with turmoil and all.

This wasn't going to be the type of song that set the chart on fire in 1982, and yet it doesn't sound awful in 2012 (to this admittedly biased source) so they must have done something right.