Aerosmith's Steven Tyler
Aerosmith are back with a vengeance today as they return to the charts with Music From Another Dimension and it sees the rockers back into the charts with new material for the first time in eight years.
To celebrate the return of Steven Tyler’s distinctive vocals to our lives, we’ve had a look at some of the biggest comebacks in the world of rock over the last few years.
Metallica –
The LA based rock legends appeared to have called it a day when they stopped playing back in 2005, after already making somewhat of a comeback two years before.
Having decided to take time off to spend it with their families, no-one would really have be-grudged the band of hanging up their axes and heading off into the sunset, despite St. Anger being a disappointingly soft and melodic entry into the band’s hard as nails catalogue.
When they re-emerged from the wastes with Death Magnetic though, they not only took fans by surprise, but positively blew them away with a brilliant, steel edged album that pulled no punches and both stayed close to the bands classic sound but managed to layer on levels of depth and complexity that made it a whole new animal.
Going to number one in 32 different countries, netting the band the Best Album win at the Kerrang Awards that year and launching Lars and co right back onto the frontlines of hard rock, Death Magnetic was a revelation.
U2 –
While it may be somewhat of a stretch to call it a comeback (after their album Pop in 1997 has to this day sold over 8 million copies) but the almost re-launch of U2 in 2000 took them from being mealy a big band to being the biggest in the world.
All headed up by their single Beautiful Day, the groups album All That You Can’t Leave Behind was a worldwide smash hit, selling 12 million copies and fulfilling the bands mission statement of becoming the biggest band in the world. Followed up by another two multi-million selling records and a series of gigantic tours, U2 became the biggest band of the early and mid noughties.
With the band set to release a new studio album next year, they look to once again put themselves at the very front of the music scene.
Guns N Roses –
For some time, Guns N Roses were THE rock band of the late 1980s and early 1990s. No one, not even Metallica, could keep in touch with Slash, Axl Rose and co. All set up by their astonishing debut album Appetite For Destruction, Guns N’ Roses became a worldwide phenomenon, made all the more dramatic by their decision to dissolve in 1994, only seven years after taking the world by storm.
A few years later though, the band was back together and working on new material, only for the album to be frequently pushed back and postponed (even to the level of the entire record being re-recorded). Eventually though, after almost a decade of strife, Chinese Democracy was set to see the light of day, a grand total of 14 years since their last release.
Despite the massive build-up, Chinese Democracy disappointed heavily both in the sales charts and in the press, with the record having a brutal drop off in sales after its first week and despite accruing around 2.6 million sales worldwide, was way below the expectations. The reviews and fan reaction were also scathing, with the record widely regarded as a massive drop in quality compared to the groups early work.
That the album supposedly cost $13million to produce, making it the most expensive album of all time to make, didn’t help the groups plans for global dominance once again, despite plans for another new album in the works.
Johnny Cash -
Back in the 80s and 90s no-one wanted to know about Johnny Cash. His albums weren’t selling and the world had cast him away as obsolete, with even his record label dropping him after decades together.
In 1994 though, his collaboration with Rick Rubin, a producer more usually seen with fresh hip-hop artists would change everything.
Rubin’s genius idea was to take absolutely everything away. Strip away all the fripperies that had become a massive factor in country music over the years and make it just a man and his voice. It worked wonders, with his 1994 album transforming him from a washed up county singer to the single coolest artist alive and the model that all singer/songwriters would aspire too.
The success of American Recordings and the subsequent cover albums the two did together led to a whole new generation being introduced to The Man In Black, giving him another career high before his passing.
AC/DC –
AC/DC were, for quite some time, done. After the band’s 2000 album Stiff Upper Lip, another release didn’t look like it was on the cards until the group’s touring steadily built up a loyal fan base once again.
While the importance of Iron Man’s use of the band’s music can’t be overstated, it would have been for nought if they hadn’t been able to deliver the goods come release date. The groups fans needn’t worry themselves though, as Black Ice was the lightning bolt at the end of the thunderstorm, a hit of pure energy that only AC/DC can deliver.
While it would have been easy for AC/DC to have got embroiled in nostalgia, they simply seemed to ignore that anyone else had moved on musically since their halcyon days of the 1970s.
Uncomplicated and straight shooting, Black Ice was AC/DC through and through, carrying all the threat and aggression of the older albums and making absolutely no compromises.
Now, the band has a legion of new fans and are about to release their first live album in over 20 years. Tony Stark himself couldn’t have done too much better.
Aerosmith - Music From Another Dimension is out November 5th.
FemaleFirst Cameron Smith