Joe Perry use to be great! WTF happened?

[paulyc]

I remember coming home from football practice at like 11 yrs old and the radio played a brand new song (Walk This Way) from Aerosmith's brand new album TITA. I thought it was the greatest hook ever. I still love that record and Rocks too and certain songs from earlier records (certainly Train and that awesome solo...that JP didn't play) but that was about it. When I learned about the Hunter/Wagner thing I was both pissed and crushed. And I was done. They did make a helluva comeback tho so props to them for that.

Exactly. I never said I didn't like the band, I love their early stuff, and sure, Perry has a style. But he ain't no EVH (not that he or anyone else has to be), but to not play on your own records because you're so incoherent most of the time ? How is that any different than Warrant not playing on their records ? Why does Perry "get a pass" and Erik Turner and Joey Whats-his-name get crucified ? Now, I'm NOT saying Erik and Joey should get a pass, or that they are even remotely in the same ball park as Perry and Whitford (they're not even close), but not playing on a record IS not playing on a record.

 

[SpiderWars]

I would argue , what makes a guitar player “great” ? Is it technical prowess , or is it writing songs , riffs , and solos that stand the test of time? Personally, I will take a Mick Mars or Kirk Hammett solo over anything that Yngwie has ever done. Yngwie is a guitar master , but I can’t sing his guitar solos. They don’t plant themselves in my brain. Just my opinion of course

Just the mental image of anyone trying to sing a Yngwie solo is hilarious. Please somebody sing Now Your Ship's Are Burned solo for me!

 

[legend71]

I think Perry is more of a stylist. He never was an endless blues shredder like Clapton or Trower etc. He got in and got out. One thing I did like in his heyday is how he varied how he played the songs live. He always threw some different licks in there and changed it up. I enjoyed that as a youngster listening to studio records and then Live Bootleg. Love him or hate him he had some great solos all time and great riffs.

 

[Beandust]

Perry and Aerosmith to me were awsome 70s rock band. The comeback music? Please. EVH and Joe Perry, ok, why that's a comparison or mention I wouldn't understand totally different styles and music. Perry has written some good songs, so hes not good I guess because he cant out shred a 14 year old youtube kid who's learned all his style off of you tube? Technically advanced? Did Perry record his guitar parts in the 70s? Get Your Wings , TITA, Rocks? Drugs destroyed him and Aerosmith glad they came back for all the glam shit music. 70s was good for them but not at the end. EVH changed the approach to rock guitar as well as wrote a ton of iconic songs. So did Perry. Glad they are different players and like them both for what they accomplished.

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

I would argue , what makes a guitar player “great” ? Is it technical prowess , or is it writing songs , riffs , and solos that stand the test of time? Personally, I will take a Mick Mars or Kirk Hammett solo over anything that Yngwie has ever done. Yngwie is a guitar master , but I can’t sing his guitar solos. They don’t plant themselves in my brain. Just my opinion of course

Just the mental image of anyone trying to sing a Yngwie solo is hilarious. Please somebody sing Now Your Ship's Are Burned solo for me!

Weeeeee diddlediddlediddle doop! da dee.. daga daga daga doop da dee.....daga daga daga .... agreed. I can sing them to myself for sure but I am definitely singing only 1/4 of the notes lol. But to be honest, I can definitely sing most of his solos and they are inspiring. The early work is jaw dropping. Kirk's early work is fun to but after that, he's shit... how are you going to sing shit? WAH WAH WAH WAH it is two notes at best. Perry had a vibe and swagger to him and i like and respect him for that but he is definitely out of touch now. He's terrible. Hollywood Vampires and Depp "playing guitar" is also a joke. Talk about a poser.

 

[Goat]

My summation is this:
Joe Perry was an up and coming player. With each record, his playing greatly improved. The Apex of his progress was ROCKS. It's obvious to anyone who knows the history, excessive drug use is what took him out of the game. That, and management manipulating the collapse of his solo band. At his lowest point he was living at a friend's house, sleeping on his couch. His ex had sold-off much of his guitar colleciton while he was on-tour. He didn't have much left, and was selling-off gear to survive. Two friends of mine are associates of the band, so I've been turned on to some interesting tales. Joe being pushed through a window, cocaine cars on-stage, Joey's fake toughness, Joe's first attempt at sobriety... crazy stuff!

As far as Steve Hunter being brought-in to play the bulk of the leads on TKaR. I've got news for you... this has been SOP with EVERY producer in the music business since the dawn of recording. The responsibility of the producer is to ensure that the company receives the best possible product with minimal investment. The producer knows what's needed for a given track. If the author cannot come up with material, or if isn't getting what he wants, he hires a ringer. Sometimes it's the producer who does the playing.

Joe Perry has never had steller technique... but, he was one hell of a writer! Musically, and lyrically. As with many rock players, his weakness was a non-graduated hand-vibrato technique. His note bending was fine... excellent, actually. Hand-vibrato is everything when it comes to feel. To those who think Joe Perry was a slacker, check his lead work on Adam's Apple. If that's not one of the coolest, most approriately constructed solos in the history of rock music, I'll burn my LP Custom. Way better anything from Aerosmith cloners of the 1980's, that's for sure.

Joe Perry playing Steve Hunter's TKaR leads... NYC 1975 Schaffer Music Festival. Does a great job making them his own.

As far as Joe vs Brad... Joe is an artist, Brad is a stylist. Without Joe, Brad is basically lost. Listen to his pointless noodling on the Whitford-St. Holmes album. Where did Brad eventually end-up? ...in the Joe Perry Project, of course. Brad is a great player, but he's no (pre-1982) Joe Perry. No way! If anyone actually bothered to listen to the JPP "My Father's Place" concert, there shoud be no question as to who is/was king. Without Joe Perry, there would have been no Aerosmith, and that's final.

Another great team was Stone Gossard and Bruce Fairweather of Mother Love Bone. Incredible rhythmic work!

 

[controlled_voltage]

For me joe was an early guitar hero - hard to beat that slouch with the hair over his eyes with the bc rich's and the flannel shirts.

He most def had some soul and vibe in his solos and like any great rock band Aerosmith had that 6-7 album run up to night in the ruts
after that it was a shadow of itself never to really return except for honking with bobo.
Dude is 70 and passes out on stage now.Time to hang it up man.
I really like some of Johnny Depp's earlier indie films before he was a huge "star" but people I know who have worked with him say that he is an airhead and a wreck but not a bad guy.
Funny how he basically bought his way into being a fake rock star,

As for Brad HE WROTE my fave and heaviest Aerosmith songs

round and round
nobody's fault
last child
Krawitham - bad ass instrumental out take from draw the line - just brad no joe on this track
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_cont ... e=emb_logo

 

[Goat]

Combination and Nobody's Fault are still two of the heaviest tunes I've ever heard, and remain so today. Joe Perry hated the harder direction the band took. He was quite vocal about it.

 

[midnightlaundry]

I guess I have to weigh in on this.. JP and BW are warriors.. They made it and lived it. It's easy to say this dude can play better than that dude, but the music wouldn't be the same with someone else.

They are the best possible players for the band they are in, and play appropriately for the music they play. I wouldn't wanna hear them shred or play prog whatsover. That would be fuckin' lame in that band.

You don't go to see Aerosmith to hear wankers, you see them because they rock and play great songs that you can song to.. Try that with a wanker band..

 

[Goat]

I guess I have to weigh in on this.. JP and BW are warriors.. They made it and lived it. It's easy to say this dude can play better than that dude, but the music wouldn't be the same with someone else.

They are the best possible players for the band they are in, and play appropriately for the music they play. I wouldn't wanna hear them shred or play prog whatsover. That would be fuckin' lame in that band.

You don't go to see Aerosmith to hear wankers, you see them because they rock and play great songs that you can song to.. Try that with a wanker band..

 

[flatheads_4ever]

Combination and Nobody's Fault are still two of the heaviest tunes I've ever heard, and remain so today. Joe Perry hated the harder direction the band took. He was quite vocal about it.

Nobody's fault is my favorite Aerosmith tune. Joe was never a great player, but he had a swagger and groove to him. Time eventually gets most of us. I freaking love older Stones stuff, but they should have shut it down 10 years ago imo. Ron Wood is the only one who can still get it done. I imagine it is the same goes for Aerosmith and Brad Whitford. He was always way underrated in his contribution.

Ed

 

[zz666]

On Fire...

 

[Goat]

On Fire...

As far as I'm concered, Aerosmith ended after Night In A Rut.

Triva: What was the original title of Get Your Wings? Answer: Night In A Rut.

 

[Goat]

Combination and Nobody's Fault are still two of the heaviest tunes I've ever heard, and remain so today. Joe Perry hated the harder direction the band took. He was quite vocal about it.

Nobody's fault is my favorite Aerosmith tune. Joe was never a great player, but he had a swagger and groove to him. Time eventually gets most of us. I freaking love older Stones stuff, but they should have shut it down 10 years ago imo. Ron Wood is the only one who can still get it done. I imagine it is the same goes for Aerosmith and Brad Whitford. He was always way underrated in his contribution.

Ed

Never a great player? By what measure? If you mention a single hair band wanker, I'm gonna throw my Slurpee at ya!

I'm not into post 70's Aerosmith, but, "Dude Looks Like A Lady" is hilarious! Poor Vince... Humiliated by his favorite band.

 

[PeteLaramee]

I never understood why Joe Perry got so much attention. He's never done anything for me, but maybe that's just me.

 

[SpiderWars]

As for Brad HE WROTE my fave and heaviest Aerosmith songs

round and round
nobody's fault
last child

Did not know this, easily 3 of my top 5 Aerosmith songs.

 

[Goat]

I never understood why Joe Perry got so much attention. He's never done anything for me, but maybe that's just me.

Joe never claimed to be a great guitarist... He played what served the song. He was also the 'king of cool'!

To those who think Brad Whitford is the superior musician... Are there any recordings of Brad carrying Aeromith songs as a single guitarist in a solo outfit? Has he ever released a solo album of original music? Brad is a sideman, not a soloist. IMO, Joe Perry's "Let the Music Do The Talking" is one of the most underrated albums ever. If Brad has a body of solo material that can compete, I'd love to hear it.

To quote Rolling Stone magazine; "If Steven Tyler were here, 'Let The Music Do The Talking' would be one of the greatest albums Aerosmith never recorded".

 

[Goat]

Here'a a treat for Aerosmith fans. According to Brad Whitford, these are ROCKS bed tracks, not rehearsals. Some tracks without Joe, some without Brad. Those Ampeg guitar tones are otherworldly! The is CD available as import only item. Keep an eye on ebay... It's titled Aerosmith Rocks Sessions.

The song SOS (Too Bad) was originally titled Son of Shit (Too Bad).

 

[JTyson]

Ive seen them probably a dozen times over the years, Ive seen Joe have good nights and bad nights throughout all of them. Half the time he was on his game, the other half he looked like he could really care less if he was even there for the show. It never seemed to be that "he was good until X album came out", Ive seen them on tours from "Rocks" and nearly everything afterward, and within that there were always good nights and bad nights. I watched him sit on a Marshall 412 on one show for nearly the whole night and never look up at the audience. Made me want to throw a shoe at him Other times he would come out and kill it. My take ended up being if he felt good on that night, he'd do fine. If he didn't, he'd make you sorry you spent money on a ticket to see them.
I will say the best I ever saw them be live was on the TITA tour, they did a lot of stuff from rocks also. Maybe they were just hungrier at that time in their careers. Or a lot younger...
Whitford always seemed to be glad to be there and doing what he loved, every show, every time. He came into a music store in Tampa one day, I used to get a ton of stuff from Thoughobred Music, we talked for a bit, I think that he thought I didn't know who he was but I did. Really nice, humble down to earth guy. He liked this old beat up Les Paul Jr that I was playing when he came in. I think he left with it.
You never knew who you'd see in there, it was a killer music store.
I talked to Steve Clark from Def Leppard in there a month before he died..

 

[IntenseJim]

A lifetime of drugs, no sleep, cigarettes, and then a cardiac arrest are not going to leave the brain in the greatest shape. Nor the rest of the body.