Joe Perry has seen and done it all in his 50 years of playing guitar in America’s Greatest Rock ’N’ Roll Band. Now, as Aerosmith head out on a farewell tour, he reveals how the band’s greatest songs were created – and explains why two guitarists are better than one…
Joe Perry is a guitar hero with a simple philosophy. “Guitar,” he says, “is ameans to an end. So many players get hung up on technique, sometimes losing the forest for the trees. You can learn all these scales and tricks, but it only comes together if it’s something you want to hear again. I can appreciate all kinds of music and self-expression. It could be jamming in a band where you play one song for 45 minutes, like Jerry Garcia with the Grateful Dead. But for me, playing guitar is all about what serves the songs…”
Asa founding member of Aerosmith –the self-styled Bad Boys of Boston, widely revered as America’s Greatest Rock ’N’ Roll Band –Joe Perry has played his part in some of the most iconic rock songs of all time. In the ’70s they gave us DreamOn, SweetEmotionand BackInTheSaddle. In the ’80s, Dude (LooksLikeALady) and LoveInAnElevator. And in both of those decades there was WalkThisWay, originally recorded in 1975 and reborn in 1986 as a groundbreaking collaboration with Run-DMC, which became the first hip-hop single to reach the US top five and put Aerosmith on track for one of the most successful comebacks in the entire history of rock ’n’ roll.
It was way back in 1971 that the classic Aerosmith line-up was established, with Steven Tyler on vocals, Perry and Brad Whitford on guitars, Tom Hamilton on bass and Joey Kramer on drums. Together, they defined the sound of American hard rock with albums such as ToysInTheAtticand Rocks, and as Joe now recalls, the inspiration for having two guitar players in Aerosmith came from two influential British groups –the early Fleetwood Mac, led by Peter Green, and The Yardbirds. “One of my favourite Yardbirds recordings is called StrollOn,” he says. “It was their version of Train KeptA-Rollin’, and it’s one of the few recordings with Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck playing together. I still get goosebumps when I hear that. The two guitars come in, and to me, that’s the ultimate –that’s rock ’n’ roll! It’s so cool to get two lead guitars together and not get in each other’s way. And even if you can’t tell who is playing, it doesn’t matter. That was always something that stuck with me…”
In turn, Perry and Whitford’s hard-rocking prowess would influence a generation of guitarists growing up in the ’70s, most notably Sl
