My Musical Journal 2025 - January 28, 2025

 

Tuesday, January 28, 2025

Time: 6 PM 
Song: Crazy
Artist: Aerosmith
Mode of Consumption: Listening to MP3s on the way home from my parents. 

Link to song: https://open.spotify.com/track/3QxKpdTB8ZSFn8MGeCCpsQ?si=ee21b250eec94abc

Last week, we participated in a Trivia night for the United Way in Dixon. In between one of the rounds was an individual challenge which turned out was to name as many Aerosmith Top 20 hits from between the 1970s and the 2010. 

One of the first things I did was name the three one-word song title hits from “Get a Grip:” Crazy, Amazing, and Cryin’. Those songs were huge as my musical awareness was coming to be.

I think I ended up getting thirteen or fourteen, but not enough to win. I admit that I just don’t listen to Aerosmith that much anymore, but they have been pivotal in my musical education. Here’s a quicker hitter version: 

•  I remember listening to “Pump” on a field trip in grade school. I have distinct memory of this, and being awed by the sounds coming through my earphones. It was probably the first time I realized the difference of consuming music like that. “Pump” remains my favorite Aerosmith album, just because it takes me back to that day when I was riding on school bus with the sun shining on me.
• One of the first cassette tapes I ever bought was “Big Ones.” – You think I would have done better on the trivia question.
• The music videos for the three one-word songs mentioned above featured Alicia Silverstone, and were probably some of the first music videos that I ever watched.
• My best friend Jake dated a girl in high school who loved “I Don’t Wanna Miss a Thing.” It cracked me up then, because I knew how much he disliked that song. That also happens to be their only No. 1 song. It’s a crappy song from a cheesy summer blockbuster called “Armageddon.” 
• In the summer of 2001, I saw Aerosmith live at Alpine Valley in Wisconsin. It was my first really big rock and roll show. I was standing next to Jodi while they played “Dream On,” which remains one my favorite in-person music experiences. I started dating Jodi a week later. I was 19 at the time. I am 42 now. Damn. 
• The trivia made me appreciate that they are probably one of the biggest bands from the 80s, 90s and 2000s. That’s pretty much entire life. They had hits in each decade. They reinvented their sound every few years, and managed to avoid being relegated to the aging band heap where all they were allowed to play was hits from the 70s.
• I heard they were retiring from touring, as Steven Tyler’s voice just can’t take it anymore. We shall not see there like again.