Revisiting the 1993 Aerosmith’s hit album “Get A Grip”, a timeless record
“Get A Grip” was released on April 20, 1993, and remains fresh and vibrant today
Revisiting the 1993 Aerosmith hit album “Get A Grip”, a timeless record
David Warren an editor and author for Pop Expresso and in the free time enjoys making instrumental music – davidwarrenmusic.com – and to learn about history and cultures. Reach out at david@popexpresso.com
For many, “Get a Grip” symbolizes the strongest Aerosmith comeback. The now classic album was released on April 20, 1993, during an era where alternative rock and grunge ruled the music charts and airplay worldwide, Aerosmith, who had ruled as one of the greatest hard rock bands of the 1970’s and reinvented themselves by blend into the 1980’s hair and glam metal scene, kept despite of that fact, their reputation intact as a solid and influential Rock band, with new acts such as Nirvana, Soundgarden or Pearl Jam, naming them as one of their musical influences. They were able to again, blend in a different era and Rock scene successfully and much thanks to “Get A Grip”. The album introduced Aerosmith to a new generation of fans and established them to this day as an indisputable force in Rock music. Songs that are heavy but at the same time crafted with Pop sensibilities, owning a classic Aerosmith sound but refined with an Alternative Rock kick and flavor while at the same time with an easy commercial potential, the album has all the ingredients to easily make it as not just one of Aerosmith’s greatest album but as well as one of the greatest Rock albums of all time. With a string of hit singles that were put together with a series of music videos telling stories that teenagers could relate too, MTV held the band on their heavy rotation spot. The music videos featured not only the band but also several emerging young actors such as Alicia Silverstone, Edward Furlong and even Steven Tyler’s daughter Liv Tyler, and now, those same music videos along with the songs, are truly iconic and representative of the 1990’s Rock scene. On ” Get A Grip”, a lot of songs are lyrically darker or gloomier, it’s not only about fun stuff like “Dude Looks Like A Lady” or “Love In An Elevator”, they approach more in content or context to ” Janie’s Got A Gun” or “Dream On”, but that doesn’t makes ” Get A Grip” a gloomy album. There are also fun upbeat songs like “Eat The Rich”, which never the less are highly critical towards social issues. ” Livin’ On The Edge “, ” Cryin'”, “Amazing” and “Crazy” were all serious hits for the band and are indeed among the strongest songs in the album (the other three singles “Shut Up And Dance”, “Fever” and “Eat The Rich” are also very solid tracks but worldwide, commercially didn’t achieved the same success as the first four mentioned). Produced by the acclaimed Bruce Fairbairn (who produced albums for artists such as Blue Öyster Cult, Bon Jovi, Poison, AC/DC, Scorpions, Van Halen, Chicago, The Cranberries, INXS, Kiss and Yes), this was the third time Fairbairn produced Aerosmith (“Permanent Vacation” and “Pump”) with notable guests on the album including Don Henley, who sang backup on “Amazing”, and Lenny Kravitz, who offered backup vocals and collaboration to “Line Up”. It’s no wonder that “Get A Grip” remains Aerosmith’s best-selling studio album worldwide and is tied with “Pump” for their second best-selling album in the United States. “Get A Grip” its an essential rock album, pivotal for Aerosmith’s career and musical progress. Its up there with some of their masterpieces like “Aerosmith”, ” Toys In The Attic” or “Pump”, and like those albums, hasn’t aged a day since its release. It sounds fresh and vibrating to this day.
Side 1
1 “Intro” Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, Jim Vallance
2 “Eat the Rich” Tyler, Perry, Vallance
3 “Get a Grip” Tyler, Perry, Vallance
4 “Fever” Tyler, Perry
5 “Livin’ on the Edge” Tyler, Perry, Mark Hudson
Side 2
6 “Flesh” Tyler, Perry, Desmond Child
7 “Walk On Down” Perry
8 “Shut Up and Dance” Tyler, Perry, Jack Blades, Tommy Shaw
Side 3
9 “Cryin'” Tyler, Perry, Taylor Rhodes
10 “Gotta Love It” yler, Perry, Hudson
11 “Crazy”Tyler, Perry, Child
Side 4
12 “Line Up” (featuring Lenny Kravitz) Tyler, Perry, Lenny Kravitz
13 “Amazing” Tyler, Richard Supa
14 “Boogie Man” (Instrumental) Tyler, Perry, Vallance
Personnel
Steven Tyler: lead vocals, keyboards, mandolin, harmonica, additional percussion
Joe Perry: guitar, backing vocals, lead vocals on “Walk on Down”
Brad Whitford: guitar
Tom Hamilton: bass guitar
Joey Kramer: drums
Produced by:Bruce Fairbairn
Recorded during:January–February 1992 at A&M Studios and September–November 1992 at Little Mountain Sound Studios, Canada
Released: April 20, 1993
Label: Geffen
Singles:
“Livin’ on the Edge” Released: March 23, 1993
“Eat the Rich” Released: April 17, 1993
“Fever” Released: August 30, 1993
“Cryin'” Released: October 5, 1993
“Amazing” Released: November 1993
“Shut Up and Dance” Released: 1994 (UK)
“Crazy” Released: May 3, 1994
Strongest tracks:
“Livin’ on the Edge”, “Eat the Rich”, “Cryin'”, “Amazing”, “Shut Up and Dance”, “Crazy” , “Walk On Down”
Look back at the four iconic music videos from the album “Get A Grip” released between 1993 and 1994
“Livin’ On The Edge”, 1993 featuring Edward Furlong
“Cryin'”, 1993 featuring Alicia Silverstone, Stephen Dorff and Josh Holloway
“Amazing”, 1993 featuring Alicia Silverstone and Jason London
“Crazy”, 1994 featuring Alicia Silverstone and Liv Tyler
Listen to the album “Get A Grip” on Spotify
Watch more music related videos
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