The greatest album of all time, according to Aerosmith’s Joe Perry
The realm of guitar heroes has become so saturated that many players fail to receive recognition beyond their dedicated fanbase and a handful of discerning observers. Unfortunately, among these overlooked talents is Joe Perry, a virtuoso on the fretboard who remains largely underrated in the mainstream narrative despite being a driving force behind the Aerosmith phenomenon.
The reasons why the Bostonian doesn’t get his full dues are complex. Still, they can be boiled down to the fact that he emerged when there were so many notable players. Perhaps more importantly, however, is that he and his band’s hellraising antics were so notorious that he and controversial frontman Steven Tyler were dubbed ‘The Toxic Twins’ in their heyday. At their peak in the 1970s, they were widely viewed as an American answer to The Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. This character overshadowed their musical efforts.
Yet, it doesn’t take an explorer of Livingstonian proportions to discover just how immense of a player Perry is. Unsurprisingly, the band’s two most fruitful chapters were with him leading the charge with swaggering melodies and performances. Whether it be the hard-rock fire of ‘Sweet Emotion’ or ‘Walk This Way’ – two of their most important moments from the 1970s – or bombastic performances on the likes of ‘Living on the Edge’ and ‘Love in an Elevator’ from when they returned to form in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Perry’s list of highlights is extensive, encompassing many different sensations.
An intensely dynamic player who thinks outside of the box when conceiving his riffs, chord progressions and use of electronic effects, Perry looks to some of the greatest in the history of the instrument for inspiration, with a particular love for those who place feel at the forefront of their approach over technical insolence. It might seem strange given the intensity of some of his band’s most famous work, but Fleetwood Mac founder Peter Green is one figure who left an indelible mark on him when he was conceiving his approach due to the pure emotion underpinning his sound.
Naturally, another figure who brought a blues-infused feel back to the fore was Jimi Hendrix, and he also had a defining impact on Perry. Notably, the Aerosmith hero was blown away by Hendrix’s fusion of technicality and emotion, with the Boston band and The Joe Perry Project known to cover ‘Red House’, one of the Seattlean’s earliest masterstrokes.
Perry is so indebted to Hendrix’s innovations that he even believes that one of his albums is the greatest of all time, which just so happens to be the one that ‘Red House’ was released on. This is The Jimi Hendrix Experience’s debut masterpiece, Are You Experienced, which, after it was released in 1967, not only signalled the arrival of the elemental American but made every notable rock act of the day step up, and pull themselves out of the doldrums of producing cheap imitations of 1950s rock ‘n’ roll. It was purely unique, and Hendrix instilled real imagination into his songwriting, playing and recording.
This distinction is what Perry thinks qualifies it as the ultimate album ever, as he told Pop Matters in 2009, stating no one since has even started to rival the force of Hendrix. He said: “Are You Experienced by Jimi Hendrix. The title track especially. It summarizes everything that Jimi did inventively on guitar, in his songwriting and in his creativity. There hasn’t been anybody since who’s come close.”