Day After Day is an ambitious attempt to write about a song every day in 2024 (starting on Jan. 4).
Mama Kin (1973)
When you're one of the biggest American bands of all time, you're going to deal with a lot of ups and downs. With Aerosmith, they've had drug problems and lineup shuffles as well as sold-out tours and massive success. They had their biggest victories after they went to drug rehab in the mid-'80s and cleaned up, but my favorite phase of the band was the early version when they were lean and hungry (and yes, using copious amounts of illicit substances).
The band formed in Boston in 1970 when singer Steven Tyler, guitarist Ray Tabano and drummer Joey Kramer joined forces with guitarist Joe Perry and bassist Tom Hamilton. The next year, Tabano was replaced by Brad Whitford and Aerosmith's lineup was set. The band played a raw, bluesy mix inspired by British bands like the Stones, Beatles, Led Zeppelin and the Yardbirds. Clive Davis, the president of Columbia Records, signed the band to a deal after seeing them play Max's Kansas City in New York in 1972.
The band's self-titled debut came out in January 1973 and made a minor splash, with the power ballad "Dream On" getting some radio play and hitting #59 on the Billboard Hot 100 (although it was on radio stations in Boston). The album didn't chart until three years later after Aerosmith had better success with their follow-up albums Get Your Wings and Toys in the Attic. Columba re-released "Dream On" in January 1976 and it became a huge hit and led to folks rediscovering the band's debut.
The other song that became a classic rock staple from the first Aerosmith album was "Mama Kin," a raw ripper that Tyler wrote on a guitar that Kramer found in a trash can on the street. Tyler restrung the guitar and came up with the song's riff. The lyrics seem to be about keeping the faith while trying to find success as an unknown touring band.
"It ain't easy living like a gypsy/Tell you, honey, how I feel/I've been dreaming, floating down the stream and/Losing touch with all that's real/Whole earth lover keeping undercover/Never know where you've been/You've been fading, always out parading/Keep in touch with Mama Kin/Well, you've always got your tail on the wag/Shooting fire from your mouth just like a dragon/You act like a perpetual drag/You better check it out because someday soon/You'll have to climb back on the wagon."
The chorus talks about keeping it real, so to speak. In a 2001 interview, Tyler talked about what the song meant: "People always ask, 'What's Mama Kin?' It's the mother of everything. It's the desire to write music, the desire to get laid, to go through the relationship with a girl, or whatever it is. Keeping in touch with mama kin means keeping in touch with the old spirits that got you there to begin with."
"Keep in touch with Mama Kin/Tell her where you've gone and been/Living out your fantasy/Sleeping late and smoking tea."
Musically, "Mama Kin" is appealingly raw, chugging along thanks to the rhythm section's aggressiveness. David Woodford plays sax on the song, adding to the bluesy vibe. The song is a fan favorite all these years later; in '94 the band also opened a club called Mama Kin on Lansdowne Street in Boston but sold their interest in it five years later.
One notable thing about that first Aerosmith album is Tyler's voice, which sounds very different than on the band's other albums. Tyler has said he changed his voice to sound more like a blues singer, more out of nervousness than anything else.
Thanks to "Dream On," the album ended up peaking at #21 on the Billboard 200 in 1976 and eventually went double platinum. Aerosmith released three more albums in '70s and became one of the biggest touring attractions in rock, but the band was getting almost as well known for their excesses.
Tyler and Perry became known as the Toxic Twins. Perry ended up leaving during the making the Night in the Ruts album in 1979; the album was completed with the help of guitarists Jimmy Crespo and Richie Supa. Whitford eventually left the band and was replaced by Rick Dufay (better known these days as the father of actress Minka Kelly). The band released Rock in a Hard Place in 1982 and had a hit with "Lightning Strikes," but Tyler's drug use was getting out of control; there were a few instances of him passing out on stage.
The original lineup reunited in 1984 and released Done With Mirrors in 1985, but the album didn't do well and the drug problems persisted. After the tour, the entire band went to rehab and got clean (fun fact: my father-in-law was in rehab with Joey Kramer). In 1986, Tyler and Perry appeared on Run-D.M.C.'s cover of Aerosmith's "Walk This Way," and the song was a monster hit, going to #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and the video was all over MTV.
Aerosmith was back in a big way, and capitalized the following year with Permanent Vacation, which had three big singles and a tour with opener Guns N' Roses. The difference was the band worked with outside writers for the first time, including Desmond Child, Jim Vallance and Holly Knight; the result was hit singles, but also a tendency to rely on schlocky ballads like "Angel." The band took full advantage of MTV, with videos for "Dude (Looks Like a Lady)," "Angel" and "Rag Doll" getting tons of airplay. The band saw similar success with the albums Pump and Get a Grip. Their albums in the late '90s/early '00s were less successful, but still had hits; the band also scored a #1 song with "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" from the 1998 film Armageddon (written by Diane Warren) and then had a ride at Disney World named after them.
The last 20 years have been less active for Aerosmith, with only two albums of new material released (and one of those an album of blues covers). The band announced a farewell tour in 2023 but it was delayed for a year after Tyler damaged his vocal cords; it's rescheduled to begin this fall.
I saw Aerosmith and the Black Crowes play in 1990 at Old Orchard Beach, Maine and it was a great show. But give me those old '70s albums any day over anything they've done in the last 35 years.
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