Meet me in the elevator: an Aerosmith Pump poll

Voted the Other Side, but am feeling pangs of regret for What It Takes.

had I included "Dulcimer Stomp" with "The Other Side" I might have gone that way too.

I think I might have subconciously taken points off of What It Takes for presaging a decade+ of maudlin Aerosmith balladry, even though it towers above everything that came after it.

I used to own this; lost my tape copy. What are ILM's feelings about this record?

"Love in an Elevator" is stuffed to the gills in an obnoxious way, like the Permanent Vacation singles.

Went with "The Other Side," but "Janie's Got a Gun" is pretty good for a Serious Statement.

I heard it not that long ago in a bar. It still holds up, but it was so overplayed at the time - and there were so many Serious Statement/Social Commentary songs at the time - that I couldn't stand it when I was a kid.

I really thought What it Takes was more recent.
Voted Other Side.

i listened 2 this tape a lot while mowing the lawn as a kid & weirdly enough i just downloaded it last night

I don't own it anymore either; I received it as a Columbia House selection of the month b/c I'd forgotten to send in my refusal form, and hadn't yet figured out that you could just write "return to sender" and be done with it. So I wasn't happy to get it but "Young Lust" was a pretty convincing opener.

"Voodoo Medicine Man" is this album's "Continental Drift"; perhaps both instances (in 1989) of the vaguely global tendency of 80s music we've discussed on other threads?

I don't own it anymore either; I received it as a Columbia House selection of the month b/c I'd forgotten to send in my refusal form, and hadn't yet figured out that you could just write "return to sender" and be done with it.

this, exactly.

also:

tori amos – little earthquakes

"F.I.N.E. is a fine example of an acronymic title.

i just listened 2 this the whole way thru -- v. front loaded imo, now i recall i listened to side A primarily

it's really the other side vs what it takes and i cant decide

killer album, cassette of it floated around my family for years, and even now it's probably my favorite of the surprisingly strong set of late career commercial peaks that happened in 1989 (Cosmic Thing, Dr. Feelgood, Full Moon Fever, Spike, etc.)

voted for "F.I.N.E."

I only know the singles off this album but it definitely represents the last point when Aerosmith was reliably releasing songs I would like.

you and everyone else not in the Alicia Silverstone and/or Armageddon fan club

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

What It Takes

Heard "What It Takes" recently and was surprised that it's held up so well compared to the rest of this dreck (sorry but not really).

"Love in an Elevator," with it's all-over-the-place structure, is like the "Good Vibrations" of pussy. (I can't imagine they wrote it that way originally; I'm betting this was ripped apart and sewn back together in the studio.)

"What It Takes" comes in second, if only for that moment midway through when the harmonies slide up an octave just before the chorus.

Not Aerosmith's finest hour. Permanent Vacation began the pop/rock by the numbers style that they would play until the present, and while Pump was a bit more creative, it still stumbled.

On the one hand, you have "Janie's Got a Gun", which was a very creative and epic sounding pop song (despite not being Aerosmith's niche, it works), and on the other, "The Other Side", which has a clumsy hook, as well as annoying horns. "What It Takes" continued the string of annoying ballads (though it was nowhere near as dated and overwrought as "Angel", thank God). Honestly, the latest Aerosmith album I can listen to is Night in the Ruts.

If I have to choose a track, I'll go with Janie's...

No way.

Al otm: ven now it's probably my favorite of the surprisingly strong set of late career commercial peaks that happened in 1989 (Cosmic Thing, Dr. Feelgood, Full Moon Fever, Spike, etc.)

"What It Takes," for me being 10 years old and not knowing why in the hell I liked this song when it wasn't Janet Jackson.

To each his own, but I don't consider Pump to be anything but something I bought for completist purposes. In fact I pretty much dislike their entire Geffen catalog.

Now if we're talking Rocks, Draw the Line, the s/t, or Toys in the Attic, then I'm on board. Hell I'll even take Rock in a Hard Place over most of the Geffen catalog.

someday Done With Mirrors will get its deserved acclaim.

it would be hard for me to think of an album i hate worse than this one.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/41/Monkees-Justus.jpg

1000x better than pump

the "Good Vibrations" of pussy

was gonna change my d name to this but I think I'm gonna pass

pretty sure the "Good Vibrations" of pussy is Good Vibrations

http://www.gvbachelorette.com/val_files/val_store.jpg

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

i like all 4 singles but i'm surprised both by which ones did better/worse and the fact that i was the only person to vote for a deep cut

I don't remember what I voted for but it should have been "Young Lust" or "Voodoo Medicine Man", esp. the latter b/c it's ridiculous and therefore pretty much what I want from a latter-day Aerosmith record.

I love the cover of this album too, endless lols since day 1.

Mentioned in another post earlier today that this poll subliminally led to me doing "What It Takes" on a whim/dare and holy shit is it a pretty complex feat of songwriting, the bridge in particular.

I looked at the guitar tab and now I realize how well-crafted this song is:

First verse is in Gmaj.
Chorus is in Bbmaj (nifty, but nothing too crazy, ya?)
Guitar solo subtly progresses into Fmaj (getting tricky)
but then the bridge...
fakes you out by thinking it's back to Gmaj with a Cmaj to Gmaj but then a Bb -> to Fmaj and then the epic Fmin -> Eb -> C# -> Ab -> C (!!!) -> Bb (!!!!!!!)
then it stays in Bbmaj for the remaining refrain and coda.

...and doing all this in the guise of a radio-friendly power-ballad is pretty slick. kudos.

doing = karaoke, sorry that's not clear.

'Monkey On My Back'

“elevator” is this generation’s “Achilles last stand”