Aerosmith's Greatest Hits

I first saw/heard Aerosmith on MTV. Believe it or not, it wasn't RUN DMC's Walk this Way, it was Lightning Strikes Again off of the now forgotten 'Rock in A Hard Place' disc, which must was released when I was a sixth grader in 1982. I probably saw the video twice and it went in one ear and out the other. My next exposure to Aerosmith was RUN DMC's Walk this Way. Still. Not. Impressed. Seeing all the white males in my high school acting like rap was part of their culture didn't help either. They were just a bunch teenagers hopping on a fad best I could tell and that irked me then.

Fast forward about a year and a half. I was in high school band and our band had an annual car wash to raise money for an annual trip. Someone brought a boom box and handful of cassettes, I couldn't tell you what any of those cassettes were but one of them was Aerosmith's Greatest Hits. After hearing AGHs, I soon was realized that many random songs that I liked on the radio were actually Aerosmith. (Sweet Emotion, Dream On, Back In The Saddle Again) I had one of my friends make me a copy of AGHs on cassette and I really got into Aerosmith. I bought as much Aerosmith after that as I could afford and became entranced with Get Your Wings, Toys in The Attic, Done With Mirrors, Rocks and their then latest and greatest, Permanent Vacation.

In 1987 I spent a whopping $12.00 or so and saw Aerosmith live with special guests Dokken. (more on these guys later) After the show, the guys I was with and I were approached by an EMT guy who showed us a scrap of paper signed by future American Idol judge/Generic Celebrity Steve Tyler. He didn't care at all about Aerosmith so he was looking to get a couple bucks for it. I paid him $2 or $3 and still have this small scrap of paper. I've seen Steve Tyler's signature in various media and it does match. I've told various people the real story about how I got it and have told other people that I met Steve Tyler too.

I don't even own this on CD. I have no need to. I've bought all the studio albums that these songs came from within months of getting my cassette copy. Back in the day, dubbed tapes often led to purchases of original albums, t-shirts, and concert tickets. I really quit being a die hard Aerosmith fan in 1989, once they made the transition from being 'rock stars' to being 'generic celebrities'. The old stuff is the best, as cliche as it is to say so.