It’s hard to believe that any of Aerosmith’s killer hits were on the verge of never happening. However, there are actually quite a few songs from the legendary hard rock band that almost didn’t make it to their albums; and some that almost never existed, period. Let’s look at a few examples.
1. “Walk This Way”
“Walk This Way” is one of Aerosmith’s most iconic songs, without a doubt. And it almost never happened. The track was on the chopping block due to the band’s dissatisfaction with the song while recording the album Toys In The Attic in 1975.
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The groove was hard to hit, and the track was on the verge of being scrapped completely. Luckily, guitarist Joe Perry noodled around with the song’s riff, leading to the song making it to the album and becoming a hit.
2. “Sweet Emotion”
This is by far one of Aerosmith’s most well-known tracks to date, and the song’s inception was a tumultuous one. It’s another Toys In The Attic track that struggled during recording sessions, mainly due to the fact that the song contained a few jabs from Steven Tyler toward Perry’s wife at the time.
The feud, coupled with notorious substance abuse that plagued the band, almost resulted in Aerosmith ending indefinitely and the song never happening. Luckily, that didn’t happen and the band made up.
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3. “I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing”
This song is one of Aerosmith’s most recognizable ballads, and it also faced some uncertainty. The song wasn’t written by the band and instead was penned by Diane Warren for the 1998 film Armageddon. Both Steven Tyler and Joe Perry weren’t entirely sold on performing someone else’s music. Luckily, they ultimately decided to do it (Tyler’s daughter Liv was in the movie, after all), resulting in Aerosmith’s only #1 song to date and an Oscar nom for Best Original Song.
Photo by Aaron Perry
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