Aerosmith’s Peace Out farewell tour may be on hold as frontman Steven Tyler recovers from throat and vocal issues, but at least the “demon of screamin’” now has some good news to scream about. The Rock & Roll Hall of Famers have taken to their social media pages to celebrate their signature tune “Dream On” amassing more than 1 billion streams on the Spotify service.
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The band has posted a note announcing the milestone and thanking their fans, aka the Blue Army, for their support. Accompanying the message is a video clip of Aerosmith’s performance on a 1974 episode of The Midnight Special TV show.
“Dream On” first appeared on Aerosmith’s 1973 self-titled debut album, and initially peaked at No. 59 on the Billboard Hot 100 when it was released as single that year. However, the song was reissued in late 1975 and then went on to became the band’s first Top 10 hit on the Hot 100, reaching No. 6 in April of 1976.
“Dream On” was written solely by Tyler while he was still a teenager. According to the singer, he composed the music for the tune on a Steinway upright piano in the living room of his family’s Trow-Rico Lodge in Sunapee, New Hampshire.
In his 2004 memoir, Does the Noise in My Head Bother You?, Tyler reveals that “Dream On” was partly inspired by the classical music his father—who was a Juilliard-trained pianist—would play as he was growing up.
“That’s where I got that ‘Dream On’ chord-age,” he explained in the book.
“Dream On” later was sampled by rapper Eminem for his hit song “Sing for the Moment,” which reached No. 14 on the Hot 100 in 2003.
As previously reported, after playing the first three dates of their Peace Out farewell tour, Aerosmith announced in September that it was postponing the rest of the trek until 2024 because Tyler had suffered damaged vocal cords and a fractured larynx. To date, the band has not confirmed dates for any of the rescheduled shows.
In a post on the band’s social media accounts last week, Tyler reported that his throat was “on the mend,” and also revealed that he was working on a remix of the Aerosmith album.
