Fathers Day
20 T-Shirts for Father’s Day that Dad Actually Wants
What to buy Dad for Father’s Day? He already has everything he wants right, so it’s the thought that really counts!
Sam
May 8, 2025
Controversial viewpoint, but if you’re a diehard Aerosmith fan: which album is better?
Rocks or Toys in the Attic?
I’m not gonna pick sides because they both have their place in my heart. But Rocks deserves love — because 49 years later, it still kicks the door in like Steven Tyler in six-inch heels and a whole lotta attitude. I’m here to crank the volume and raise a glass to Rocks, which dropped 49 years ago today. My viewpoint on Toys in the Attic is here oys, you can read that here.
But today we talk about the album that came after TITA
By the time Rocks dropped, Aerosmith had been touring nonstop and burning both ends of the candle (and then setting the candle on fire for good measure). The fame had arrived. So had the substances. And Columbia Records, bless ‘em, basically said: “Whatever gets it done.”
The result was a record that sounds like it was recorded in the back of a bar fight at last call — and I mean that in the best way.
When I throw on Rocks, I think of bad decisions and good times. This was the band in their dirty prime. Before rehab. Def before Diane Warren ballads. Before every track had to be wedding- or radio-safe. Rocks was sweaty, sludgy, unfiltered American rock ‘n’ roll.
This wasn’t clean. It wasn’t careful. It was instinct over image, attitude over arrangement… it was watching the band on fire (literally and figuratively).
Here’s the tracklist, in case you need a memory jog:
From that opening gallop of Back in the Saddle, it’s clear: this isn’t a warm-up — it’s a warning of the intensity to come. A personal favorite of mine is “Rats in the Cellar” – it’s the exact opposite of “Toys in the Attic” (if you didnt figure that out!) – it’s about the bad times. Warming up to Nobody’s Fault, a track that makes you want to punch-dance in the rain like a man who just got fired and dumped in the same hour. Brad Whitford and Joe Perry are ripping through riffs like they’re mad at their own guitars. It’s still one of the band’s favorites—and for good reason.
Put simply, Toys in the Attic made Aerosmith a household name.
But Rocks made them dangerous. A bad-influence if you will.
Toys in the Attic made them feel like they’d made it and hit the big time. Rocks showed the downside to the fame and fortune – the dark side of the rock n roll lifestyle.
It’s the album where they stopped trying to impress anyone and started chasing down whatever was making noise in their heads. That tension — the drugs, the burnout, the ego, the hunger — you can feel it in every track. It wasn’t meant to be safe. It wasn’t built for radio. It was built for reckless youth and real volume.
If you were lucky, maybe Rocks was the first record you hid from your parents. Maybe it soundtracked your first heartbreak, your first speeding ticket, or your first beer in the backseat of a ‘72 Chevelle. Either way, it left a mark.
Or maybe, like me, you still throw it on and feel like you’ve got 20 years and zero responsibility again.
Even decades later, this album holds its ground — and not just because of nostalgia.
Rolling Stone still ranks Rocks as one of the greatest albums of all time. Metallica, Nirvana, Guns N’ Roses — all took notes. Fans are still blasting it with the windows down and a middle finger to the wind.
Albums like this don’t age. They just get louder. Because if you’re still turning it down in your 50s… You’re doing it wrong.
Rock on,
Sam
P.S. Now that you’ve read the post, let’s hear it—Rocks or Toys? Which one hit harder for you, and where were you the first time you heard it?
What to buy Dad for Father’s Day? He already has everything he wants right, so it’s the thought that really counts!
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