(50) Sundays of Music: #32

#32: Aerosmith - Big Ones

File this one under: "stuff I listened to growing up"

Before I started getting cds of my own, I would listen to whatever my dad had laying around. Actually, to be honest, when I was little I didn't care for "his music." It was all classic rock - Guns N Roses, Poison, ACDC, Boston... stuff like that. Now, I listen to that stuff frequently. Call it appreciating the past, blame it on Guitar Hero/Rock Band, maybe it's an attempt to connect with my dad. Who knows, but what's certain is that some bands have actually become some that I would even go so far as to call my favorites. Aerosmith is one of them.

For some reason, even thought I hated my dad's music at the time, there was something that struck me about "the cd with the blue label." I don't know how this is going to sound, but my dad left me at the house alone a lot when I was little. Mostly it was be getting home from school before he got home from work and sometimes I would turn on his stereo and jam. "Big Ones" was one of the selections I would always choose.

Also, I remember it at my grandparent's house too. My grandpa has always been into music, or at least talked about how he was (however, that's not where my brothers and I got it from. I actually have no idea where we got it from). So maybe it was his, but I remember putting it in their stereo as well.

I actually didn't know till later in life that "Big Ones" was a greatest hits compilation. But then again, I didn't know there was such things as greatest hits at the time. I just knew there was music, haha.

Maybe it was Steven Tyler's raspy, imperfect voice. Maybe it was the loud, on point guitars. Maybe it was the jam-session feel to the drums. Maybe it was the fact that the music as a whole was just... fun.

Either way, if you asked me my top 5 favorite tracks of all time, "What it Takes" would be somewhere in there. I know every word, every note of that song. And I love belting it out. If I ever go to a karaoke bar and they have that song, you can bet money I will tear the house down.

Of course since it's a greatest hits, most of the songs are "classics" but some of my other favorites of this disc include "Cryin," "Angel," "Rag Doll" and "The Other Side."

So pretend we're at a karaoke bar, and let's jam: