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Video Steven Tyler Dream On3/22/2021
Written by lead singer Steven Tyler, this song was their first major hit and became a classic rock radio staple.Released in June 1973, it peaked at number 59 on the Billboard Hot 100 but hit big in the bands native Boston, where it was the number one single of the year on WBZ-FM, number five for the year on WRKO and number 16 on WMEX (AM).
The song also received immediate heavy airplay on the former WVBF (FM), often showing up in the 1 position on The Top Five At Five in June 1973. The album version of Dream On (4:26, as opposed to the 3:25 1973 45rpm edit) was re-issued in late 1975, debuting at number 81 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart on January 10, 1976, breaking into the Top 40 on February 14 and peaking at number 6 on April 10. Columbia Records chose to service Top 40 radio stations with both long and short versions of the song; thus, many 1976 pop radio listeners were exposed to the groups first Top 10 effort through the 45 edit. Their style, which is rooted in blues-based hard rock, has come to also incorporate elements of pop,heavy metal, and rhythm and blues, and has inspired many subsequent rock artists. Guitarist Joe Perry and bassist Tom Hamilton, originally in a band together called the Jam Band, met up with singer Steven Tyler, drummer Joey Kramer, and guitarist Ray Tabano, and formed Aerosmith. In 1971, Tabano was replaced by Brad Whitford, and the band began developing a following in Boston. If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and well take care of it shortly. So it wasnt until after it became a single that we really started playing it. Their manager had them share a house and concentrate on writing songs for their first album. Steven Tyler had been working on the song on and off for about six years, writing it in bits and pieces. ![]() A breakthrough came when Tyler bought an RMI keyboard with money he found in a suitcase outside of where the band was staying. The suitcase incident became part of Aerosmith lore, as Tyler didnt tell his bandmates that he took the money, and when gangsters came looking for it, he continued to play dumb. Tylers father was a classically trained musician, and when Steven was 3 years old, he would lie underneath the piano and listen to his dad play. In his book, Does The Noise In My Head Bother You, Tyler writes, Thats where I got that Dream On chordage. Regarding the meaning of this song, Tyler explained: Its about the hunger to be somebody: Dream until your dreams come true. He added, This song sums up the s--t you put up with when youre in a new band. Most of the critics panned our first album, and said we were ripping off the Stones. Thats a good barometer of my anger at the press, which I still have. ![]() It was just this little sonnet that I started playing one day. This was the song that saved Aerosmith from being dropped by their label. Aerosmith was the bands first album, and it sold poorly, mainly because their record company didnt promote it - Columbia records was focused on Bruce Springsteens first album (released just a week earlier) at the time. Aerosmith was in danger of being dropped, but their management convinced Columbia to release Dream On as a single, and it showed promise, reaching 59 in the US. This single version was a different, more radio-friendly edit than the album version of the song, and it did well in the Boston area, especially on the powerhouse AM station WRKO. Columbia kept the band, and they became one of their biggest acts. He explained to Classic Rock magazine in 2002: Back in those days you made your mark playing live. And to me rock n rolls all about energy and putting on a show. Those were the things that attracted me to rock n roll, but Dream On was a ballad. I didnt really appreciate the musicality of it until later, but I did know it was a great song, so we put it in our set. ![]() I dont know if we really played it much live, in those days if you only had half an hour to make your mark, you didnt play slow songs.
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