A recent article over on the Townhall Blog portrays John McCain’s usage of Paris Hilton and Britney Spears in a campaign ad as a tactical maneuever based not on any nefarious political precedents but rather on a model established in the 90s…..by Aerosmith. Come again?
Well it actually makes a lot of sense, especially when considering the following:
“Heading into the early 90s, they (Aerosmith) had to be wondering how they could possibly compete in the MTV video age with up-and-coming stars like Eddie Vedder and Kirk Kurt Cobain — guys who were half their age. Their answer was to cast two beautiful young actresses, Alicia Silverstone and Liv Tyler to star in the videos. Meanwhile, Steve Tyler, Joe Perry — and the other Aerosmith guys — were, more or less, in the background of these videos. It worked; the videos for Cryin’, Amazing, and Crazy were huge hits on MTV — and Aerosmith successfully launched a second (or was it their third) career comeback. By teaming their music with younger images, Aerosmith successfully marketed their music to a new generation who otherwise might have viewed them as old fogies.”
The truth is, if McCain truly did look to Aerosmith for inspiration on how to remain eternally relevant, he honestly could not have picked a better source. They are the undisputed masters of this dark art, hands down. The triple-headed monster of “Cryin’”, “Amazing”, and “Crazy” - and their cousins Doc, Dopey, and Grumpy - was a force of nature; it felt like Aerosmith OWNED MTV during that period. And yet, it only comprises one chapter in their never-ending odyssey towards immortality. In this week’s Countdown, we give you five other trailblazing master strokes of cultural relevancy from the pioneers of public relations, Aerosmith:
5. REHAB
You may be thinking that Steven Tyler’s decision to check into rehab this past May was hardly cutting edge; I mean, come on, this is a 60-year old guy following in the footsteps of Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears, Mary Kate Olsen, and even - ew - Brandon Davis…and he even checked into the same facility that was featured on Celebrity Rehab With Dr. Drew! Jeeeez, what a pathetic, desperate move calibrated to generate maximum PR and engender the public’s goodwill for a second chance, right?
Wrong! Do you know who you’re talking about? Steven Tyler practically invented the rehab-as-career-makeover card, having first checked into treatment in 1986 when Lindsay Lohan’s only contribution to society thus far was a few stretch marks on her mother’s abdomen. Oh, and bonus points for actually getting his shit together afterwards and using his rehabilitation to launch the first of many comebacks for Aerosmith.
4. THE SIMPSONS EFFECT
Time was a cameo on The Simpsons was all a band needed towards realizing true cultural ubiquity. Over the years, we’ve seen everyone from the Who and Sting to the White Stripes and Sonic Youth grace Springfield’s sprawling canvas, though I would argue that Aerosmith pretty much started this trend. Remember the “Flaming Moes” episode (season 3, episode ten)?
By now, the move may seem a bit hackneyed, but by appearing (and “performing”) on The Simpsons, Aerosmith gained a slice of Gen X cred that countless other bands would go on to cash in on, including - but certainly not limited to - The Red Hot Chili Peppers (season 4), The Ramones (season 5), Paul McCartney, Sonic Youth, Smashing Pumpkins, Cypress Hill (all season 7), and R.E.M. (season 13). Of course, “Flaming Moes” just also happened to be the best of these episodes too….
3. THE VIDEO REMIX (Phone Sex {pant pant pant})
A precursor of sorts to the “sex sells” strategy deployed two years later in the “Cryin’-Amazing-Crazy”-video-tryptich, the 1991 re-recording and re-release of “Sweet Emotion” was also consequently re-framed around a phone sex conversation between a timid boy and what he believes to be a smoldering hot woman. The video does an admirable job of representing this fantasy in the most literate sense possible, interspersing the actual song (you know, the “boring bits”) with tantalizing moans and pants and shots of a sultry woman (you know, the “sexy bits”) and thus elevating (debasing?) a classic song to the stature of softcore porn. But who cares? The point is, they managed to get loads of new mileage out of an old song just by splicing in some sexy panting, not bad guys…
2. THE BIRTH OF A GENRE
Around the same time that Steven Tyler successfully completed his rehab stint in 1986, Aerosmith solidified their status as comeback kids following an unlikely collaboration with Run-D.M.C. Taking their 1975 classic “Walk This Way” and retooling it as a hybrid rap-rock song, the 1986 version of the song essentially ruled popular culture. How could you not remember this video?
The importance of this collaboration cannot be understated. In addition to re-establishing Aerosmith as an enormously popular and influential entity at a time when their future seemed uncertain, the new version of “Walk This Way” helped give birth - for better or worse - to the whole rap/rock genre that would have its highs (Public Enemy and Anthrax’s “Bring the Noise”) and lows (Linkin Park, Limp Bizkit, the Judgment Night soundtrack?) over the next two decades. It was also the first rap song to break the Top 5 in the Billboard Hot 100 and actually charted higher than the original version of “Walk This Way”.
1. GUITAR HERO
At a time when a trend piece on the world’s best Guitar Hero player makes the front page of The New York Times Weekend Arts section (see yesterday’s paper), Aerosmith has made perhaps their wisest move to date. Like they did with MTV in the 80s and The Simpsons in the 90s, the band has astutely honed in on one of THE most culturally significant developments of the past decade (the rise of video games in general and Guitar Hero games in particular) and striked while the iron was still hot. The result is Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, an ironclad bid for continued relevancy delivered under the impenetrable umbrella of the Guitar Hero franchise. If all goes according to plan - and it looks as though it is - Aerosmith will have succeeded in sticking around just a few decades longer than anyone could have ever initially imagined while introducing their ageless bag of tricks to an entirely new generation. Older, wiser, and as relevant as ever apparently….
