They Called It Heavy Metal

This is what used to be called heavy metal -- imagine that!

I don't know why I should think of this song and this album after all these years, except maybe that Aerosmith just announced -- however obliquely -- their farewell tour, and this early-ish stuff is some of the only music they've made worth commemorating with a farewell tour. Be gone, power ballads!

Yes, children, once upon a time, heavy metal had a discernible tune, and riffs that would haunt you until you could get close enough to a radio to hear them again.

I'm not saying that your music is bad. I'm just saying that the music you're missing is really, really good.

Here's Aerosmith at their peak with "Last Child".