Aerosmith "Toys in the Attic" [1975]

Already piecing together their self-made legendary rock-star status in their already drug-addled brains, Aerosmith's rise to prominence in 1975 should have been a giant red flag to the rock community: get your shit together, or disco will eat your children. The community turned a blithe, bloodshot eye to this premise, settling for second-rate Stones bands like Aerosmith, Bad Company and heroin-era Led Zep. In retrospect, it's not surprising "Toys in the Attic" was a big hit: the radio was filled with novelty songs like "Shaving Cream" and whatever the hell countrified clowns like Ray Stevens and Jim Stafford were cranking out back then. Aerosmith fit right in, as a complete parody joke, though they were likely far too fucked up to be conscious of this fact. "Toxic twins" Steven Tyler and Joe Perry were essentially Clive Davis' rats in a cage, constantly hitting the narcotic drip until they sailed head-first into self-perpetuated obscurity by the end of the decade. Their studious, eggheaded backup band had little to contribute themselves, though they did manage to stay upright in concert the whole way through the show. So there you have it: "Toys in the Attic" did no one any favors -- not rock fans or concert-goers, and not the band themselves. The only ones who made out like bandits were the record company execs. Still wondering how/why these guys were brought back from the dead a decade later?