"Blind Man" is a song by American

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...

band

Aerosmith Aerosmith is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Boston in 1970. The group consists of Steven Tyler (lead vocals), Joe Perry (musician), Joe Perry (guitar), Tom Hamilton (musician), Tom Hamilton (bass), Joey Kramer (drums) and Brad Whi ...

. The song was written by

Steven Tyler Steven Victor Tallarico (born March 26, 1948), known professionally as Steven Tyler, is an American singer, best known as the lead singer of the Boston-based rock band Aerosmith, in which he also plays the harmonica, piano, and percussion. ...

, Joe Perry, and

Taylor Rhodes Taylor Laurence Rhodes is an American songwriter, producer, and musician from Nashville, Tennessee, most notable for his work with hard rock band Aerosmith since 1993. Music career 1980s In 1987, Rhodes co-wrote the lead-off minor hit title tr ...

. It was first released as a single in the United Kingdom on October 24, 1994, as a

double A-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record company ...

with "

Crazy Insanity, madness, lunacy, and craziness are behaviors performed by certain abnormal mental or behavioral patterns. Insanity can be manifest as violations of societal norms, including a person or persons becoming a danger to themselves or t ...

", then was issued in the United States by itself the following month. "Blind Man" served as the first single from Aerosmith's Geffen-era compilation album, ''

Big Ones ''Big Ones'' is a compilation album by American rock band Aerosmith, released on November 1, 1994 by Geffen Records. ''Big Ones'' featured 12 hits from the band's three consecutive multi-platinum albums, '' Permanent Vacation'' (1987), ''Pump'' ( ...

'', one of three songs from the record not previously released on any Aerosmith studio album. Despite the song's moderate success, reaching the top 10 in Canada, Finland, and Norway, the band rarely performed it live after the 1993–1994

Get a Grip Tour The Get a Grip Tour was a concert tour by American hard rock band Aerosmith that lasted over eighteen months, from early June 1993 to mid-December 1994. The tour was put on in support of the band's third consecutive multi-platinum album ''Get a G ...

Recording

The song was recorded in two separate sessions. The first session took place at

Power Station A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electrical grid. Many p ...

, New York City in April 1994, and was engineered by

Adam Kasper Adam Kasper is an American, Seattle area record producer and engineer, with platinum and gold awards, working with such bands as Aerosmith, Mudhoney, Nirvana, Foo Fighters, Queens of the Stone Age, The Tragically Hip, R.E.M., Soundgarden and ...

with second engineering by Chris Albert. The second session took place at Capri Digital Studios,

Capri Capri ( , ; ; ) is an island located in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the Sorrento Peninsula, on the south side of the Gulf of Naples in the Campania region of Italy. The main town of Capri that is located on the island shares the name. It has been ...

, Italy in June, and was also engineered by Adam Kasper, but the second engineer on that session was Max Carola.

Music video

The music video for the song was also one of the only songs from Aerosmith's Geffen era not released on the video collection '' Big Ones You Can Look At''. The live performance portions of the video were filmed during the day at The Summit in

Houston, Texas Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

before Aerosmith's performance there on September 30, 1994. The video was directed by

Marty Callner Marty Callner (born 1950 in Cincinnati, Ohio) is an American television director, who has made music videos, comedy specials, concert specials, and television shows, in a career spanning from 1977 to present day. He is the creator of HBO's '' Ha ...

, and featured cameo appearances by

Pamela Anderson Pamela Denise Anderson (born July 1, 1967) is a Canadian-American actress and model. She is best known for her glamour modeling work in ''Playboy'' magazine and for her appearances on the television series ''Baywatch'' (1992–1997). Anders ...

and A&R man

John Kalodner John David Kalodner is a retired American A&R (artists and repertoire) executive. History John David Kalodner was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and was a writer and photographer at ''Concert'' magazine. He went on to be a photographer for v ...

. In 2009, drummer

Joey Kramer Joseph Michael Kramer (born June 21, 1950) is an American musician best known as the drummer of the hard rock band Aerosmith, which was inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001. Life and career Kramer was born in the Bronx, New ...

admitted on ''

That Metal Show ''That Metal Show'' is a talk show that premiered on VH1 Classic on November 15, 2008 and ended on May 9, 2015 with a span of 14 seasons. Hosted by Eddie Trunk, Don Jamieson and Jim Florentine, the series features three hosts interviewing musi ...

'' that this is his least favorite Aerosmith video.

Track listing

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Release history

References

{{authority control Aerosmith songs 1994 singles Music videos directed by Marty Callner Songs written by Steven Tyler Songs written by Joe Perry (musician) Songs written by Taylor Rhodes Geffen Records singles 1994 songs Song recordings produced by Michael Beinhorn