"Home Tonight" is a

power ballad A sentimental ballad is an emotional style of music that often deals with romance (love), romantic and intimate relationships, and to a lesser extent, loneliness, death, war, drug abuse, politics and religion, usually in a poignant but solemn m ...

by American hard rock band Aerosmith. Written by lead singer Steven Tyler, the song is the closing track on Aerosmith's 1976 album ''

Rocks In geology, rock (or stone) is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its chemical composition, and the way in which it is formed. Rocks form the Earth's ...

''. It was released as the second single from ''Rocks'' and reached number 71 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. '' Cash Box'' said that "the soft, almost ballad-like vocal holds a lot of appeal, and the harsher rock 'n' roll

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

seems to fit just right."

Background and release

"Home Tonight" was solely written by lead singer Steven Tyler and produced by Aerosmith and Jack Douglas, American record producer. "Home Tonight" was released as the second single from ''Rocks'' on August 27, 1976, with "Pandora's Box" (a song from their 1974 album ''Get Your Wings'') serving as its B-side. The band hoped that the single would impact the charts similarly to their 1973 song " Dream On". However, "Home Tonight" only reached number 71 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in 1976. '' Record World'' said the song "contains a raw heavy metal edge but at the same time conveys a gentleness for pop play."

Live performances

In later concerts, Tyler would occasionally perform a segment of "Home Tonight" as an in-concert intro into "Dream On". This is to underscore the relationship between the two songs.

In other media

"Home Tonight" is one of the two theme songs performed by Aerosmith used in the video game ''

Dead or Alive 3 is a 2001 in video games, 2001 fighting game, fighting video game developed by Team Ninja and published by Tecmo for the Xbox (console), Xbox console as one of its launch titles. It is the third main entry in the ''Dead or Alive (franchise), Dea ...

'' for the

Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft. The brand consists of five video game consoles, as well as applications (games), streaming services, an online service by the name of Xbox network, and the development arm by the ...

created by

Team Ninja is a Japanese video game developer, and a division of Koei Tecmo, founded in 1995 as a part of Tecmo. It is founded and formerly led by Tomonobu Itagaki, later by Yosuke Hayashi, and is best known for the ''Ninja Gaiden'' action-adventure gam ...

. It is played during the extended/full ending credits.

Legacy

On VH1's ''

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 ...

'' with Eddie Trunk, the panel declared it number one on their Top 5 Greatest Power Ballads of all Time.

Charts

References

{{Authority control 1970s ballads Aerosmith songs 1976 singles Songs written by Steven Tyler Song recordings produced by Jack Douglas (record producer) Columbia Records singles Hard rock ballads