''Honkin' on Bobo'' is the fourteenth studio album by American
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...
band
Aerosmith
Aerosmith is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Boston in 1970. The group consists of lead vocalist Steven Tyler, bassist Tom Hamilton (musician), Tom Hamilton, drummer Joey Kramer, and guitarists Joe Perry (musician), Joe Perry and B ...
blues
Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...
and
blues rock
Blues rock is a fusion music genre, genre and form of rock music, rock and blues music that relies on the chords/scales and instrumental improvisation of blues. It is mostly an electric ensemble-style music with instrumentation similar to electri ...
songs from the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, with one new song, "The Grind". The album pays tribute to Aerosmith's earliest influences and showcases a rawer sound when compared to their more recent commercial efforts. ''Honkin' on Bobo'' was produced by Jack Douglas, who was Aerosmith's producer on a vast majority of their 1970s output.
The album sold over 160,000 copies in its first week, reaching number five on the ''Billboard'' 200. ''Honkin' on Bobo'' was certified gold by the
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...
on May 11, 2004.
Background
After their departure from
Geffen Records
Geffen Records (formerly The David Geffen Company from 1980 to 1992 and Geffen Records Inc. from 1993 to 2004) is an American record label, founded in late 1980 by David Geffen. Originally a music subsidiary of the company known as Geffen Pi ...
in 1994, the band wanted their next record to be a blues album. "Then," said singer
Steven Tyler
Steven Victor Tallarico (born March 26, 1948), known professionally as Steven Tyler, is an American singer and songwriter. Tyler is best known as the lead singer of the Boston-based rock band Aerosmith, in which he also plays the keyboards, h ...
, "we caught wind that Clapton was doing it, and we went, 'Fuck!'… We did such incredible research for this album, too… We also thought about our roots, about paying homage to the stuff we loved: early Yardbirds and all. Some of
Little Walter
Marion Walter Jacobs (May 1, 1930 – February 15, 1968), known as Little Walter, was an American blues musician, singer, and songwriter, whose revolutionary approach to the harmonica had a strong impact on succeeding generations, earning him ...
's early stuff. Really obscure names… I did some digging around myself in
Chicago
Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
. We had some great songs to work with – and then Clapton came along and did it."
''Honkin' on Bobo'' was recorded in Joe Perry's ranch near Boston, with the band committing to playing only when they were in a good mood. "We wanted to do something we haven't done before and that excites us," Perry said. "That's what makes us want to do another record. Otherwise, we'd say, 'OK, we've done everything we can do, so why bother even going in again?’"
The album title was suggested by Tyler, who had heard the phrase before, possibly the song by Canadian country/bluegrass band
The Good Brothers
The Good Brothers are a Canadian country, bluegrass and folk music group originating from Richmond Hill, Ontario. The band's core members are Brian Good (guitar), his twin brother Bruce Good (autoharp) and younger brother Larry Good (banjo).
...
, and amused the band with it. Perry stated during a radio interview, "We just know that it's a phrase that sounds... jazzish, nastyish, so it works for us."
Many tracks feature harmonica by Tyler, including Little Walter's "Temperature". This was played on an episode of the ''House of Blues Radio Hour'' that was about the harmonica. A harmonica keychain was included with the limited edition version. Provisional artwork featured the cover's harmonica stuffed into a model's denim cutoffs. This was vetoed, said its proponent Tyler, "because I'm in a band with four other guys."
" Stop Messin' Around" – a
Fleetwood Mac
Fleetwood Mac are a British-American Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1967 by the singer and guitarist Peter Green (musician), Peter Green. Green named the band by combining the surnames of the drummer, Mick Fleetwood, and the bassis ...
cover, sung by Perry – had never before appeared on an Aerosmith album, despite being a staple of the band's concerts for more than ten years.
Reception
Metacritic
Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
gave the album a score of 69 out of 100 based on 12 generally favorable reviews.
Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and former senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of multiple artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance ...
of
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...
said that the album is the best the band has done since ''
Pump
A pump is a device that moves fluids (liquids or gases), or sometimes Slurry, slurries, by mechanical action, typically converted from electrical energy into hydraulic or pneumatic energy.
Mechanical pumps serve in a wide range of application ...
'' in 1989, and that it cannot be called a "blues" album because it is a rock album. He called the album a "surprise" in that, even though the album's artwork and title are bad, it marks a return to Aerosmith. In his ''
Blender
A blender (sometimes called a mixer (from Latin ''mixus, the PPP of miscere eng. to Mix)'' or liquidiser in British English) is a kitchen and laboratory appliance used to mix, crush, purée or emulsify food and other substances. A stationary ...
'' magazine review of the album,
Jon Pareles
Jon Pareles (born 1953) is an American journalist who is the chief popular music critic in the arts section of ''The New York Times''. Chris Willman of ''
Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...
'' felt that the album didn't live up to what it should be because it is too loud, but some songs on the album are good.
David Fricke
David Fricke (born ) is an American music journalist who serves as the senior editor at ''Rolling Stone'' magazine, where he writes predominantly about rock music. One of the best known names in rock journalism, his career has spanned over 40 ye ...
of ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason.
The magazine was first known fo ...
'' magazine wrote an article for the magazine comparing and contrasting Aerosmith's ''Honkin' on Bobo'' and
Eric Clapton
Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English Rock music, rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s l ...
's '' Me and Mr. Johnson'' which also explored blues influences. He said that Clapton's album was mostly about pain, while Aerosmith's album was about sex and running away from lovers. He also considers ''Bobo'' to be a double-tribute album – one tribute to the original musicians and one tribute for 1960s blues-rock bands – and considers the album to be overdone, which is what Aerosmith is good at.
Track listing
Personnel
*
Steven Tyler
Steven Victor Tallarico (born March 26, 1948), known professionally as Steven Tyler, is an American singer and songwriter. Tyler is best known as the lead singer of the Boston-based rock band Aerosmith, in which he also plays the keyboards, h ...
– lead vocals, harmonica, piano on "Never Loved a Girl", backing vocals on " Stop Messin' Around", percussion, production
* Joe Perry – lead guitar, backing vocals, lead vocals on "Back Back Train" and "Stop Messin' Around", production
*
Brad Whitford
Bradley Ernest Whitford (born February 23, 1952)Putterford, Mark (1991) ''The Fall and Rise of Aerosmith'', Omnibus Press, Strong, Martin C. (2001) ''The Great Metal Discography'' (2nd edn.), MOJO Books, , p. 11-13 is an American musician who ...
– rhythm and lead guitar
* Tom Hamilton – bass guitar
* Joey Kramer – drums, percussion
Additional musicians
* Tracy Bonham – vocals on "Back Back Train" and "Jesus Is on the Main Line"
* Johnnie Johnson – piano on "Shame, Shame, Shame" and "Temperature"
* The Memphis Horns –
brass
Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc, in proportions which can be varied to achieve different colours and mechanical, electrical, acoustic and chemical properties, but copper typically has the larger proportion, generally copper and zinc. I ...
on "Never Loved a Girl"
*Paul Santo – piano, electric piano, organ,
engineering
Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...
Production
* Jack Douglas – production
* Paul Caruso – engineering
*Jay Messina – engineering
*
Bob Ludwig
Robert Carl Ludwig (born December 11, 1944), is a retired American mastering engineer. He mastered recordings on all the major recording formats for all the major record labels, and on projects by more than 1,300 artists, including Led Zeppeli ...