Okay, so they may not be the ‘World’s' Greatest Rock & Roll Band – the Rolling Stones soundly re-established their claim to that title – but Aerosmith remain one of the hardest-working bands around – and one of the most successful. Bassist Tom Hamilton has been an essential ingredient in the Aerosmith formula all along, from his classic composition Sweet Emotion on the band's 1975 breakthrough record, Toys in the Attic, to his rock-solid grooves on the 1993 multi-platinum disc, Get a Grip.
"Playing bass guitar in this band has been such a learning process for me," says Hamilton. "At first, the guys would say, ‘Play the root! Stick to the root!’ I thought, I'll be damned if I'm going to play eighth-notes on the root all my life! So I had to learn to be sneaky and try to take the music to the next level, while still serving the songs."
Following a brief, unofficial breakup during what Hamilton calls "the limbo years" in the early 1980s, a period that was troubled by substance abuse and vicious in-fighting, the original lineup reunited in 1984, and christened their comeback by collaborating with rap group Run-DMC for a hip-hop treatment of the Aerosmith staple Walk This Way.
