Pump (album)

Pump
Studio album by Aerosmith
Released September 12, 1989
Recorded January–June 1989 at Little Mountain Sound Studio
Genre Hard rock, heavy metal, blues rock
Length 47:22
Label Geffen
Producer Bruce Fairbairn
Aerosmith chronology
Permanent Vacation
(1987)		 Pump
(1989)		 Get a Grip
(1993)
Singles from Pump
  1. "Love in an Elevator"
    Released: August 15, 1989
  2. "F.I.N.E."
    Released: September 12, 1989 (promo only)
  3. "Janie's Got a Gun"
    Released: November 8, 1989
  4. "What It Takes"
    Released: February 27, 1990
  5. "The Other Side"
    Released: June 6, 1990
  6. "Monkey on My Back"
    Released: August 18, 1990 (promo only)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
Robert ChristgauB+[2]
Q[3]
Rolling Stone[4]
Spin(positive)[5]

Pump is the tenth studio album by American rock band Aerosmith, released on September 12, 1989. The album was remastered and reissued in 2001.

Pump incorporates the use of keyboards and a horn section on many of the singles ("Love in an Elevator", "The Other Side"), and contains straightforward rockers ("F.I.N.E.", "Young Lust"), the ballad "What It Takes", songs about issues such as incest and murder ("Janie's Got a Gun") and drug and alcohol abuse ("Monkey on My Back"),[4] as well as a variety of instrumental interludes such as "Hoodoo" and "Dulcimer Stomp."

The album has certified sales of seven million copies in the U.S. to date, and is tied with its successor Get a Grip as Aerosmith's second best-selling studio album in the U.S. (Toys in the Attic leads with eight million).[6] It produced a variety of successes and "firsts" for the band including their first Grammy Award ("Janie's Got a Gun").[4] "Love in an Elevator" became the first Aerosmith song to hit #1 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. Additionally, it is the only Aerosmith album to date to have three Top 10 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 and three #1 singles on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. The album was the fourth bestselling album of the year 1990.[7]

In the UK, it was the second Aerosmith album to be certified Silver (60,000 units sold) by the British Phonographic Industry, achieving this in September 1989.

Pump was the second of three sequentially recorded Aerosmith albums to feature producer Bruce Fairbairn and engineers Mike Fraser and Ken Lomas at The Little Mountain Sound Studios.

A video documentary on the recording, The Making of Pump, was released in 1994.

Production

In December 1988, Aerosmith got together at Rik Tinory Productions in Cohasset, Massachusetts to rehearse and compose new songs, as the bandmembers thought the isolated nature of the studio would help their creativity. Over 19 songs were written, split between an "A-list" with songs considered possible hits, such as "Love in an Elevator" and "What It Takes", and the "B list" having songs yet to be developed such as "Voodoo Medicine Man". Producer Bruce Fairbairn focused on getting as many hooks on the songs as possible.[8]

In January 1989, the band went to Vancouver to again record at Fairbairn's Little Mountain Sound, where the producer had helmed Bon Jovi's Slippery When Wet and New Jersey. "I don't even listen to Bon Jovi," Steven Tyler protested, "so we didn't say, 'Oh, shit, they had a great album,' and go up there."[9]

The intention with the album was exploring a rawness that had been glossed over for a commercial sound in Permanent Vacation.[10] Joe Perry declared that "When we went to do this album, we knew what we wanted, we wanted to strip off a little fat we felt on our last one. We didn't say 'We need a drug song or a child abuse song,' but when they fit, we used them. That's Aerosmith: we aren't bound by any rules." This escape from the rules lead to the instrumental interludes between the songs.[11] The interludes were done with the collaboration of musician Randy Raine-Reusch, who was brought to the studio after Perry and Tyler visited his house to search for unusual instruments to employ.[12] Many of the lyrics employ sexual themes, which Tyler attributed to having "making up for the lost time" he spent using drugs instead of having sex in the 1970s.[10]
"Janie's Got a Gun"
Sample of "Janie's Got a Gun", a story about a girl seeking revenge on her abusive father, inspired by a magazine article on gun violence.[13]
Problems playing this file? See media help.

On a 1989 MTV special entitled "Aerosmith Sunday," Brad Whitford explained the album title with "Now that we're off drugs, we're all pumped up."[14]

Steven Tyler regretted not putting lyrics in the album booklet, something that happened because Geffen was afraid the Parents Music Resource Center would protest over lyrical content with many sex and drugs references.[15] To remedy this omission, the lyrics were included in the tour programme. The album cover features a black and white photo of a smaller International K Series truck on top of a larger International KB Series truck, with the letters F.I.N.E (an acronym for "Fucked Up, Insecure, Neurotic, and Emotional", as stated in the album's liner notes) in place of the chrome International markings on the side of both hoods.

Track listing

No. TitleWriter(s) Length
1. "Young Lust"  Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, Jim Vallance 4:18
2. "F.I.N.E."  Perry, Tyler, Desmond Child 4:09
3. "Going Down/Love in an Elevator"  Perry, Tyler 5:39
4. "Monkey on My Back"  Perry, Tyler 3:57
5. "Water Song/Janie's Got a Gun"  Tyler, Tom Hamilton 5:38
6. "Dulcimer Stomp/The Other Side"  Tyler, Vallance, Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, Eddie Holland 4:56
7. "My Girl"  Perry, Tyler 3:10
8. "Don't Get Mad, Get Even"  Perry, Tyler 4:48
9. "Hoodoo/Voodoo Medicine Man"  Tyler, Brad Whitford 4:39
10. "What It Takes"  Tyler, Perry, Child 5:11
Total length:
 47:22

Lawsuit

Aerosmith found themselves in law school textbooks after a small rock band named Pump sued Aerosmith's management company for service mark infringement.[16] Aerosmith won the case.[14] Aerosmith also found themselves in legal trouble when the songwriting team Holland-Dozier-Holland threatened to sue the band over the main melody in Aerosmith's song "The Other Side" which sounded similar to the melody in the song "Standing in the Shadows of Love". As part of the settlement, Aerosmith agreed to add "Holland-Dozier-Holland" in the songwriting credits for "The Other Side".

Personnel

Aerosmith
Additional personnel

Production

Reception

"At a time when young guns from Mötley Crüe to Poison were doing their level best to hoist the heavy metal crown from the likes of Def Leppard and Bon Jovi," noted Q, "it took a bunch of hoary, addled old stagers like Aerosmith to come up with the year's best metal album."[17]

"Aerosmith is still the reigning king of the hard-rock double entendre…" wrote Rolling Stone. "But Pump – like, real subtle – has more going for it than locker-room laughs, such as the vintage high-speed crunch (circa Toys in the Attic) of 'Young Lust', the sassy slap 'n' tickle of 'My Girl' and the kitchen-sink sound of 'Janie's Got A Gun'."[18]

"Messrs Tyler and Perry," observed Hi-Fi News & Record Review, "have cleaned up their act, hoovered their nostrils, added a few more items of choice veg to their cod-pieces and come up with a stonker."[19]

"Pump changed my life," said Justin Hawkins of The Darkness. "I'd been listening to bands like The Cult and The Mission and then discovered this album that was about fucking from beginning to end… It just blew me away."[20]

Charts

Chart (1989) Peak
position
Dutch Albums (MegaCharts)[21] 33
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[22] 13
Japanese Albums Chart[23] 10
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[24] 9
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[25] 8
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[26] 9
UK Albums (OCC)[27] 3
US Billboard 200[28] 5
Chart (1990) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[29] 1
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[30] 8

Singles - Billboard (North America)

Year Single Chart Position
1989 "Love in an Elevator" Mainstream Rock Tracks 1
The Billboard Hot 100 5
"F.I.N.E." Mainstream Rock Tracks 14
"Janie's Got a Gun" Mainstream Rock Tracks 2
The Billboard Hot 100 4
1990 "Monkey on My Back" Mainstream Rock Tracks 17
"What It Takes" Mainstream Rock Tracks 1
The Billboard Hot 100 9
"The Other Side" Mainstream Rock Tracks 1
The Billboard Hot 100 22

End of decade charts

Chart (1990–1999) Position
U.S. Billboard 200[31] 73

Certifications

Region Certification Sales/shipments
Canada (Music Canada)[32] 7× Platinum 700,000^
Germany (BVMI)[33] Gold 250,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[34] Gold 100,000^
United States (RIAA)[35] 7× Platinum 7,000,000^

^shipments figures based on certification alone

Awards

Grammy Awards

Year Winner Category
1990 "Janie's Got a Gun" Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal

See also

References

  1. ↑ Pump (album) at AllMusic
  2. ↑ Christgau, Robert. "Pump". Robert Christgau.
  3. ↑ 04/01/2001
  4. 1 2 3 Rolling Stone review
  5. ↑ Blashiff, Pat (November 1989). "Reviews: Aerosmith - Pump". Spin (SPIN Media LLC) 5 (8).
  6. ↑ "Recording Industry Association of America". RIAA. Retrieved 2012-03-06.
  7. ↑ Billboard.com - Year End Charts - Year-end Albums - The Billboard 200
  8. ↑ The Making of Pump. Sony Music. 1990.
  9. ↑ Rolling Stone 1989 retrospective, precise date unknown
  10. 1 2 Aerosmith: The Ultimate Illustrated History of the Boston Bad Boys
  11. ↑ Hinckley, David (January 19, 1990). "Aerosmith's All 'Pumped' Up". New York Daily News.
  12. ↑ http://www.asza.com/r3aero.shtml
  13. ↑ http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/talk-this-way-rolling-stones-1994-interview-with-aerosmiths-steven-tyler-20110427?page=4
  14. 1 2 Pump, Inc. v. Collins Management, 746 F. Supp. 1159 (D. Mass. 1990)
  15. ↑ Spin Magazine
  16. ↑ Stim, Richard (2006). Music Law: How to Run Your Band's Business. Berkeley, California: Nolo. p. 208. ISBN 1-4133-0517-2.
  17. ↑ Q, January 1990
  18. ↑ Rolling Stone, 14–28 December 1989
  19. ↑ Hi-Fi News & Record Review, November 1989
  20. ↑ Q, May 2004
  21. ↑ "Dutchcharts.nl – Aerosmith – Pump" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved September 28, 2012.
  22. ↑ "Officialcharts.de – Top 100 Longplay". GfK Entertainment. Retrieved September 28, 2012.
  23. ↑ "エアロスミスのCDアルバムランキング、エアロスミスのプロフィールならオリコン芸能人事典-ORICON STYLE". Oricon.co.jp. Retrieved 2013-05-02.
  24. ↑ "Norwegiancharts.com – Aerosmith – Pump". Hung Medien. Retrieved September 28, 2012.
  25. ↑ "Swedishcharts.com – Aerosmith – Pump". Hung Medien. Retrieved September 28, 2012.
  26. ↑ "Swisscharts.com – Aerosmith – Pump". Hung Medien. Retrieved September 28, 2012.
  27. ↑ "1989-09-23 Top 40 UK Albums Archive". Official Charts Company. Retrieved September 28, 2012.
  28. ↑ "Aerosmith – Chart history" Billboard 200 for Aerosmith.
  29. ↑ "Australiancharts.com – Aerosmith – Pump". Hung Medien. Retrieved September 28, 2012.
  30. ↑ "Charts.org.nz – Aerosmith – Pump". Hung Medien. Retrieved September 28, 2012.
  31. ↑ Geoff Mayfield (December 25, 1999). 1999 The Year in Music Totally '90s: Diary of a Decade - The listing of Top Pop Albums of the '90s & Hot 100 Singles of the '90s. Billboard. Retrieved October 15, 2010.
  32. ↑ "Canadian album certifications – Aerosmith – Pump". Music Canada.
  33. ↑ "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (Aerosmith; 'Pump')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie.
  34. ↑ "British album certifications – Aerosmith – Pump". British Phonographic Industry. Enter Pump in the field Keywords. Select Title in the field Search by. Select album in the field By Format. Select Gold in the field By Award. Click Search
  35. ↑ "American album certifications – Aerosmith – Pump". Recording Industry Association of America. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH

External links

Preceded by
Cosmic Thing by The B-52's		 Australian ARIA Albums Chart number-one album
February 11 - March 3, 1990 		Succeeded by
The 12th Man Again! by The 12th Man
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