Classic Albums: Aerosmith - Pump

Widely acclaimed Pump was the tenth album by (already then) hard rock vetran band Aerosmith, released in 1989. Their previous album, Permanent Vacation, released two years earlier in 1987, was a major hit and the band's bestselling album in over a decade (selling 5 million copies in the U.S.),with all three of its singles ("Dude (Looks Like a Lady)", "Rag Doll", and "Angel") reaching the Top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100. So there were loads of expectations.

Pump was even more successful - it featured three Top Ten singles: "What It Takes", "Janie's Got a Gun", and "Love in an Elevator", as well as the Top 30 hit "The Other Side", eventually selling over 7 million copies and spawning several music videos that were in regular rotation on MTV. The band also won its first Grammy in the category of Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, for "Janie's Got a Gun".

The album 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"), 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 (Toys in the Attic leads with eight million). "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.

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