Pump is the tenth studio album by American rock band Aerosmith. It was released on September 12, 1989, by Geffen Records. The album peaked at No. 5 on the US charts, and was certified septuple platinum by the RIAA in 1995.The album contains the hit singles "Love in an Elevator", "The Other Side", "What It Takes", "Janie's Got a Gun", which all entered the Top 40 of the Hot 100. It also 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 nine million). It produced a variety of successes and "firsts" for the band including their first Grammy Award ("Janie's Got a Gun"). "Love in an Elevator" became the first Aerosmith song to hit number one on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. The album was the fourth best-selling album of the year 1990.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 Little Mountain Sound Studios. A video documentary on the recording, The Making of Pump, was released in 1990.
Maybe I have shitty taste... No, it's the album list that is wrong.
Why are they so horny?
I kind of hate this Hard Rock Cafe shit. It just always seems to lack authenticity. I know that this was sort of a second coming for Aerosmith and they were rock n roll in the 70sđ€đ€đ€đ€, and well done from them for coming back from the abyss, but it on the surface it all seems very clichĂ©. Like someone has thrown up a cocktail of leather, big hair, motorcycles, Jack Daniels and guitar solos. About as cool as the Hell's Angels with all the edges polished. Having said that, this was actually alright musically. Energetic and pulsating at times, but whimsical and tongue in cheek in moments. Maybe they are completely aware that they're this caricature, uber glam rock behemoth and are happy to live up to it, without believing it themselves....but then again, maybe they aren't and believe they are bodafide rock gods here to save us all from a grey, lifeless world. I haven't quite decided.
everything is about sex???? wheres the math? wheres the physics? Take me home mom, I'm scared.
I love how someone has gone through the reviews here and upvoted all the anti-hair metal sentiment he could find. "oh it's just so INAUTHENTIC I can't stand it!" ha ha ha. I rub my nipples at your frustration. This album rules. Big fucking dumb songs about cliche hair metal topics. Aerosmith might have been playing catch up at this point after a bunch of bands that were influenced by them, but to come around and make one of the best hair metal albums in their 40s? I'm guessing they were in their 40s by this point. And STILL carrying on like horny teenagers? Fuck yeah. The whole thing pretty much smokes from start to finish. This book needs more albums that actually deserve to be in it. Albums like Pump. 5/5.
Awful lyrics, completely dated sound, no place on any greatest albums of all time list
Hey, itâs Aerosmith, the band who never met an innuendo they didnât like! When I was 13 in 1994, I used to think that I liked Aerosmith. I realized pretty quickly, though, that I really just liked that video with Alicia Silverstone and Liv Tyler. In retrospect, that video, like making love in an elevator, is weird on so many levels. Yes, I stole that joke. No, I donât feel bad about it. Weirdly, I didnât completely hate this album. I mean, most of it is really bad, but there were moments where I was like, âYou know what? This album isnât so badâŠâ Those moments were almost immediately dashed away by some of the most god awful blues-based butt rock ever committed to tape. Two stars, one for each of the pickup trucks fucking on the cover of this record.
I tried to make love in an elevator once. It was far more difficult than Aerosmith make out. Maybe you arenât supposed to do it in the lift of a 2 floor Marks and Sparks but you havenât even got your pants down before youâre interrupted by an old person with mobility issues - Aerosmith really need to be more clear about how this works. 2.2
man, I hate Aerosmith
Super cool album. Has real identity. Unbridled masculine rock and roll, but presented in a fun way. Surprisingly listenable
Aerosmith is quite possibly the worst band on this list. I can't believe that I received a second Aerosmith album, and neither of which are their most well known album, which makes me think there is at least a third. Just incredible.
Over polished, derivative, boring. Work-shopped and honed within an inch of its life. Cliche ridden. I've seen this described as one of the high points of 80s hair metal. And that is damning with very faint praise. I never want o hear this corporate rock drivel again as long as I live.
Dump by Aerosmith
Even the ballard is decent. Its got its hit that you all know, but most of the songs are energetic, musically interesting and Steven Tylers lyrics are either really funny or horrifying. Only reason it couldnt get 5/5 is I cant really see how this album had an impact on music in general or influenced/changed anything. I did read this was the only album that every member of Aerosmith was sober for, and I could definitely see that. Prolly one of their top 2 albums
I don't get why people seem to hate Aerosmith, this album fucking rocks. Front to back, no skips. I mean hell, they pull out a fucking digeridoo. How can you hate that?
Loved this album since the day it was released. I still have "Love in an Elevator" set for my alarm every day since the song came out. Every song has excellence built in and you can tell that the band took every song seriously on this. As good as "Get a Grip" was, I thought it was a letdown compared to this masterpiece.
Dude - finally! I was just saying that we needed some Aerosmith on this list! So I came late to the Aerosmith party - back in the late 80s when this album came out, Aerosmith was "hood" music - you know, the kids with the jean jackets full of patches with long hair who frequented the school's smoking section during lunch. Basically Eddie from Stranger Things. The rest of us "preppy" kids (maybe??) were all about the C&C, some Cathy Dennis (I think this is the second time I've referenced her in a review), or whatever the latest Michael W. Smith "Saddam Hussein" remix was (remember those? Super patriotic Gulf War remixes that filled local radio? There was even a Bette Midler "From a Distance" version)...I knew some of their stuff, of course, but would never have considered myself a fan. But here's the thing - other than some weird sexist themes that were par for the course for music from this time - this stuff doesn't age! It's its own genre. Unlike most genres, where it's relatively easy to pin down a time frame (REM could ONLY be late 80s/early 90s; Boston could ONLY be mid-late 70s; Cathy Dennis (again!) could only be 1990/1991), but not Aerosmith. No siree. Early 80s? Late 80's? I don't want to miss a thing? Just Aerosmith. I loved this whole album - some tunes more than others, of course - but it's all 100% pure Aerosmith. Makes me want to go to Hollywood Studios and get launched into some Rockin' Rollercoaster awesomeness...
Not a huge fan of Aerosmith and their brand of classic rock, but this album is a great example of it. Very listenable and list worthy.
This is an impressive piece of work by the standards I have for Aerosmith. It might be a memory blip, but I don't think I had heard any of these songs before; Yet almost all of them had great pop potential. The exceptions are most obviously the instrumental interludes, but I enjoyed those as exhibits of as much of a concept as the album has. The integration of American folk stylings was great, if a bit inconsistent. As always, I'm a sucker for strings. And, when it comes to glam, unapologetic sleaze.
His vocals have to be against the Geneva Convention
Sleazy cock rock. Best covered up and forgotten like the many sexual offences committed by the band members of this era.
Regardless of what you think of the music, you have to admit that Steven Tyler raped and battered a 16 year-old when he was 25.
You can see why we needed grunge to come along at this time. I remember this album being huge off the back of the âJanieâs Got A Gunâ film clip which was everywhere at the time, and although i was probably the target demographic at the time (15-16 yo white adolescent) it really wasnât my thing then and not really my thing now. That said, apart from the occasional Spinal Tap moment (that spoken intro to âLove in an ElevatorââŠcringe) and losing track of how many instruments they threw at this ( I think I started losing track or was going nuts when I started hearing didgeridoo and piano accordionâŠ) I didnât mind this album for what it was. As long as you donât listen to the puerile lyrics too closely (did I really hear âMasturbating with a gooseâ on one track?) at least it is all over quickly, and they do have a bit of Led Zep power blues about them that makes this more enjoyable than some of the worse Hair Metal crimes of the 80âs, and in Aerosmithâs favour they did do quite a good turn in Wayneâs World 2âŠ.
I have a lot of nostalgia for this album. When I got my first CD player this was one of the three albums I bought (Iâm sure one of the other two will be on this list, and the other one wonât.) As the years went on I became less and less interested in 90s Aerosmith, so when this came up I was sure I wouldnât like it. But to my surprise, it was the same banger 13 year old me got for Christmas.
One of my all time favourite albums! Some absolutely stonking tunes from the band. Goes to show what you can create when you donât have half of Peru up your nose!
excellent late 80s hard rock
Absolute hair metal classic rock screaming and soloing nonsense, with not an ounce of pretence of being anything different. One article suggested they used a lot of double entendres, but most of them are single at best! Pretty much every song could have come straight from the mind of a horny teenager - and in a way they all did. For the genius of the music, and the daftness of the lyrics, and the influence on the bands who followed, this (just and no more) gets full marks
This was definitely a better album for my teenage self, but I still enjoy it. As their return from a drug induced hiatus, Aerosmith seems to have retained a chunk of their 70s sound while taking some of the vibe of the 80s rock without becoming a hair metal band. As one with no love for hair bands but a deep affection for 70s rock, this hit just right for me. While I still appreciate Joe Perryâs guitar work and, while heâs not the greatest drummer, I dig Joey Kramerâs style, the lyrics are a geared for the adolescent boy that I no longer am (although I suspect Tyler still is). It is hard to deny his vocal ability though. He really does have quite a range. Pump shows that Aerosmith was still a strong band and were capable of some solid rock. Which makes the awful soft rock they eventually degraded into so disappointing. For nostalgia alone I have to give it 5/5, although my current opinion is closer to 4
Memories of this album from 1989. Sitting in a Winn Dixie parking lot with my dead ex-husband when we first heard Janieâs Got A Gun. Classic Aerosmith which means 5 stars to me.
It's grocery store Aerosmith. It's somewhwere between when they were good rock and when they became bad pop. It's still enjoyable and stands up to its age.
I've never heard a hornier album with less sex appeal in my life.
band should have died with the 70s
Garbage
This album was everywhere back then. I don't need to listen to the hits anymore, radio and MTV burned those out a long time ago. I've always dug their sleazy brand of blooz rock and this tracks. Never really listened to anything post 70's. Perry and Whitford are a kick ass guitar duo. Tyler belts it out like he invented it. I've listened through twice and it's strong, strong like bull.
Bombeando
Some Good hits here.
Yes! Excellent!
Wow! First off, love in an elevator is probably my favourite Aerosmith song - so it was already off to a good start Each song was as good as the next! Janie's got a gun - also a classic tune that I love 5 âïž
Another one of the goats . Saw them live on this tour.
Great album!
cĂłmete al rico
I know most of the big hits and I pretty much hate them all. Yet I thought this album was... ok. Not as offensively bad as I was expecting at least. There's nothing great either but there was one or two songs that weren't half bad.
Music isn't bad but everything is just creepy and nasty af given steven tylers history with minors. It's all kinds of wrong
There's good horny (industrial music, R&B), then there's whatever the fuck this is. This music tastes like stale vomit on someone's breath, dried beer on their clothes and the faint idea that you're making a mistake. There's not a lot musically or novel happening, it's just a couple of singles that Jack F.M. will play relentlessly.
Boring, cliche, annoying. Such over-polished, empty shit. Who is this music for?? What the fuck is its purpose? Surely no-one involved in this project enjoyed making it. 1/5
I can think of 1001 other albums that are better than this
This album from one of the worst bands in rock n' roll history sucks harder than even their earliest shit, which is just absolute trash.
For Joe⊠and cuz itâs good. Whatever.
I've had a run of critically acclaimed and influential albums in the last week including math rock and religious songs. I've had some artistic and culturally diverse albums in that mix. It's been, frankly, a struggle. Then along comes this. An up and down mainstream rock album with some guitars and some songs and it was a timely reminder that music doesn't have to be clever or influential or complex or arty. Sometimes it just has to be simple and superficial. I enjoyed this a lot. Probably as a result of where it was placed in my feed of albums but so what. Don't think too hard, just enjoy it.
Steven Tyler has a great voice and a high likelihood of serious sexual assault allegations against him.
En plena segona época daurada de la banda es treuen de la mà niga un dels seus millors discos, amb algunes de les seves millors cançons, com 'Love in an Elevator' (al seu moment pensà vem que era un clà ssic dels '70 d'ells!), 'Janie's Got a Gun', 'What It Takes'... se'ls nota amb un plus d'energia i savoir faire que els situava un cap per sobre de la nova generació de bandes metaleres del moment
An album that contains four hits ("Going Down/Love in an Elevator", "Water Song/Janie's Got a Gun", "The Other Side" and "What It Takes") should have at least four stars. But the other songs are more or less meh for me and so the whole album is only average.đ€·ââïž
Just a generic blues rock album with a few radio hits. All of which are about being horny.
Aerosmith has a great sound. And their longevity and popularity out of the 70s and through the 80s is impressive, keeping their sound and style both fresh and true while music changed dramatically around them. They weathered the rise of hair metal. They weathered the rise of glam and new wave. And when MTV changed the game in the 90s, they were right there as one of the only 70s bands to take full advantage. They deftly navigated this changing environment, continuing to drop classic Aerosmith hits on âPumpâ and âGet a Grip,â yet seizing new opportunities like âWalk This Way.â But Steven Tyler seems like a scuzzy creep. And he brags about it on the album opener, âYoung Lust.â I donât agree with Tipper Goreâs crusade against the music industry either (Tyler calls her out on âF.I.N.E.â), but Tylerâs constant sexual obsession on these songs are made more tasteless by the âYoung Lustâ declaration and what we know about his history. I love the sound, but Iâm not a fan of the lyrics.
Too bad they ruin a good sound with such oversexed lyrics. When the album starts with a song that tells you that âyou better keep your daughter insideâ, I know this album is not for me.
Much of this was corny and horny. But there's a few hits in here that I really enjoyed in spite of myself.
A good fun Aerosmith album - they never seem to ag - - sound wise. Looks,,, well,,,, I guess it is one of their better. but I was never a fan
Aerosmith is easily one of the most overrated bands out there. Sure they had Dream On but other than that their records are some bland, basic classic rock songs lazily thrown together. Theyâre also incredibly weird. This album feels like the band creating some weird fantasy where all women love them, all women want to have sex with them, and their music is actually worth listening to. Anyways, itâs not bad. Definitely not essential, but not bad.
Worse part of Aerosmith is Steven Tyler. An otherwise tight band is killed by his weird sexual innuendo. Itâs a good album though and fits well with the era of bands influenced by their 70s run.
It's fun but very one note. Free pickled eggs!
This was actually pretty good for what it is, I just wish they didn't sing about sex so much especially with young girls! But hey, that could just be me!
Steven Tyler singing about âYoung Lustâ is crazy.
There was way better music at the time this album released and there are way better aerosmith albums out there. Liked the beginning but it then became more and more boring to a point where I had a hard time actively listening to it.
Generally fun hard rock album but a bit generic. The overtly sexual lyrics of some of the songs were probably shocking at the time but come across a bit teenage boy nowadays. There wasnât any songs that stood out.
Out of respect, sorry lads
Itâs just an Aerosmith album. Like, nothing here stands out to me, but thereâs nothing that wrong with it. That being said, Iâll give this a 2. I can see why Aerosmith would get one album here, but three is too much (and this would definitely not be the one album anyway).
It's hard to believe that Aerosmith has released fifteen albums over the course of fifty years. Sweet Emotion and Joe Perry's into to that song will forever live in our hearts, but that was waaay back in '75 on Toys in the Attic, their best-selling album. This is no 'Toy's in the Attic' which, evidently I rated as a 3 because of Steven Tyler's penis promotion. (That seems a little unfair after reviewing my writeup on it) "...I had enjoyed it up to that point, but if I'm going to listen to a dick song, it'd be this stellar piece of art: https://youtu.be/bbJDjNLzv8U." Anyway, we went from that monumental album to this twenty-five years later. And though musically, it is mostly a straight line, I think we can all agree Pump curves to the left and is a great deal softer than their other work. Aerosmith is capable of greater things and though Pump was commercially more successful it is far from their best work ... Check out Reefer Headed Woman if you don't believe me ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7cTBqQtAT8
the cars are fuckin
It's alright. I don't think of Aerosmith as one the greats, they're just above average at best. The choice of this album seems a bit random to me, as the real late-80's comeback album from them is Permanent Vacation. There are some fun songs on here, but most of this is pretty bland and forgettable. Key tracks: Love in an Elevator Janie's Got a Gun
When the decidedly mediocre âJanieâs Got a Gunâ is the best track, you know you are dealing with new levels of banality.
p625. 1989. 2 stars. Overblown, sex obsessed,big haired cock rock with some decent tunes and NPC lyrics. Well done of its kind but definitely not essential.
Just a dated hard rock album that has creepy lyrics about sex. Only thing keeping it from a 1 is the fact that the tempo is fun and got one, maybe two listenable songs.
Definitely post hard rock junk. 80's glam infused cheese from such a legendary American Rock band. Hurts to hear, hurts to watch, hurts to recall this might have once been an anticipated release. But, that being said Jaine's Got a Gun is so fucking sick. 2 stars.
Not really very good at all, fun in places I suppose.
Man these were some horny dudes. Half the album list contain at least some reference to sex; for most of those it is the entire subject matter. Looking at you Love in an Elevator and Young Lust. And yet somewhere in between we have songs about drug addiction (Monkey On My Back) and vengeance killing for sexual exploitation (Janie's Got a Gun). Once you get past the (generally awful) lyrics and Steven Tyler's Steven Tylerness, the music itself isn't bad. Sure there is plenty of 80s cheese in the production (particularly in Love in an Elevator and Janie's Got a Gun), but there were some moments between the singing where I actually found myself enjoying this. I understand listening to this why Aerosmith got as big as they did and why so many people still enjoy them. That said, it just isn't for me. A 2 / 5 seems a bit cruel, but the cringe factor is too high on many of these to go any higher.
Right from the cover art to the songs, I really dislike this record. Pump was some kind of comeback for the band, that stagnated through most of the 80's, then hit the charts high with some truly awful songs, Love In An Elevator and Janie's Got A Gun. Talk about mainstream mush, this album helped revive their career to treat us with another three decades of sappy, over the top trash. I would consider them one of the most overrated American bands and during the 70's were known as a "poor-man's Stones, which I would consider a compliment. Sorry, I actually own Toys In the Attic and their Greatest Hits album from the 1980. I wish they did us all a favor by breaking up permanently when Joe Perry left the band the first time in 1979.
Janie's Got a Gun nets this 2 stars, otherwise this is very bad. Aerosmith may be one of the worst bands of all time who inconceivably has staying power.
About as "eh" as can be. Its not bad, its just not good.
Cheesy faux-hard pop-rock for immature snickering teenage boys. I feel qualified to make that statement as I bought this when I was all of the above; in retrospect it was a knee-jerk purchase ("i'm supposed to like these guys...") - funny how I tried so hard to listen and like it and couldn't admit to myself for a while that *it was ok if I didn't like this* - in fact I'm now confident that this very album was literally the turning point in my record purchasing / i.e. the end of the l.i.n.e. for cheese rock. e.g. I'm not sure there's a more archetypal song for what I hate than Love In An Elevator but I'd be ignorant to claim it's not catchy, in a similar way to the 10 days of Covid I had last year. ok ok objectivity: many (most??) of these songs music-wise are groove-catchy in a good way e.g. Monkey On My Back; F.I.N.E. (verses-only) but in the dreadfully unfortunate case of you/me latching onto the lyrics it drills it all right back into the gutter. Beyond awful. And then in the end I think it might come down to me really really hating Liv Tyler's dad's voice. And throw in the late 20th century production technique of a handful of same-voice harmonies it's 5 STEVE TYLERS AT ONCE! sigh. Couple his annoyance with some of the worst lyrics this side of Sammy Hagar ever put to disc and there's no lasting value here. I've written some version of this on probably 50+ albums but vocals ruin everything. In sum: yeah man this is a large platter of rock hits, no denying it. But is that reason alone to be on this list? Ehh...maybe it is, but if someone tries to convince me that "Rocks" was a lesser album than this schlock (not all on Tyler - the production was/is so 1989 - horns, faux-horns at that, subtle synth additions galore, layered vocals, etc)? Oy. Much like my bout with the coronavirus - best left in the past and trying hard not to catch it again. 3/10 2 stars
I have never been and am still not a fan of Aerosmith after listening through this album. I can respect some of the musicianship, but the actual music and content and vocals are not for me.
Work-shopped, over produced and cliché ridden album from start to finish from a band that as becomes soulless over the years. The album starts with a song telling that he's hiding from the police to get laid with teenagers. What the hell is going on here? Love In An Elevator is so dumb that I almost had to crack a beer at 8:00 AM. The trumpets parts of The Other Side gave me cancer. At "My Girl" and "Don't Get Mad", they shoot at you the most awful blues-rock song you can ever think about, just to confirm you are deep down in their bullshit and can't escape. Good luck to every newcomers that will encounter this album over the course of the 1001 albums generator.
Does having Aerosmith on the list negate the rest of the list? Possibly I canât believe someone truly thought Love in an elevator was something I absolutely needed to hear before I died. They really couldnât come up with 1000 albums without including Aerosmith!? I will never understand how anyone can enjoy this band, let alone subject other people to their garbage. If I could rate this zero stars I would. I did not and will not listen to it. Iâve heard enough Aerosmith for one lifetime, and enough Aerosmith in this instance is any Aerosmith.
Are you kidding me
No thanks
Over polished, derivative, boring. Work-shopped and honed within an inch of its life. Cliche ridden. I've seen this described as one of the high points of 80s hair metal. And that is damning with very faint praise. I never want to hear this corporate rock drivel again as long as I live.
*loud fart noises*
I am sick as a dog today and don't want to listen to Steven Tyler sing about fucking broads. Don't Get Mad, Get Even showcases that the only lyrics this band is capable of making are cliches.
history will look poorly upon aerosmith. they did nothing for rock
boooo
If you know you know
how embarrassing
i quit early on this one. didn't like it at all
Just comically horny and not very good.
God, this is fucking awful. Why is it on the list? Aerosmith must be the most overrated band of all time. Nothing original about them, didn't break any new ground, wrote a few decent songs over the course of 50 years and the rest is a bunch of crap. There's a song on this album called Dulcimer Stomp? What do they think they are, Led Zeppelin? The best thing about this album is the one minute hidden track at the very end that they didn't even write or perform. And don't get me started on Steven Tyler's stupid face. The only good thing he did was to produce Liv Tyler, and he didn't even own up to that. 1 star.
My ex wife once had her stool sample analysed and the odour was described as "offensive". This album reminded me of that, and I would almost have rather spent the 47 minutes smelling her turd than listening to this one.
Terrible! Worst album yet, Love in an Elevator top 10 worst songs of all time?!?!
Gross
Holy shit. This is worse than I imagined. Is this some kind of parody? I can't imagine anyone involved in the production of this turd went in with a straight face. I guess they laughed all the way to the bank. I mean, white trash money is still legal tender, right? The only people who listen to this album are people who literally have nothing better to do. Oh fuck, that's me.
Do people actually listen to this weird ultra-cheesy strain of rock music? I lost braincells whilst listening to this.
This album was F.I.N.E.