Album · Aerosmith
Rock in a Hard Place by Aerosmith
Rock in a Hard Place is an album by Aerosmith, released in 1982. 1 song from it has charted on rock radio countdowns, with 11 countdown appearances in total. The biggest is “Lightning Strikes”, on 11 lists with a best position of #171.
Rock in a Hard Place, Aerosmith's seventh studio album, hit the shelves on August 27, 1982, on Columbia, and it's the one made with the band's heart ripped out. Drugs and infighting had driven Joe Perry out in 1979, and Brad Whitford bailed partway through the sessions in 1981, leaving Steven Tyler, Tom Hamilton and Joey Kramer to soldier on with guitarists Jimmy Crespo and Rick Dufay. It's the only Aerosmith album without Perry on it.
What's left is sleazy, bluesy hard rock that still swaggers, with Tyler yowling over riffs that try hard to summon the old magic. "Lightning Strikes" is the standout. The band sank $1.5 million into making it, but it failed to match their earlier success, and the record went gold only in 1989. By then Perry and Whitford had been back since 1984, and the comeback was already rolling.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs from Rock in a Hard Place on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lightning Strikes | 11 | #171 | – | 1990–2016 |
Only songs that appear on at least one countdown are listed. Release data from MusicBrainz.