“What It Takes” by Aerosmith

"What It Takes" is the big power ballad on Aerosmith's 1989 album Pump, written by Steven Tyler, Joe Perry and Desmond Child, and the band went in determined not to make another "Angel", the Child co-write from their previous record. Perry said it first came out sounding country-western, and Brad Whitford recalled it began as a keyboard song before they realized it was special enough to handle differently.

Tyler was frank about the bargain: a ballad or two was the price of getting young listeners to hear the band's other songs. Bruce Fairbairn produced, Tyler sings lead and adds harmonica and keyboards, Perry and Whitford handle guitars over Tom Hamilton and Joey Kramer, with horns from the Margarita Horns. It became their second number one on Billboard's Album Rock Tracks and that chart's top single of 1990.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.