Honkin' On Bobo (2004)
1.Road Runner
2.Shame, Shame, Shame
3.Eyesight to the Blind
4.Baby, Please Don't Go
5.Never Loved a Girl
6.Back Back Train
7.You Gotta Move
8.The Grind
9.I'm Ready
10.Temperature
11.Stop Messin' Around
12.Jesus is on the Main Line
By the early 2000s, Aerosmith had become something of a ubiquitous presence—popping up at award shows, halftime spectacles, TV comedy skits, and even in advertising campaigns. The band's visibility may have been at an all-time high, but their edge had all but dulled. Their original music had grown safe, arguably over-tailored for radio-friendly consumption, and longtime fans could be forgiven for wondering if the band’s rock-and-roll bite had gone permanently soft.
Enter Honkin’ on Bobo, a bold pivot in an otherwise increasingly corporate trajectory. With this release, Aerosmith did not simply dabble in nostalgia—they plunged into the deep end of the blues. Not the sanitized, mainstream variety, but gritty, hard-edged material drawn from an era that most modern fans never knew existed. This was not a band chasing relevance; this was a band chasing roots.
And it worked.
From the opening riff, it's clear this isn't a polite exercise in genre play. The album pounds with the boogie spirit that marked their earliest days, echoing the Stones in their own blues-heavy incarnations. Honkin’ on Bobo doesn’t whisper its intentions—it snarls them. Yes, it’s technically a “blues” album, but this is blues in high boots, swaggering and distorted through Aerosmith’s unmistakable lens.
The track selection is telling. Never Loved a Girl oozes menace and drive, its rawness matched only by the electrifying Eyesight to the Blindand the fiery Temperature.These aren't academic reproductions—they're reanimations, made to stomp rather than to reverently bow. A genuine surprise is Back Back Train, with Joe Perry stepping up to the mic in a smoky, haunting performance that begs the question: why doesn’t he sing more often?
Not all tracks hold tightly to the blues banner. Road Runner, You Gotta Move,and Shame Shame Shame lean closer to rock and roll, while the closing gospel-soaked Jesus Is on the Main Line nods to spirituals rather than smoky barrooms. But this range is the album’s strength, not its liability. There's a cohesion in the energy, a single-minded commitment to grit that binds it all together. Even when the material wanders, the spirit never flags.
One original track sneaks onto the disc, and its indistinct presence suggests precisely why the band turned to the past for inspiration. If you spot it on your first listen, you're probably equally as perceptive as the majority of Aerosmith fans.
Honkin’ on Bobo is no mere vanity project. It’s a course correction, a reminder that even in their twilight years, Aerosmith could deliver not just volume, but vitality. The band may hav