10 Bands That Stole Another Band's Sound

The impact of the British Invasion on the American rock scene cannot be understated.

For as much as Little Richard and Chuck Berry set the standard for what rock would be going forward, acts like the Beatles and the Rolling Stones laid the blueprint for every other band to follow. Anyone would kill for that kind of rock chemistry, but one band from Boston had that British swagger down a little too well.

Nowadays, people tend to know Aerosmith for their mix of boogie rock and soulful vocals from Steven Tyler, but it was a totally different story when they started out.

As the band were coming out with their first few records, they often came under fire for sounding a bit too much like the Rolling Stones. With the Stones already going down a more blues-influenced road, the amount of swagger Aerosmith had at the time seemed secondhand by comparison.

It also didn’t help that the band’s main songwriters Steven Tyler and Joe Perry had a chemistry that seemed like a caricature version of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. Though the band may have been going down the same path as the Stones, later albums like Toys in the Attic and Rocks showed them opening up their influence to more eclectic ballads and hard-edged rock and roll.

Aerosmith may be synonymous with rock right now, but their connection to one of Britain’s greatest rock acts started out as a real sore spot.