10 Rock Covers That Improved Classic Songs

The entire landscape of rock music seemed to shift once the British Invasion came in. Whereas rock and roll may have started life in the USA, the effect that the British Blues Boom had on rockers was starting to get a lot more infectious in the '70s, with American acts trying to take back the low down and dirty nature of the blues from bands like Cream and Fleetwood Mac. The blues didn't always have to be heavy though, and Aerosmith brought a healthy dose of boogie back into the mix on Train Kept A Rollin.

Being a take on the bluesy song by Tiny Bradshaw, the version that Steven Tyler had heard first was by the Yardbirds, which would eventually spawn guitarists like Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck. While the Yardbirds' do a decent version of the tune, Aerosmith's take feels like The British Blues Boom in a funhouse mirror, making the boogie line a little more danceable and Joe Perry sprinkling in licks that would sound just as good coming from a horn section than an electric guitar.

These guys are still indebted to the blues though, and once you get to the drum roll in the middle of the song, things really start flying off the rails, as if the train in the lyrics has officially pulled into the station. While Aerosmith had been getting a reputation of being a second rate Rolling Stones, this is the kind of boogie that not even the Glimmer Twins would have been able to pull off.