10 Underrated Hard Rock Songs Of The '70s
1. Rats in the Cellar - Aerosmith
Aerosmith's Toys in the Attic tends to get celebrated as the best in their catalog. Boasting hits like Walk This Way and Sweet Emotion, that record was the first time where everything seemed to gel creatively for these Bad Boys from Boston, finally finding their swagger after years of touring. While Toys may have given them their first hits, Rocks is the first time they actually found their real voice.
Being a much darker affair than its predecessor, this entire record is the sound of a band at the top of their game, with Rats in the Cellar being one of the prime candidates for best Aerosmith songs EVER. Compared to something like Back in the Saddle off of the same record, Rats has the same amount of swagger but has added a lot more speed into the mix. Set to a breakneck tempo, you can almost feel the tension radiating off this song, as every musician plays like their livelihood as rockers depends on it.
Given that there had been plenty of comparisons between Aerosmith and the Rolling Stones, this song took those initial Stones influences and heightened them to the nth degree, almost getting closer to punk in the amount of attitude brought across. Though Rats in the Cellar was never released as a single off of Rocks, it remains one of those unsung heroes in the midst of Aerosmith's golden age.