Angel

Aerosmith lead singer Steven Tyler wrote this song with Desmond Child, who is one of the most successful songwriters of his time. With Aerosmith on the ropes after releasing two underperforming albums (Rock in a Hard Place (1982) and Done with Mirrors (1985)), John Kalodner of Geffen Records insisted that they bring in outside writers to help restore them to their former glory. The band balked at first (sharing songwriting credits can be costly), but were impressed when Child helped them refine their raucous rocker "Dude (Looks Like A Lady)" into a surefire hit. Child's next composition for the band was "Angel," which unlike "Dude" sounded nothing like Aerosmith. It's a relationship song with none of the bawdy humor you would expect from the band. With Tyler pleading, "Come and save me tonight," there is a wuss factor to it that horrified longtime fans. Tyler knew he was compromising, and won't be putting the song on his highlight reel anytime soon. As John Kalodner explained in the band's biography Walk This Way: "Tyler says that I ruined his career by making him write 'Angel' with Desmond." There was a huge upside to the song: it was their biggest US hit to that point, charting at #3 and earning lots of radio play.

According to Desmond Child, Steven Tyler's angel was Teresa Barrick, who he had just recently started dating. They got married in 1988 and divorced in 2006. "He said, 'She's my angel,'" Child recalled to Songfacts. "When he said 'angel,' I looked at him, and he has those big blubber lips like Mick Jagger, right? When he said 'angel,' it reminded me of Mick Jagger singing 'Angie.' I thought, I want him to say the word 'angel' over and over again so I can see those big lips flap in the wind, saying 'angel.' The song was autobiographical for him. I think that song has become a classic unto itself. For many years, they didn't want to perform it in the show because I think he wanted to rock harder than that. He saw it as pop. It was the next single and it was very successful. It opened the door for them to do other ballads, like 'Cryin',' 'Crazy,' and 'What It Takes.'"

This slick ballad was not typical of Aerosmith's work, but the song was a hit and led to several successful slow songs over the next few years, including "Amazing" and "I Don't Want To Miss A Thing." Since the band had a huge catalog of rockers and a history of unruly behavior, they managed to avoid the Foreigner trap and maintain their status as a rock band despite the occasional forays into ballad territory. It helped that their next single was "Rag Doll," which picked up the pace.