Tebor wrote:

In the latest issue of Entertainment Weekly, the say on page 82: "Armageddon - The moment Aerosmith lost all cred. Actually, I take that back. That was "Falling in Love (Is Hard on the Knees)." I disagree, but what do you think?

Aerosmith is and always will be one of the greatest American rock bands of all time. I do consider "I Don't Wanna Miss A Thing" to be a low point in Aerosmith's career because it was incredibly sappy and they didn't even write it, but I wouldn't call it a cred killer. They did the song as a personal favor to Liv Tyler because she was in the movie, so whatever. Their absolute lowest point was that halftime show they did with N*Sync, Britney Spears, and Nelly. That was absolute fucking trash. But they have more than made up for it since then. Boring cover art aside, Just Push Play wasn't a bad album at all. And lame title aside, Honkin' on Bobo was fucking awesome.

Dr. Jeebus wrote:

While Armageddon certianly hurt their street cred, I definately think that God awful halftime show was the nail in the coffin. Sure they're still great, but I think that was the end of their credibility.

Credibility is just a bullshit buzz word anyway. What the fuck does it even mean for a band to be credible? As far as I'm concerned, if a band can write a good song and perform it well live, that's enough.

I think the main reason that Aerosmith does not have cred is because cred has become synonymous with relative obscurity. You could poll students in any American high school and I guarantee you that at least 70% of them will heard of Aerosmith and at least 50% will be able to name one song by them. By virtue of being famous, Aerosmith is automatically disqualified from having any sort of cred. Cred is a word thrown around by music snobs to make themselves feel better, even superior, because they listen to bands that only ten other people in their town have ever even heard of. Now I have no problem with indie rock whatsoever; people should listen to whatever makes them happy. And I have no problem with indie fans as a whole; I have been friends with many of them. But I do have a problem with those people who categorically hate all bands who manage to get played on mainstream radio, the people who throw around condescending terms like "corporate rock" and "radio rock". These terms imply that bands like Metallica and Aerosmith and Motley Crue didn't earn their fame and fortune, instead it was handed to them because they chose to conform to some record executive's standard of what rock should be. None of those bands had an easy time becoming the household names that they are today and anyone who's ever seen a Behind The Music knows exactly what I mean. Sure they didn't start off playing coffee houses, but they did fight their way through empty clubs and seedy bars on the way to fame. Aerosmith even played some high school dances in and around Boston area before getting signed. But whatever, that's enough ranting for now.