Aerosmith’s ‘Crazy’ Music Video Is Reprehensible
TL;DR:
- Aerosmith’s “Crazy” music video was designed to appeal to a younger demographic.
- It sexualizes teenagers.
- One of those teenagers is Liv Tyler, the daughter of Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler.
Some classic rock bands gave us highly questionable music videos. For example, Aerosmith’s “Crazy” music video sexualizes actual teenagers. A member of Aerosmith said the video was a series of “go-for-broke romantic/sexual fantasies.”
Aerosmith wanted to appeal to ‘young demographics’ with their music videos
Joe Perry is a guitarist for Aerosmith. In his 2014 book Rocks: My Life in and Out of Aerosmith, he said a music video director helped keep Aerosmith relevant during the MTV era. “Thanks to Marty Callner, our presence on MTV was stronger than ever,” he said. “His videos for the songs on Get a Grip were among his best.”
Perry discussed the videos for “Crazy” and “Amazing.” “The videos for ‘Crazy’ and ‘Amazing’ continue the rebellion theme with strong female characters,” he said. “We were catering to the young demographics.”
Steven Tyler’s teenage daughter co-starred in the music video for Aerosmith’s ‘Crazy’
Perry explained his interpretations of the clips. “In ‘Crazy’ two high school girls go crazy and act out a series of go-for-broke romantic/sexual fantasies,” he said. “‘Amazing’ is amazing in its extravagant production value, as it focuses on computer projections of far-out fantasies and spacey visual trips. The videos accomplished the goals — they kept us on TV.”
The idea of making a sexual fantasy video about two high school girls is bad enough. Many music videos, television shows, and movies cast 20-somethings to play teenagers. On the other hand, Aerosmith decided to cast two actors — Alicia Silverstone and Liv Tyler — who were teenagers at the time. Silverstone was 17 while Tyler was 16. Gross!
However, this all gets worse when you realize Tyler is the child of Steven Tyler, the lead singer of Aerosmith. The choice to sexualize Liv in this video is now way, way beyond questionable. The music video remains Aerosmith’s most popular clip on YouTube, so it seems millions of viewers don’t care much about this issue.
How ‘Crazy’ performed on the charts and got combined with a Britney Spears hit
Regardless of these ethical considerations, “Crazy” became one of Aerosmith’s biggest hits. The tune reached No. 17 on the Billboard Hot 100. It stayed on the chart for 23 weeks.
“Crazy” appeared on the album Get a Grip. The album reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200 for a single week, making it the band’s first chart-topping album. Get a Grip spent a total of 92 weeks on the chart.
An episode of Glee called “Britney 2.0” introduced Aerosmith’s “Crazy” to a new generation of listeners. That episode included “Crazy” in a mashup with Britney Spears’ “(You Drive Me) Crazy.” Aerosmith’s song is a blues rock ballad while Spears’ is a dance-pop number. Meanwhile, Glee‘s mashup is an acoustic duet between the characters Marley Rose and Jake Puckerman.
“Crazy” is a great ballad. It’s a shame it’s forever tainted by that music video!
