Onetime anti-censorship activists Aerosmith are about to release a special EP that will be available exclusively at Wal-Mart, the mega-retail chain that has required record companies to release altered versions of some albums in order to get shelf space. "Made in America," which will include five previously released songs and an unreleased live version of "One Way Street," will go on sale March 18 to help promote the group's new album, "Nine Lives."
In 1994, the band teamed up with the Electronic Freedom Foundation to promote free speech online, and it earlier donated $10,000 to an MIT art exhibit that had lost government funding because of controversial content. Band members also denounced Seventeen's "puritanical myopia" when the magazine rejected photos that displayed their bare torsos.
The idea for the exclusive release came from the band's new label, Columbia, and such promotions with large retail chains like Best Buy and Target are becoming more common. "What we're doing with Aerosmith and Wal-Mart is not unusual," said Larry Jenkins, vice president of media at Columbia Records, adding that the chain did not ask for any alterations to "Nine Lives" or the EP.
Band members knew about the exclusive EP but don't endorse the chain's policies. "We don't want to be perceived as promoting Wal-Mart," said Jennifer Cairney, an employee at the band's management company, Magus Entertainment. "But unfortunately a lot of Aerosmith fans can only buy their records through Wal-Mart and they're the ones we care about." Members of the band did not comment.
With the largest share of the country's music sales, Wal-Mart may also reach more Aerosmith fans than any other retailer -- consumers Columbia will need if the label is to make back its reported $30 million multi-album investment in the veteran band. But the decision to release an EP exclusively to Wal-Mart has angered other retailers who fear the promotion will siphon off Aerosmith sales from their stores.
Wal-Mart's policies first attracted attention last year when the chain refused to stock a Sheryl Crow album with a song that referred to its sale of guns. Along with other retailers like Kmart and Blockbuster, the company requires record labels to issue alternate versions of albums with different covers, omitted songs, and altered lyrics.
On the Wal-Mart version of John Mellencamp's "Mr. Happy-Go-Lucky," pictures of Jesus and the devil have been airbrushed out, and on the chain's copies of Nirvana's "In Utero," the title of the song "Rape Me" has been changed to "Waif Me." According to USA Today, the chain covered a pierced cow's udder on Aerosmith's "Get a Grip" with a price sticker.
"We continue to not accept product with parental warning stickers; the other releases are dealt with on a case-by-case basis," says Wal-Mart spokesman Dale Ingram. "We will not play lyrics with sexually explicit lyrics."
Though Aerosmith shies away from the kind of profanity that would cause Wal-Mart to ask for alterations, the band has long cultivated a raunchy image, complete with some of the most sexually suggestive lyrics in rock. The first single from "Nine Lives" is called "Falling in Love (Is Hard on the Knees)."
Despite such double entendres, "Aerosmith is just great for this," according to another spokesman for the chain. "They've been around for years, they're attractive to all ages. Our customers want it and we're going