"Home Tonight" is a power ballad by American

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and Distortion (music), distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the Garage rock, garage, Psychedelic rock, psychedelic and blues ...

band

Aerosmith Aerosmith is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Boston in 1970. The group consists of lead vocalist Steven Tyler, bassist Tom Hamilton (musician), Tom Hamilton, drummer Joey Kramer, and guitarists Joe Perry (musician), Joe Perry and B ...

. Written by lead singer Steven Tyler, the song is the closing track on Aerosmith's 1976 album '' Rocks''. It was released as the second single from ''Rocks'' and reached number 71 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', is an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' said that "the soft, almost ballad-like vocal holds a lot of appeal, and the harsher rock 'n' roll

bridge A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whi ...

seems to fit just right."

Background and release

"Home Tonight" was solely written by lead singer Steven Tyler and produced by

and Jack Douglas, American record producer. "Home Tonight" was released as the second single from ''Rocks'' on August 27, 1976, with "Pandora's Box" (a song from their 1974 album ''Get Your Wings'') serving as its B-side. The band hoped that the single would impact the charts similarly to their 1973 song " Dream On". However, "Home Tonight" only reached number 71 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in 1976. '' Record World'' said the song "contains a raw heavy metal edge but at the same time conveys a gentleness for pop play."

Live performances

In later concerts, Tyler would occasionally perform a segment of "Home Tonight" as an in-concert intro into "Dream On". This is to underscore the relationship between the two songs.

In other media

"Home Tonight" is one of the two theme songs performed by

used in the video game '' Dead or Alive 3'' for the

Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand that consists of four main home video game console lines, as well as application software, applications (games), the streaming media, streaming service Xbox Cloud Gaming, and online services such as the Xbox networ ...

created by Team Ninja. It is played during the extended/full ending credits.

Legacy

On VH1's '' That Metal Show'' with Eddie Trunk, the panel declared it number one on their Top 5 Greatest Power Ballads of all Time.

Charts

References

{{Authority control 1970s ballads Aerosmith songs 1976 singles Songs written by Steven Tyler Song recordings produced by Jack Douglas (record producer) Columbia Records singles Hard rock ballads