ROCK IN A HARD PLACE was not only the first '80s Aerosmith album, it was also the only album to not feature founding members Joe Perry and Brad Whitford. Perry left in the middle of making the prior album, NIGHT IN THE RUTS, and Whitford hung around long enough to play rhythm guitar on this record's excellent "Lightning Strikes." Both left as a result of personal problems and were replaced by guitarists Jimmy Crespo and Rick Dufay.

Although Perry's contributions as a collaborator with Steven Tyler were missed, Crespo did a good job taking up the slack. Among the more notable songs he penned with Tyler were the slide guitar-drenched locomotive "Bolivian Ragamuffin," the sassy strut "Jig is Up," and the salacious "Jailbait." Aerosmith took the opportunity for a little studio experimentation ROCK IN A HARD PLACE as well. Vocoders were used on "Prelude to Joanie," which segued smoothly into the Indian-flavored "Joanie's Butterfly," foreshadowing the band's later cultural dabbling on 1997's Nine Lives. But it didn't take an expert to know that Aerosmith was not the same after the loss of the aforementioned members. And so did the band, who welcomed Perry and Whitford back into its ranks two years after Rock in a Hard Place.