What It Takes (Aerosmith song)

"What It Takes"
Single by Aerosmith
from the album Pump
B-side"Monkey on My Back"
ReleasedFebruary 26, 1990[1]
Recorded1989
Genre
Length6:28 (Album Version With Hidden Track)
5:11 (Single Version)
4:08 (CHR Remix-Edit) (From the album Devil's Got a New Disguise)
LabelGeffen
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)Bruce Fairbairn
Aerosmith singles chronology
"Janie's Got a Gun"
(1989)
"What It Takes"
(1990)
"The Other Side"
(1990)
Music video
"What It Takes" on YouTube

"What It Takes" is a power ballad[4] by American rock band Aerosmith. Written by Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, and Desmond Child,[5] it was released in 1989 as the third single from the critically and commercially successful 1989 album Pump. "I'll put some ballads on an album," Tyler remarked, "if that's what it takes so that some young kid can get to hear a 'Young Lust' or 'F.I.N.E.*'."[6][7]

  1. ^ "Aerosmith - Singles". hitparade.ch. Retrieved June 23, 2021. Click on individual song pages for dates.
  2. ^ Bienstock, Richard (September 15, 2011). Aerosmith: The Ultimate Illustrated History of the Boston Bad Boys. Voyageur Press. ISBN 978-1-61059-769-2.
  3. ^ Allen, Jeremy (March 16, 2016). "Aerosmith - 10 of the best". The Guardian. Retrieved June 3, 2023.
  4. ^ Kielty, Martin (February 27, 2020). "How Aerosmith Created Power-Ballad Masterpiece 'What It Takes'". Ultimate Classic Rock. Retrieved July 8, 2021.
  5. ^ "Readers' Poll: The 10 Best Aerosmith Songs of All Time". Rolling Stone. November 7, 2012. Retrieved June 23, 2021.
  6. ^ Ingham, Chris (June 2001). "Play for today". Classic Rock #28. p. 50.
  7. ^ "The 20 Songs That Can Represent The Career Of Aerosmith". Society of Rock. July 8, 2020. Retrieved May 23, 2022.