ALBUM REVIEW: Aerosmith & YUNGBLUD – One More Time

Capitol Records
Released: 21.11.25

America never really got Johnny Rotten (the Sex Pistols were already burned out and bummed out by the time they got there) but they sure loved Billy Idol. There was something less threatening about his playful off-the-shelf brand of punk and his willingness to play the MTV game – something oddly more American. And so, to YUNGBLUD, largely dismissed in the UK as a cartoon punk, but suddenly making waves across the pond by falling somewhere between the volatile rudeness of John Lydon’s Rotten and the bad-boy-next-door anti-glamour, but radio friendly preserve and reliability, of Idol.

Aerosmith, of course, need no introduction and love a collaboration every other decade to try and stay relevant. So only six months after his fourth solo album dropped YUNGBLUD is back with a five-track EP with the ageing godfathers of US metal. What could possibly go wrong? Well, back in Blighty in July at Ozzy Osbourne’s final show in Birmingham YUNGBLUD fronted a supergroup, that included Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler, to some pushback from both metal and punk purists. Truthfully, Dominic Harrison (to his mum and dad) was always going to be on a hiding to nothing in the UK with this collab – aimed at neither his or the metal OG’s UK audience – but the sharp line between metal and punk in the UK is blurrier in America, if not fully demilitarised.

However, what we get is five songs of mediocre 20s MOR rock. Lacking the swagger of Walk This Way or the polished but killer instinct of a big Hollywood theme tune, lead single My Only Angel was a lustreless blend of the two participating styles, a marble cake of proto-metal and post-punk that failed to capitalise on YUNGBLUD’s undeniable charisma and energy as a frontman. Elsewhere, Problems at least sees the co-frontmen gelling vocally – albeit helped by a liberal dose of autotune – while a brutal middle-eight riff (and riotous outro) is classic Aerosmith and juxtaposes nicely with the general balladic vibe. Further in Wild Woman is largely forgettable other than serving as a reminder of how much Guns N’ Roses stole from Aerosmith and A Thousand Days just doesn’t seem to suit anybody stylistically. Mired in so many vocal effects it is almost impossible to tell who is singing which bit. Even a reworking of one of Aerosmith’s more raucous tracks from 1976, Back In The Saddle, feels like an excuse to fulfil a contract.

Ye Olde MTV may be a thing of the past but American rock radio will no doubt love One More Time and fair play to Dominic, and those Aerosmith guys, if it all works out for them.