"Toys in the Attic" is a song by American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 hard rock

Hard rock

Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...

 band Aerosmith

Aerosmith

Aerosmith is an American rock band, sometimes referred to as "The Bad Boys from Boston" and "America's Greatest Rock and Roll Band". Their style, which is rooted in blues-based hard rock, has come to also incorporate elements of pop, heavy metal, and rhythm and blues, and has inspired many...

. Written by Steven Tyler

Steven Tyler

Steven Tyler is an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, best known as the frontman and lead singer of the Boston-based rock band Aerosmith, in which he also plays the harmonica, and occasional piano and percussion. He is known as the "Demon of Screamin'", due to his high screams...

 and Joe Perry

Joe Perry (musician)

Anthony Joseph "Joe" Perry is the lead guitarist, backing and occasional lead vocalist, and contributing songwriter for the rock band Aerosmith. He is influenced by many rock artists especially The Rolling Stones and The Beatles...

, it is the first song and title track from the band's third album Toys in the Attic

Toys in the Attic (album)

For his review of Toys in the Attic for Allmusic, Stephen Thomas Erlewine called the album's style a mix of Led Zeppelin and The Rolling Stones riffs and was filled with songs about sex with a different style than there ever was before. Greg Kot called the album a landmark of hard rock...

, their bestselling studio album in the United States. The song is three minutes, five seconds long. It was released as the B-side to the "You See Me Crying" single in 1975.

Other versions

The song is also featured on two of the band's live albums, Live! Bootleg (1978) and Classics Live II (1987). It is also found as a bonus track on some pressings of the career-spanning collection O, Yeah! Ultimate Aerosmith Hits (2002). It is also a playable track on Guitar Hero: Aerosmith

Guitar Hero: Aerosmith

Guitar Hero: Aerosmith is a music video game developed by Neversoft and distributed by Activision. It was released on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles, with a Wii version developed by Vicarious Visions, a PlayStation 2 version by Budcat Creations and with a PC and Mac version by Aspyr Media...

.

Cover versions

R.E.M. recorded a version of the song in 1986 as a b-side to their single "Fall on Me

Fall on Me

"Fall on Me" is a song by the American alternative rock band R.E.M. from their fourth album Lifes Rich Pageant . It was the first of two singles released from that LP. It peaked at number 94 on the Billboard Hot 100.-Meaning and origin:Though R.E.M...

". This can be found on Dead Letter Office

Dead Letter Office (album)

Dead Letter Office is a rarities and B-sides collection by R.E.M., released in 1987. The album is essentially a collection of many additional recordings R.E.M. made pre-Murmur to Lifes Rich Pageant that were outtakes or released as flip sides to their singles internationally...

, with guitarist Peter Buck noting that the song "...was always fun to play live."

It has also been covered by The Answer

The Answer (band)

The Answer are a Northern Irish hard rock and blues-rock band from Newcastle and Downpatrick, County Down, Northern Ireland. They have achieved success with their debut album Rise selling in excess of 30,000 copies in the UK & Europe, 10,000 on day one in Japan and 100,000 worldwide.-Lineup:*Cormac...

, Black Happy, Metal Church

Metal Church

Metal Church was an American heavy metal band. They originally formed in Seattle, Washington as Shrapnel in 1980. Their first album was released in 1984, and the band's most recent work, This Present Wasteland, was released in 2008....

, Ratt

Ratt

Ratt is an American heavy metal band that had significant commercial success in the 1980s. The band is best known for songs such as "Round and Round," "Wanted Man," "Lay It Down," "You're in Love", "Slip of the Lip", "Back For More", "Dance", "Body Talk", "I Want a Woman", and "Way Cool Jr." Ratt...

, Roadsaw and Warrant.

And in the album Guns Box: Attitude for Destruction it was covered by Stephen Pearcy & Tracii Guns.