the inaugural MTV European Music Awards show in Berlin in November 1994. After the Geffen years ended with the success of the "Big Ones" retrospective, Columbia was able to develop an aggressive international marketing strategy for its returning heroes, as Borchard recalls. "I worked closely with all the Columbia/Sony affiliates around the world," she says. "Our goal was to develop a fantastic launch and project -development plan to allow us to continue selling 'Nine Lives' steadily over the subsequent 12 to 18 months." With that goal in mind, the bandmembers undertook a series of "fan appreciation" events in Berlin, Paris, THE ACTION ABROAD Stockholm, London, Milan, Toronto and Tokyo, where Continued from page A -6 they hosted listening parties for groups of between 500 and 2,000 fans to be the first to hear "Nine Lives." RETURNING HEROES Another ambitious national and international tour was mounted to back the "Get A Grip" album in 1993 -94, with PUMPING UP DOWN UNDER Run D.M.C. rocked with Perry and Tyler in 1986. dates in Central and South America and an appearance at J Judging by the myriad week- doubt affected its sales. end pub bands playing Certainly, radio believes the Aerosmith covers or dressing band has the potential to raise like them, Aerosmith has a core its profile in this market. following Down Under, mostly in "They don't have much of a ongratulations hard -rock circles. Despite mini- heritage here," says Guy mal airplay, early records Dobson, program director at "Rocks" and "Toys In The Attic" Triple M in Sydney. "'Pump' was to went gold (35,000) for Sony their finest hour, and that was Music Australia while the origi- because most kids thought nal "Walk This Way" was a top they were a new band." 20 hit. Columbia Records in The band's fortunes changed Australia expected big things during the Geffen era. The act's from "Nine Lives" when biggest seller here is "Pump," Aerosmith announced it would which reached No. 1 on the begin its world tour in April Australian Record Industry 1997 in this territory. But that Association charts and yielded visit, as well as a plan to tour two top 10 hit singles. "Pump" in late 1997 after Japanese more than 150,000 units on dates, was cancelled. "Nine Warner Music (which distrib- Lives" received contemporary uted Geffen in Australia until rock radio support for its first for 25 years 1990) and more than 60,000 two singles, but has barely units after Universal took over. reached gold (35,000 copies). Si "[It's] an extraordinary band, "Aerosmith have a lot of fans of rock roll! whose career we were only too in this company, and we really happy to revitalize," says Paul want it to work," says Columbia Krige, one-time marketing man- Records managing director ager for Geffen and now man- Chris Moss. As a result, both Specia thanks to aging director of Universal in the Aerosmith track "I Don't Australia. Want To Miss A Thing" and the Joe Per for rocking The act's lack of Australian "Armageddon" soundtrack fea- touring -its only visit was in the turing the band, set for release early '90s for Frontier Touring, here in August, are top priori- with h' ibson Les Paul playing auditoriums of 10,000 ties for the label. Si n ture Model. to 15,000 capacity -has no -CHRISTIE ELIEZER Aerosmith's international visibility was even greater after the album's release: they played 20 European shows in six weeks, sponsored by MTV Europe, for a total of more than 300,000 people, and seven Japanese dates in two weeks for almost 200,000 fans. An MTV "Live And Direct" TV special, filmed at Rock Am Ring in Germany, was screened by the network worldwide. This energetic overseas schedule paid off in a series of certifications for the album, headed by triple -platinum sta- tus in Japan, with some 630,000 copies sold up until mid - From your friends at June 1998; double- platinum sales in Canada, platinum in Argentina and gold in Germany, the U.K., Brazil, Italy, Poland, Spain, Denmark, the Philippines, Switzerland, Chile, Finland, Singapore, the Czech Republic and Central America, comprising Costa Rica, Panama, Guatemala, Honduras, Salvador and Belize. Total sales for "Nine Lives" from all of these markets are just shy of 2 million units. Internationally, as at home, the next chapter of the Aerosmith story is "Don't Want To Miss A Thing," the track from the soundtrack of this summer's "Arma- geddon" blockbuster movie. The song was launched in mid July, two weeks before its U.S. release. "The immediate future is about establishing that as a big hit single," says Borchard, "so that we can go back to 'Nine his Lives' and release the track `Full Circle' in the fall." A live Only a Gi bson Good Enough" album, which the act still owes Geffen under the terms of its departure, is also in the works. 641 M ma Drive Nashville, TN 37210 "Through their years with Geffen, they really worked 800 GIBSON www.gibson.com the international marketplace consistently," says Borchard, "and we've benefited greatly from that. Their work ethic is fairly unique for a legacy act, to see them still wanting to meet every fan and do every piece of promo- tion is a credit to their staying power." A-14 BILLBOARD SALUTES AEROSMITH'S 25TH ANNIVERSARY BILLBOARD AUGUST 15, 1998 www.americanradiohistory.com.